Been awhile since I've written a review (or visited the site for that matter), but despite how I said in a Monster Hunter Tri review I'd probably do Bully:  Scholarship Edition, I found a game I'd like to just get out of my system first.  I present to you kind folks, my review of the commie killing snooze fest known as Homefront!

The game starts with a bunch of political impossibilities, explaining Korea's rise to power and America's fall from super power status. Over the course of 13 years (the game is set in 2025) North Korea manages to: Take over South Korea with no opposition (stupid), develop over 1,000 ICBMs (stupid), and conquer all of the USA (stupid/impossible).  Fake news stories and newspaper articles flash across the screen with some fun graphics thrown in Call of Duty style.  America is vulnerable to the Koreans, as it turns out, because of wars in the mid east destroying oil derricks and driving the price of oil up to $20 per gallon and destroying the economy.  Once again, this is stupid because there are at least 3 other countries that could and would beat Korea to the punch and have better funded and formed militias.  Anywho, you wake up in a dirty room as Robert Jacobs and no explanation as to what you're supposed to do.  Eventually, you'll have Koreans burst into your room and proceed to kick your butt... for no reason.  You're loaded onto a bus where an NPC theorizes that, since you're both pilots, the Koreans must be rounding up pilots for something... Despite your being the only other person on the bus.  You continue down the road for awhile in the bus (try looking out the window while listening to "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"  without laughing) until a semi crashes max speed into the side of the bus and the game begins.  Turns out, this was a rescue plan, made by resident nutjob Connor to get you because you're a pilot.  You join up with resistance and fight on to liberate 'Murica from the evil commie Koreans who shouldn't be there in the first place. 

The graphics on this game are just poor.  Everything looks like it could've been done on a PS2, and the enemy figures remind me of Return to Castle Wolfenstein.  Faces are blocky, environments are patchy, and absolutely nothing is realistic.  Ok, that's actually not entirely true; the product placements are all very well detailed, and I can only think of 1 or 2 levels that didn't have any.  Seriously, this game is littered with name drops for establishments such as Hooters, White Castle, and Full Throttle.

Difficulty is cheap on this game.  The evil commie Korean robots have the difficulty settings of "Easy, Normal, Hard, Guerilla" and adjust their magic sniper eyes accordingly.  Easy, you'll have no problems running and gunning or moving from cover to cover; Normal, you'll be hugging cover mostly as five seconds of being open will result in your demise; Hard, you'll be cowering in fear as the evil commie robots lob grenades at your cover and any time in the open equals death; Guerilla, the Koreans have sniper vision and will shoot any barely exposed part of your body and maim you if you're sticking to cover for too long with a salvo of perfectly aimed grenades.  Hell, after Normal, the enemies won't even pay any attention to your allies if they can take a shot at you. 

Sound is annoying. You get 3 allies in most missions.  The whiny female, the jackass brute, and the Korean-American.  They're almost constantly shouting at you throughout the mission, and they can't die.  The ambiance and background music are forgettable, and the only other sounds you can look forward to are the sentences the Koreans shout that you most likely can't understand.  It makes me miss games like Black; where the only noises you heard were from your gun (save a few epic moments where the appropriate soundtrack plays), the cries of your enemies (Russian, but still more enjoyable somehow), and your VERY occasional radio chatter with your 3 other teammates.  THAT'S what a shooter game should sound like. 

I haven't had a chance to test the multi-player functionality of the game, due to me being lazy and not wanting to enter the online pass, but the game is somewhat addictive.  It has collectible news articles to help explain the US downfall (Because it's so unbelievable, they have to keep pointing out all these different possible but unlikely scenarios).  Aside from finding those, there's not much reason to replay the (extremely short) game.  It's good if you have an afternoon with nothing better to do, but aside from that, I recommend only playing if you have a gamefly account.

This game earns 5/10 (red commie Korean) stars.

Like this review?  Feel free to suggest games you'd like to see reviewed!    I love writing these things, and any practice I get from the experience is great!  Also, constructive criticism is welcome as always.