As I continue to put time into Homefront, I’m starting to recognize its difficulty curve. As the player, you have your health bar on the side of the HUD, and you’re equipped with injection-type health packs. These are limited to 5 on your person, and the animation takes about 4 seconds to pull off. Health packs can be found around the battlefield and in the rebellion stand-offs, or can be purchased from the equipment lockers for $50 at the rebellion strongholds.

I’ve noticed that your health diminishes very quickly when exposed to gunfire, and you can die almost instantly if you come across an enemy with a shotgun. Stealth is almost near impossible in the outset of the game as the combat areas are littered with enemies, and taking down any drone or camera will immediately signal the enemy of your position. The enemy is also very quick, take more than a few good bursts of gunfire to kill, and are usually accompanied by a patrolling vehicle. Couple that with a prolonged health pack animation, where you are not invincible, I find that I’m dead before I can get the health boost..

Now, that said, I understand that we play the part of the resistance. We are supposed to be out-gunned, and out-manned. The enemy is numerous and nubile, but when I’m attacking a point of entry, or come across a patrolling scout group, I find that I’m dying a frustrating amount, only to reload my progress back at the last stronghold. I might not even be on the same side of the map. The point of the game is guerrilla warfare. Attack, and retreat. But by this thinking, its hard to advance forward.

One saving grace is the ability to get assistance from the other rebellion participants. Anybody standing idly around a stronghold can be attached to your entourage. At the very least, they provide a valuable distraction for the enemy, which allows you to pick a few off.

///

I’m still catching myself groaning at the checkpoint and save freezes. They’re not long, only a few seconds, but when you’re running into the enemy encampment around the corner, about to train your sights on the next enemy, and then the entire game hangs, it feels like a gut-punch. You just can’t breath while that like “checkpoint reached” save icon rotates.

The game supports a camera functionality. But it serves a purpose, or “job”. You can take pictures of your rebellion, or hacked signs, or enemy routes. These jobs unlock money and perks. It is not suited for in-game photography, which is a shame. No way of removing the HUD when taking photos.

///

I’ll continue to plug through it though. Maybe it will get easier as I unlock new gear and equipment. There’s clothing that can be purchased that allows the played to become more camouflaged, which’ll be a nice perk. I tried the online Resistance mode only briefly, as the first couple attempts didn’t find anyone online, and my first successful attempt had the host leave after a few minutes, and I was booted during the host migration process. So I’m glad I didn’t spend any addition money on the Resistance DLC.

On a more positive note, the move is complete, so I should be able to start posting on a semi-daily basis again. Around this time last year I was putting out some short stories like the Far Cry one, Sniper, and Titanfall. So I’ll have to work on something new. I also posted a big Top 10 Xbox games. So I’ll have to think of a new project this summer.

I’m about wrapped up my Assassin’s Creed Unity Review, and I have quite the queue of games that I’ve completed this year, that need a review. This week was the Xbox Ultimate Summer Sale, and I picked up Inside (which actually just happened to come out this week, and wasn’t on sale, but I’m excited nonetheless), Just Cause 3 (which has been quite the blast to play this afternoon) and Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark.

My art table is also setup now in the new place so expect some new art stuff.

-iRogan