Tag Archives: Homefront The Revolution

Homefront: The Revolution – Final Thoughts

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I won’t be doing a full review for Homefront, as I’ve been recording my thoughts as I progress through the game. You can find the previous entries here:

Homefront The Revolution First Impressions
Homefront – The Revolution: Further Impressions

This will be my final piece though. Final Thoughts, as it were.

This title has been such a divisive experience for me. On one side, as a sequel to Homefront, which had set the bar high, I was excited for the prospect of more story to dive into. However, with The Revolution, the game is so different, it would be hard to argue that they are related.

The story still tells of a resistance group fighting against the Korean invasion. It’s still a first-person shooter, but the rest has changed. It’s not a linear game, but a segregated open-world area. The city has been split into 6 different zones, and the only way to transfer to each zone is through the resistance’s underground tunnels. They’ve added bases and outposts that need to be captured to advance, a-la the Far Cry series.

Capturing the bases and radio towers differs quite a bit as you progress through the game, and there’s not a lot of instruction in how to advance in certain parts. The game focuses a lot on exploration, and traversal of the buildings, clambering up vehicles or platforms, out windows and along exterior vents. In some instances, doors or platforms require power, which comes from a generator. The generator requires a motorcycle to rev the engine. However, to get the motorcycle to that area, you’ll have to jump it off a ramp, or drive it up a series of stairs in the adjacent building, then weave it along the catwalk or makeshift platforms that connect the two buildings. All the while, this farce is taking place in the middle of a enemy populated area. Try avoiding the scouting groups or drone fly-by.

That’s just one example. Later on, some doors require the hack tool to open, or worse yet, a stronghold will have a little ramp hidden outside of plain view, that will allow your Remote RC-Bomb to drive in, and blow open the door. That’s hoping you’ve even unlocked the RC Explosive perk. Which happens to be the final Explosive upgrade. And this Stronghold was only in the 3rd area of the game. Try explaining that to my past-self, who scoured the building for an hour trying to look for a way in.

Even after the very large patch that came out a few months back, the game is still buggy. From time to time, you’ll see objects or weapon caches just floating in the air. The initial game loading, like, when you start the game, and press “Continue from last checkpoint”. Yeah, this load screen actually wears through its own loading music before the game starts. Luckily the auto-save stalls at checkpoints are all but gone. The frame rate tanks to about 3 fps for a couple seconds, but that’s forgivable compared to what it used to play like.

I’m finally nearing the end of the campaign, and I can’t say it’s been fun. I can’t recommend it to anyone. It has its good moments, and it does tell a dire tale, one of despair and loss, of resistance against unbeatable odds – which is its only saving grace. But I shouldn’t come up against so much resistance to enjoy the game itself.

-iRogan

WHAT i’M PLAYING – Sept 13, 2016

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Dues Ex: Mankind Divided – Initial Impressions

The first thing I noticed when jumping into Deus Ex Mankind Divided, after just finishing a playthrough of Human Revolution, especially on the Xbox One, is that it’s not as good looking as I hoped. I was hoping for smoother frame-rates and crisper textures. Maybe its the whole concept that you’re looking through augmented eyes, and a lot of things are outlined, that takes away from the real-world views, but it just doesn’t appear to be that much of a step up over its predecessor, from 5 years ago; could be the Xbox One’s fault too.

Some of the larger open areas I did find frame-rate droppage, dipping below 30fps and holding me back from running ahead. The load times, if you die, or load a save, can also be cumbersome. Transitioning between city hubs is not as bad, as the game hides the loading by showing you riding the train.

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The rest of the game thus far feels very much like Deus Ex. The city is a boiling pot of Humans who fear the Augs. There are separate entrances for Augs on the train, and police will perform random identification checks on you in the street. And at all times you feel watched and judged for being different. There are a lot of different side-missions to tackle, and these are refreshingly detailed and lengthy in design.

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PS4/ Journey / Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection

I recently purchased a PS4 and renewed my PSN account. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, so I can own a PS4, so that I can play some the Sony exclusives coming out (The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, Horizon-Zero Dawn), and secondly, in November for the Extra Life campaign, I’ll be hosting a simulcast of God of War. Both my girlfriend and I will be racing through it to see who can complete it first. Haven’t quite figured out the logistics yet of capturing both streams, but it’ll likely involve the backwards compatible PS3 and the PS Now version on the PS4 or PC. Unless I can gather up a 2nd capture card. Luckily I got two months to worry about it.

With the PS4 I purchased the Nathan Drake Collection (previously I had played all 3 on the PS3, but it will be good to play through them again before I play #4), the new Killzone, and through the PSN monthly free games, finally got the chance to play Journey.

Journey was a lot of fun to play through. Not at all complicated, but very good looking with lovely, lonely scenery and sand physics. It’s also quite the emotional trek put to a fantastic score. Sitting in at just 2hrs to beat, I expect I’ll play through this game a few times.

GTA: V / The Division

In multiplayer/ Co-op, with Illestrader, we’ve been playing a lot more GTA V and The Division recently. In anticipation and preparation of Extra-Life, I’ve been recording my footage and recording all the audio, to perfect all the settings. So I might splice together some gameplay clips. Make a Youtube thing of it. I had fun putting together the Ben-Hur Achievement Hunt, so this will just be more practice.

GTA V can be, at times, a very frustrating game to play Online. A lot of the time trying to figure out the little intricacies of the new mechanics, like VIP, and CEO, and then only realizing that this makes you a target for everyone else, and the rest of the time sitting in lobbies waiting for the host to start the game, while they wait 5 minutes for the 16th out of 16 person to join, when 15 is FINE!. The stunt races have been a blast though.

Free Weekends – Titan-Fall 2 Tech Test, Forza 6, and Battlefield 1 Open Beta

Over the past few weekends I’ve been lucky enough to get to play some games for free (Forza 6), and those that have not been released yet (Titan-Fall 2 and Battlefiled 1).

Forza 6 was a lot of fun over the weekend. The game is, as expected, gorgeous, and the rain effects and puddles are splendid. I like the way the campaign is structured now, where it jumps around from tier to tier, showing off different types of cars and years and game modes, so that it doesn’t get stale. I’m holding out for Forza Horizons 3 though. If I did get it, I’d probably waste all my time in the photo mode.

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In-Game Photo Mode :3

Titan-Fall 2 Tech Test was a lot of fun to play. I really like the grappling hook, and the new game mode, Bounty Hunt, really mixes up the gameplay. The titan’s this time around take a while longer to spawn, and don’t seem to last very long at all when you’re piloting them. Left to their own devices on Guard or Follow though, and they seem to last a good while longer. Maybe I’m just too aggressive when I pilot them, thinking I’m invincible.

Battlefield 1 is a gorgeous game to behold, and sadly only one map was made available during the beta. The WW1 theme is an interesting setting. Lots of tracer bullets and the mortars and tank shells take huge gouges out of the earth. More often than not, I’d find myself climbing out of sand craters. The level of destruction is so obvious at the end of the match, but so subtle throughout, you’d think that the map actually started ruined. It’s a nice touch. It feels a lot like Star Wars Battlefront, but then again, it should: same engine, same developer. I’m excited for what the campaign has in store.

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Games that have taken a seat on the back burner are Just Cause 3, and Homefront, The Revolution – although, Homefront received a huge update, fixing hundreds of issues, notably graphics and loading, so I should jump back in since those were the issues that plagued my earlier experience.

-iRogan

 

WHAT i’M PLAYING – Just Cause 3, Homefront The Revolution, and More

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It’s been a little while since I’ve done a breakdown of what I’m currently grinding through…

Homefront: The Revolution

I pop into this game a couple hours a week just to continue the progress. Homefront has been a pretty tedious grind. There are some sections that rely on stealthy incursions, and because stealth is so inherently broken in this title, these sections are hard. You basically have to avoid all enemies entirely as any sort of takedowns or combat will most likely get you seen. Lately I’ve gone with the mindset of “perfection through repetition”. Attack this route, and if it doesn’t work, die, and try again from a different angle. I rarely use the limited health packs unless I successfully advance. Your health takes a hit so hard from the smallest attack and health packs can only be purchased from the bases at a price, or found. The guerrilla warfare mechanics works pretty well, unless the whole area is on alert from the Overwatch ships above, and then really, no matter where you run, you’ll find enemies.

Besides that, the ridiculous loading times, and game saving lags still irritate me, so I’ve been limited my play time. I’ll get through it sooner or later.

Just Cause 3

Another title that I’m putting little bits of time into when I can find them. My main issue with Just Cause games is their overall lack of narrative and direction. The main reason to stay is for the gameplay, I understand this, and appreciate it. But in cases like these, that alone doesn’t hold my attention for long. So far #3 has been the best one of the bunch in both departments, but I’m finding that I’m easily distracted by the challenged, and then don’t advance.

DIRT Rally

Here’s a game I accidentally did dump a bucket load of time into over the weekend. I had a 4 hour Twitch stream going last Friday afternoon which was fun. And I think I’m slowly starting to get the hang of the game’s difficulty and car handling.

The campaign is broken up into tiers: Open, Clubman, Professional, etc, and it promotes the top 3 places at the end of each 6-day set. I’ve made it up to Professional, and have been able to purchase a few cars, and put in enough time to have them upgraded. So now I’ve decreased my rank back to Clubman to try again, and to try and get some first place wins. For the achievements of course. ;). The career also supports online races where you race against the online times of others. It hosts daily races, weekly, and monthly.

Inside

I picked up Inside during the Xbox Summer Game Sale (it wasn’t on sale, it just happened to be released that week) and beat it in one sitting (approx 4 hours) and 100%’d the achievements. I haven’t gone back yet to complete the other “meta” ending. But maybe one day. Or when I play through it again during my Extra Life Marathon (November).

The game was pretty incredible, and I’ll put up a review for it some time this month. The game is dark and ominous, and really gorgeous to look at and watch. It’s basically all black and white with little hints of colour. The subtle brilliant animations of the player’s character are a wonder to behold, and so technically perfect.

Play it if you get the chance.

HALO 5

Finally, after many months, I’m getting the opportunity to play through Halo 5 in co-op. The game is pretty impressive so far, but it does have it’s notable problems. The scale of the levels and visuals are both really impressive. With Halo 5, the 343 team implemented new technology that allows the game to run seamlessly at 60fps but has a texture optimization system that will adjust the resolution on the screen to ensure that in the larger areas with a lot going on, its still looks good, and plays smooth. I haven’t noticed any blatant drop in resolution or textures.

Gameplay is just as good as always, although it feels a bit like Call of Duty now, where you run into an area, fight waves of enemies, and then move to the next area only to fight more waves of enemies. A little bit repetitive and only broken up by a vehicle section. One of the downsides of the huge open maps I guess. They’ve lost out on the variations of small close quarter combat of past Halo’s, sneaky hallway gunplay, and sleeping grunts, as the maps keep getting bigger and more open.

Another gripe is the two teams. Spartan Locke has a fleshed out team, with Buck and a few others. Chief has 3 other Spartans of his own, but they have bland names and just masks on.

Song of the Deep

Lastly, when the Xbox Summer Games Sale was underway, I also picked up Song of the Deep, and Transformers (Which I haven’t tried yet). Song of the Deep and is an underwater submarine game. 2D platforming type game with a little bit of submarine-on-fish combat. It’s also developed by Insomniac Games, which initially drew me.

It’s quite a lengthy game for an indie-like title, and took me about 9 hours to complete, so I guess this would fit under the “what I’ve Played” category if I had one. Review section would be more appropriate. Its a game with a lot of little collectibles that earn you currency to upgrade your ship, and as you progress through the story, you unlock different abilities for your ship that allow you to progress further into the map, but also encourages you to go back and reveal some of those treasures that were once locked away.

The map is quite big and with not enough fast travel portals. All the hidden objects come in 3, so you’re forced to navigate the whole map quite often, unlocking new areas each time.

Its a thoughtful game with an easy story and a feel good ending. A nice little break from the norm.

On that note, I’m still in vacation mode for the better part of August, and then things should swing back around to the normal side. Added a few new drawings to the art section (Harley, Jessica Jones, and Rico from Just Cause 3) and will be working on more when I return.

Still plugging away at my long list of reviews, and I’m getting excited for some of the new games coming out (Dues Ex, ReCore, Forza Horizon 3, Mafia 3, Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, Dishonored 2, Watch Dogs 2… to name a few haha). PAX WEST 2016 is around the corner in September, and then Extra Life 2016 (as mentioned above) is in November. That’s my year ahead.

-iRogan

IDL FEATURE – PAX Day Two: Harley Quinns and Castle Crashers, Dark Souls and IGN Staff

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-Day 2 started a little earlier than Friday, but the convention was that much more packed as we have reached the weekend. Today I saw many Harley Quinn cosplays, and a few of the IGN staff. Good, productive day.

Day 2 – PAX Prime 2015

-Today it was decided that we would get some more hands-on with some games. On the walk to the Convention Centre we walked among the many headed in the same direction and entered among the throng, heading straight to the fourth floor.

-Today we were 4, as a new addition entered into Seattle the night before, so the first step was another tour of the exhibition halls. First IGN celebrity viewing was none other than Naomi Kyle, Daily Fix host.

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-Next up we walked through the Mega Indie Booth and watched some 4-player Gang Beast fights. A physics brawler, where 4 beasts square off melee, sumo, wrestling style. The point is to punch and slam each other and then pick up your opponent, Royal Rumble style, tossing them out of the arena. Looks fun.

-We also caught a bit of the game Drawn to Death. a shooter, where everything is drawn in pen like it was on scrap lined paper at the back of class.

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-Next up we walked through the Microsoft/Xbox territory. Caught a glimpse of some Halo 5, Forza Motorsport 6, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. I may try for some hands-on tomorrow or Monday. Halo 5 looks good, as expected, and Forza 6 looks nice with the water effects.

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-After Xbox we went to check out the Square Enix booth. Square had a big showing this year with Hitman, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy XV, DragonQuest, and Lara Croft GO on display, among others. I got some hands-on with Lara Croft GO on the iPad and it was a lot of fun. A strategic platformer similar to Hitman GO. You can move one space per turn, and you follow along a track that can branch off, and everything else in the level moves in the same turn as you.

–IMG_5010The levels I played took place in the jungle, and involved cliff walls, saw blades and snakes. Swiping the direction of choice, Lara moves and all the traps follow suit, so occasionally, for timing and placement reasons, backtracking is necessary to advance. The game looks nice, and plays smoothly.

-I bought both Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO tonight and will give them both a play-through. For some reason I always thought they were iDevice only.

-I saw some gameplay of the Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae demo, and it definitely looks nice, but not my type of game.

-On the way out of the convention hall for lunch we passed an incredible Dark Souls III statue and a Tomb Raider interviewing Elsa?

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-Off to lunch at the Elephant & Castle Pub under the Motif Hotel, and I ran into IGN’s Daemon Hatfield. Second celebrity sighting of the day.

-After lunch, the plan was to get hands-on with a notable game. Today: Homefront: The Revolution. But first I passed Max Scoville and Brian Altono among the crowded hallways. They looked like they were busy so I didn’t bother them; 3rd and 4th celebrity sighting. Also before reaching Deep Silver’s ground, we walked past the YouTube Gaming panel and watched Gus Sorola, Greg Miller, and Ashley Jenkins talk it out.

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-After a short wait in the Homefront line, we sat in a small theatre to preview the provided demo before given hands on. The demo itself was the same as present at E3 this year, but prolonged and with commentary explaining each step, gameplay feature, and objectives. We were then released onto our own dedicated hand-on playthrough machines, and given free rein.

-Playing off a PC build with controller in hand, we got to play through the E3 2015 demo. Starting with the introduction of the objective to interrupt a patrol. Retreating is a gameplay mechanic encouraged at times because we can very easily become overwhelmed by the stronger enemy. Their units are more heavily armed and they have aerial scouts and trucks. Our own weapon modification ability is very cool. Probably through crafting in the real game, we can swap out gun parts and modify our gun on the fly. Swapping out sights, or grips, or even the barrel for something useful in the situation. Molotovs are featured heavily, and there is a hacking grenade available to take out the drone scouts, reversing their enemy logic. RC remote car bomb is also a handy toy.

-The city is very open, and there are vehicles, like motorcycles available to use. Lots of ramps and stairs to utilize, and climbing plays a part in the exploration of the city.

-The build we played seemed pretty flushed, but still early. Pre-alpha, with an indication of a Spring 2016 release. The game feels a lot like Far Cry, which is not a complaint.

-Last up for my day was some shopping. I was able to grab the full set of Borderland Pop Vinyls from the 2K store, and another Castle Crasher knight from the Behemoth store – an annual tradition – as Tom Fulp, Dan Paladin, and Will Stamper are on hand daily to autograph the way they know how: hilariously.

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-And then the Pink Knight showed up, in coincidental fashion, and made everyone’s time a good time.

IMG_5045-Pizza and a movie to wrap the day in the windy, pouring rain. Until tomorrow, Day 3.

-iRogan

Thursday iReview, Delays, and Cops Vs Robbers

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This morning the Review for Evolve was posted, written by a friend I work with. She’s playing it on the PC, and I don’t own it yet. You can find the review here. She even picked out her own notable achievements :O.

Last night I installed Battlefield Hardline, a whopping 43GB on the Xbox One HDD, and I’m excited to play it tonight. I’ll be streaming it on Twitch, and posting my first impressions tomorrow.

In other news:

Titanfall 2 Confirmed

Coming off the heals of the Titanfall one year anniversary, the previously rumoured, and more or less expected, Titan fall 2 was confirmed by Respawn CEO Vince Zampella, and will be a multiplatform release. No official title.

I’ll be playing some more Titanfall this weekend in honor of the anniversary.

Cities: Skyline Open House

Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive have announced its city-building sim Cities: Skylines has wracked up sales of 250,000 in its first 24 hours. There’s still lots of love out there for city sims, especially after the Sim City reboot struggled. A lower price point at $35 definitely helps, and no mandatory online connection required. I’ll be picking this up shortly to share my thoughts. Stay tuned.

Saddness on the Homefront

Homefront: The Revolution has been delayed until 2016.

Dambuster studios picked up the IP for the Homefront franchise off of Crytek UK, who had picked it up off of the now folded THQ. After the acquisition, and in the interest of focusing the efforts for a quality product, the studio has announced the delays. Not really unexpected as there hasn’t been a lot of information about the title.

Go Outside!

-iRogan