Ruined suburban schools, double crosses, and mass graves make us uncomfortable in our latest hands-on with this upcoming first-person shooter.
Here’s what we know about Homefront’s single-player side so far: The game will be set in a besieged America of the near future; it will attempt to bring the fight “home” to players by showcasing familiar locales, such as ruined suburbs and shopping malls; and it definitely won’t be for the squeamish. All of those qualities were in force in our latest hands-on with the upcoming shooter from Kaos Studios, where we managed to play through the first three chapters of the game’s campaign to get a real sense of what it’s like to be part of a resistance movement fighting against a cruel and oppressive enemy.
Our last single-player preview went into extended detail about the first chapter. But to quickly recap, you play as Jacobs, a recently recruited member of a small band of resistance fighters battling against the overwhelming technological and numerical superiority of the North Korean People’s Army (NPA). And these North Koreans aren’t the comical, Team America type either. The NPA in Homefront are brutal and ruthless, as evidenced by the cruel deaths of innocent civilians you’re forced to witness in the game’s opening. After your first skirmish with the NPA, the second chapter of the game begins much as the first, with you waking up in unfamiliar surroundings. But unlike the rude awakening of the game’s opening, you find yourself in much more serene surroundings. It turns out that Jacob has been taken to a small refuge hidden amongst some near-ruined suburban houses, and it’s here that civilians have created their own self-sufficient community. As you walk around the refuge, which is hidden away from prying NPA drones by camouflage netting, you’ll see plenty of evidence of this small group’s determination to live–a man using a modified Stairmaster to pump water, couples tending to sickly looking crops, and even some emaciated livestock. In Homefront, the might of America has been reduced to this type of scene.
You won’t have much time for depression, though, as you’re soon thrust into your first real mission as part of the resistance–trying to secure some electronic trackers from a nearby forced labor camp. As you exit from some makeshift tunnels with a few teammates, you’ll find yourself in yet another ruined house. Outside on the street is an automated NPA turret sitting atop a tall crane, and you’re forced to slowly make your way closer to it while avoiding its roving spotlight; if it finds you, it unleashes rapid rounds of hot metal death. After getting close enough to the turret to dispatch of it with a well-placed grenade, you’ll soon find yourself fighting a skirmish against NPA troops in an abandoned school. This locale, much like the houses you’ve fought in previously, is yet another way that Homefront tries to make the fight “real” for players, placing them in familiar yet utterly destroyed areas.
