The fact that large corporations prefer not to invest in separate projects, but immediately create franchises, not news and not a secret. But sometimes the producers go, it seems, too far, starting to revive the series and brands, which for the first time did not particularly interest anyone. For what?
Original HomeFront was a gray and faceless joker-one-day, parasitizing on all fashionable ideas. The game did not offer anything really original (except for setting). After the collapse ThQ The trademark has passed into new hands, another studio is now working on the continuation, but this seems to have not changed: the demo presented at the Igomir The Revolution – This is again sad mediocrity.
Pseudo -historical certificate
In 2025, treacherous Koreans attacked the noble and freedom-loving USA. Attacked quickly and decisively, having enslaved half of the country and establishing their own orders there. And the states were smashed to smithereens could not oppose anything and for four years have been waging a war on their territory. And the occupied inhabitants get used to living under the oppression of uninvited guests.
The plot line of the original game is discarded as unnecessary: events were postponed to 2029. It makes no sense to go into the more specific nuances “who
has been re -prostatic” during this time: in principle, nothing has changed. The player will have to get used to the role of a resistance fighter, who conducts an underground struggle for a just cause.
The “plot-oriented cinematic shooter” remained in 2011-now the developers have taken up the open world with adaptive gameplay. “Far Cry In the city “,” “Dying Light without parkour ” – the authors themselves give such comparisons. Of course, making a theatrical curtsy, they say, this is all only guidelines, but in fact they have plenty of original and interesting ideas.
True, while they are not known about them too much. The most interesting today is the structure of the game world. The city is divided into zones: green, yellow and red. As you might guess, this means the level of security – if it is allowed to shoot in the red ones, then it is not customary to arrange in green fingers on the streets. The most interesting are the yellow zones, because it is a real ghetto with a huge number of armed soldiers who are third inhabitants.
Partisan War and other entertainment on Friday evening
Armed with this information, I went to the stand HomeFront On the first day of the “game”, until the queue presses in the back. It turned out to be given the passage of about thirty minutes, and this is more than enough to understand all the main mechanics.
It was allowed to play in demo with E3. This is a fairly faceless mission in the red zone, which boils down to several shootings in different parts of the city. First of all, with several patterns, you need to attack a futuristic military convoy.
On the cornice where we set up an ambush, the authors carefully placed several barrels of fuel: if you pull the lever, they will fall on the heads of the invaders. You can do something else: lay on the C4 road, arrange an explosion behind the convoy and disperse attention, or throw all Molotov cocktails from the window.
The shootout can be carried out at any distance convenient for you and in any rhythm. The weapon consists of modules, as in Crysis, – You change the sight, trunk, fire mode, type of shells and their modifications. Turn the machine into a grenade launcher is a matter of three seconds.
The only thing that cannot be done is to go out on the forehead and shoot everyone. Kill in the game quickly: the character is equal to opponents and is often crushed by the amount. Therefore, you have to use partisan methods – constantly move, throw grenades, arrange traps and try to control the course of the battle. It sounds good, but the firing mechanics are very mediocre: this is a slow console shooter, which is still not very comfortable from the gamepad.
After the first bunch of enemies was shot, I was offered to go to the next marker on the other edge of the card: it is time to capture the “tower”. Sitting on a motorcycle, I began to explore the city – and it turned out to be somewhat more interesting than I expected.
Firstly, it’s nice that during the plot tasks the world around the world does not freeze. Random events take place in it (I came across several shootings), the Asians still patrol the streets, snipers are sitting on the roofs, drones fly around. Getting involved in a fight with each painful, so you try to be either fast or inconspicuous. “Partisan” logic really works: if the path is blocked by enemies, it is better to look like a roundabout.
A special pain is a ship flying over the city, which illuminates the streets with rays. If you get into his zone of attention, then the opponents will begin to pour endlessly on their heads until you manage to hide. Here, there is an opportunity to climb absolutely anywhere – there are absolutely no restrictions in the city. This works especially funny with a motorcycle: if you find a suitable staircase (and you will find for sure), you can roll out an iron friend on any roof.
Driving the streets from the persecution, I got to the “tower” that needs to be captured – that is, to the shield, which needs to be hacked. And then to the generator that needs to be launched, and to the cans of the fuel, which needs to be brought. In general, a boring and completely unintended set of tasks, formed only to have to stagger more around the city, collecting adventures.
As a result, the main idea of red zones The Revolution The fact that the player practically does not withstand direct confrontation, but is forced to constantly get involved in fights. For victory, it is necessary to show imagination and use the maximum of available gadgets. Typical “sandbox”.
To promise does not mean fulfilling
This was fully confirmed by one of the developers with whom I managed to talk: he launched the same demo level and began to have fun with a much greater understanding of gameplay nuances. Now there was a rainy night in the yard (there are a change of time of day and weather conditions, but gives a purely cosmetic effect).
It turned out that there really is a lot of creative freedom. You can throw a chimney exactly into the drone, it will get stuck and smoke everywhere wherever he flew (the author vowed that this is a bug that they decided to make a “Picky”). You can attach explosives to the motorcycle, and then send it to the enemy convoy. You can take a radio-controlled machine and again send it something to blow up. Although no possibility of all variety causes a “wow” effect. Representative Dambuster Studios I tried very much, but I never could surprise some really original focus.
But showed a lot of new. It turned out that the city is so detailed and open to research that literally in every building you can find caches. True, judging by the evasive answers, nothing but an extra portion of cartridges, it will not be possible to find. But if you find a drawn icon on the wall and count it using a mobile phone as a QR code, then the location will remain marked on the map.
By the way, about a mobile phone. This is one of the main objects in the world HomeFront – And the map, and the cracker of the systems, and the gadget control panel, and the camera, and, most importantly, a distinctive sign among revolutionaries. The cellular in the gloomy future is prohibited, and therefore anyone who sees you with the device will immediately understand how you spend your free time.
In red areas, this, of course, does not play a role, but in yellow and green it affects the most direct way. Depending on how successfully your revolutionary activity will be advanced, the mood of civilian will also change – they can behave more aggressive in relation to the invaders or, conversely, poke a finger in you, as in the outrage of calm and traitor. So that everything is good, you need to do the same as in all games of recent years: to perform side quests, the same type of tasks in the sectors and everything in that spirit. And you also need to ensure that your war does not lead to victims among the population.
Accordingly, if you decide to send SMS in the middle of a crowded area, then others have several behavior options: screaming with screams;take you to the dark lane and convey some supplies for the sake of the common cause;Ask for help or offer it.
The authors promise to follow the principles Half-Life, когда главный герой обезличен, а вокруг него постоянно разворачивается драма с яркими характерами и эпическими событиями. The revolutionaries will have their own headquarters and a whole team of diverse characters, with each of which will need to be built relations. More modest than in Mass Effect, but it seems in essence: get skeletons from the cabinet of a partner and fulfill several personal requests.
Problem HomeFront: The Revolution not in the absence of ambitions or budget, not in some critical mistakes. Her problem is a complete lack of imagination. Like the previous part of the series, the game is trying to be fashionable and youth, but there is still nothing to catch on the eye here.
I would not put a cross or say that it turns out badly. Everything works as the authors think. The environment and mechanics are made with dignity and pleasant, but too gray and unpretentious. But, in the end, we have already seen twice how the obvious “rims” turned out to be great games (Mad Max or Shadow of Mordor), therefore The Revolution you can give out a small credit of trust.
