Patch 1.04 has been released, has it done much to fix some of the games problems, well, yes and no. I have icons back on my map (yay!) and my hearts and minds are working, however there are still annoying freezes within the game.
They're not as extreme as they were before but they are still present, and this really shouldn't be happening for checkpoints, such elongated pauses for what? So the game can save your checkpoint. What other game doesn't this? What other game does any know of that freezes when you get to a checkpoint? Non is my answer. So why is it happening?
The frame rate within the game is still terrible. It's struggling to get over 20fps at times, and at those points, the game lags a lot. Unfortunately the drop in frame rate happens a bit too much for my liking. I hope these issues are sorted out soon, from what I've played of the game, I've really enjoyed it, and I don't want to have a few issues ruin a good game.
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Ever since the first Homefront was launched, I fell in love with the series, I was looking forward to the next instalment. The original game brought something different to the FPS genre, the whole story and narrative was different. I loved the 'What if' scenario, it always gave me a kind of 'Man in the High Castle' vibe.
So I was sad to hear when Kaos, then THQ went down the pan. I thought I would never get that second game. But then lo and behold the franchise was purchased and a second game was on the cards, and there is was The Revolution was born.
Taken from a different perspective to the first game, you find yourself in Philadelphia fighting against the KPA. You're a part of the Revolution and your trying to take the KPA down and take back not just the city, but your country.
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Trusty Molatov[/caption]The first thing that I noticed when playing were the graphics, now I will admit that this isn't the best looking game, there are things that I felt could have been a little more detailed and a bit of uniqueness could have been placed into the game in terms of showing where you can jump. I prefer a game that has it's own identity and isn't afraid to show a bit more.
Character models within the game are quite good, however - and this is one thing that I hate as I call this lazy development - there are very few models being used. Most of the KPA have there faces covered, so that's not too bad, however with the resistance fighters, there is a very distinct lack of models being used. At the start of the game, you find 2 of the same character stood right next to each other. Not at the opposite ends of the area, but RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER! I facepalmed hard on this, it actually annoyed me. In this day and age, plus with an extra 6 months to a year's development time, they could have put in so many more models to make the game that bit more random. I don't care really if I see the same character twice, but at the end of the day I don't want them standing right next to each other. I think this is the thing that has annoyed me greatly about this game.
The AI's within the game are slightly ridiculous if I'm going to honest. I had one who was chasing me, I ran round a fence, turned to shoot and he wasn't there... Strange I thought. I crouched down to look for them in case they were hiding, but nope he wasn't hiding, he had tried to run through the fence and was continuing to do so, I walked right up to him and he didn't turn or bat an eyelid... So I shot him to put him out of his misery. It's the same with most AI's in the game, they will just run in front of you and let you mow them down. Lambs to slaughter. Doesn't bother me though, easy killings.
The loading times within the games are quite long and can get quite tedious. I really don't understand why the game takes so long to load and there's other bigger world games etc that don't even take half as long. I hope this is one of the things that the developers look into trying to improve.
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Take on the KPA[/caption]I said above that I though that the character models were the most annoying things within the game, I would like to change that to what I'm about to talk about next, and that is the game freezing.... Alot..... Everytime you load into the game it will freeze, a new mission is being give to you or an on the fly mission is presented the game will freeze, you want to go into the shop and buy stuff... No problem, but the game freezes... Every.Single.Time. For at least 10 seconds, and sometimes when checkpoints are multiple it can even be longer than 10 seconds and it is very frustrating.
I did contact the devs about this before writing the review, and they did get back to me to say that this was a priority for them and should be sorted in the next fix. All in all the game is quite buggy, it actually has me wondering whether or not any one has tested this, because it shouldn't have been allowed to pass. There are also instances where default texts will appear where the strike/mission name and description is meant to show, and all it will show is 'Strike Name' and underneath 'Narrative Text' - If someone has tested this game, have they honestly thought that that is what it should really say. Because if that is the case, how the hell were they allowed to test the game?
I have also noticed that there have been a fair few frame rate drops and stutters, which again has annoyed me. The game keeps dropping down to around the 20fps mark and its making the game unplayable in places. The animations as well cause a few issues with me, especially if you're wanting to do things on the fly as sometimes the animations or the combination you have to press on the controller to mod your weapon makes it slightly impossible on the fly. I've noticed that even reloading can be a bit of a drag.
Saying that though the guns within the game are very customisable. You can change weapons to be something different, such as the first gun you have is a pistol, and you learn how to mod that into an SMG, so you can switch between the 2 mods. But don't try doing it in the middle of battle as it takes that long, you will more than likely die.
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Customise your gun to your hearts content[/caption]I have been looking forward to this game, for a long time, I played it last year at EGX and enjoyed it and had a word with a few guys there about it, and they were discussing the game with me while I was in the queue, and from what they were telling me with the direction etc they were going it sounded like it was going to be amazing. But the launch of this has just reminded me of the first one... Bug ridden. Problems though that can be sorted out with updates etc.
I feel the franchise has lost it's identity a bit with this game, it doesn't bring anything new to the franchise or the FPS genre. When playing and moving around the world, the game feels like you're playing Far Cry, it has that same movement and feel to it.
There was so much potential to this game, and it could have cemented it's place, but it's been released dry and stale. I am enjoying playing it, don't get me wrong, and I think that once the bugs are ironed out and I can see what's on my map I think I will enjoy it a lot more. But I honestly think there has been a wasted opportunity here and wonder what the future holds for the franchise.
Overall I'm going to give it a 6 (For now, I'll see how the updates fix the game and whether the score needs to be amended.)
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