Right off bat, I was excited for the game simply because the story and concept were a wonderful setting for books, movies and now it was playable. The writer, John Milius that is known for such films as Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn was on board, so my interest was peaked. Had the reservation, picked it up day one, got home later that evening with nobody to bother me, embraced the fresh scent of a new game, and was off to adventures!

Pressing start for any new game is quite the pleasure. Figured if I was gonna get the full effect why not start off on hard. Most shooting games have a similar learning curve… don't get shot. The first level was sufficient in explaining the back story, and then you're set on a conveyer belt of exposition revealing the world that's soon to be explored. Everything starts off well, THEN you take control of the main character who is some faceless/voiceless important to the team nobody, and excitement fades. Movement took some adjusting to. Playing so many shooters where the main character actually has some weight within the world (Portal, Modern Warfare, DOOM) I was taken back by the slippery aim and movement. At that moment, it kind of made sense why there was an "aim assist" in the options screen. I trucked on.

Graphically, I wasn't impressed. And usually that line doesn't come from me, nor has it ever been a real deal breaker. Sadly, Homefront suffers from the dreaded invisible barrier nonsense; an unavoidable plague when funneling players from one end of the level to another. Maybe since I started using the HDMI plug in for my TV, my attention to detail has been a little over-zealous. Either way, the character animation for your squad mates and numerous baddies is kind of robotic. Even worse, when moving around the environment there are minor troubles navigating around objects and stairwells. Once again, not a deal breaker… but quite the nuisance.

After mixing for about 3 hours, I reached a good point in the story to stretch and get my samich on. Besides the story being written by a well known person, Homefront was lauded for its online multiplayer action. Something that also peaked my interest in a day one pick up. Any online shooter that isn't Call of Duty gets me excited, simply because I like to think my chances in the online arena improve. Maybe not so much, but it's a nice thought. Five minutes into a ground control match, I quickly realized most of the people who play games like CoD are shooting me every which way -- their gamer profiles confirmed this unfortunate reality. Learning the land of a few maps helped, and my expansive knowledge of shooters told me getting shot is not what the cool kids would do… so I hung back and did some sniping/recon. That plan went out the window pretty quick when everyone and their mother decided to drop missiles through out the level.

Like most popular shooters, Homefront caters to skills, perks, unlockables, and numerous other death dealing advantages. Get on a kill streak and earn everything from faster running speeds to special abilities that allow you to see other players without buying equipment. Every action has a "battle point" value, so while in the thick of it you can use these points to buy equipment (body armor, rocket launchers, drones, etc) that are arranged in the pre-game lobby. It's a fun concept and really motivates one to get involved. Rake in enough points and you can start going nuts by purchasing vehicles.

Since the single player kept vehicle action to a minimum, familiarity is scarce; vehicle controls work mighty well and are easy to pick up though. Acquiring enough points to rampage around in a tank or attack chopper is quite the endeavor online. If your slow on the draw, other players will be freaky fast about taking you out, so coordination among teammates is kind of essential, especially on the much larger 32-player maps.

Overall, Homefront's online game play is solid. If you can stomach the barrage of every military bullet and gizmo raining down on you, the 32-player maps and vehicle action alone is enough for a rental. As for a full price purchase… nnoooot so much. Clocking in barely at 5 hours when the credits rolled, I was feeling sorely burned by the extremely short campaign. Not like this hasn't happened with shooters before, but crunching the numbers basically told me I was paying $10 an hour for a measly 6 chapters of story that could have offered so much more. Epic Fail!

Time to break out that expansion for Dead Space 2…

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 16 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Damn, it's been a hell of a while...A lot of stuff has happened, and I've been really busy...This year actually marks my first year of High School, I'm in 9th grade...It's been really busy and I have a crapload of overdue work but first quarter I got straight A's except for an 89 in English...

Christmas is the 25th, it's in 3 days...My Dad's over right now as I'm typing this, I skipped school to spend the day with him in New York City, it's been two years and I was going to, but didn't, see him in Japan last Summer like my brother did two Summers ago...Oh yeah, of course, what am I getting?

Well, the FCTwin's pin connector is officially broken, the system itself still works fine, but I can't play NES games. I COULD replace it, the connectors are about 2 bucks, but it'd be hard to do, it would probably happen again, and you know what, I'm just going to eventually get either a real NES or a Famicom and a pin converter to play NES games...And a real SNES.

So I ended up doing a buttload of research on cl@ssic gaming consoles and which one I should get for Christmas. I discovered that the Colecovision, Intellivision, Magnavox Odyssey 2, Vectrex, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari 7800 are AWESOME...I wanted one out of the list, and it finally boiled down to Colecovision or 7800...Both could play 2600 games (The Colecovision had an expansion module) and both had a great library of arcade ports with better graphics than the 2600 (And in the case of Colecovision, sound) but I finally went with the 7800 due to its much higher reliability, better price, and in general games that are probably more relevant today. Colecovision has Venture, Pepper II, and Carnival, 7800 has Mario Bros, Dig Dug, and Ms. Pac Man...But both are some of the best systems ever, and I plan to get a Colecovision later. However, the Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast are probably at the top of my system wishlist right now.

Of course, there's the PS3...My awesome Dad already got it for me. (Not sure which model) He got it at a store, and there was one game that he couldn't get (Thinks it's Soul Calibur 4) as I asked for 5, Street Fighter 4, Soul Calibur 4, Call of Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, (lots of 4s!) and Bioshock...He got Super Street Fighter IV instead of Street Fighter IV also, and I'm really not sure which one to prefer, Super has more characters, some other good changes to online/characters/new modes/etc, but the original probably has a better announcer, Time Attack and Survival Mode...I also ordered Ridge Racer 7 on my own earlier...Also, he says 2 of the games were used, and the @$$hole security people in the airport ripped off the PS3 gift wrapping and opened the box, but such is life...

So I'm really looking forward to Christmas, the rest of the break, and getting myself more straightened out in school...Oh, and of course, being more active here...I have used the forums quite a bit and they're really one one of the better forums on the internet...Life's been really busy and hard for me lately, so I appreciate your support, and I'll try to comment on your blogs too...

Yours,

MrSaturn33

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 12 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

BYE guys..................

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 19 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

**stolen from Ed**

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 11 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot