Homefront: The Revolution (Xbox One) Review

Homefront: The Revolution kicks off with the player taking control of a protagonist called Ethan Brady, a new recruit into the resistance that is trying to fend off the North Korean army after it decided to invade the United States of America. It takes place in an alternative timeline set in the year 2029, after the 'Silicon River' led to the Korean People's Army creating military equipment capable of controlling the world.

It is assumed Ethan would just be a small cog in this resistance as the Philadelphia uprising begins, but after a few unfortunate events within the first half hour, it doesn't quite go to plan. Unfortunately, during the initial cut-scenes, players end up missing a lot of information, as they're constantly knocked out cold, and if Ethan actually spoke a few words instead of staying a mute, things may have actually turned out differently. He certainly wouldn't have a massive headache.

The map alone in The Revolution provides a good few hours of entertainment, as it's split into several distinct zone with their own atmospheres, enemies and objectives. Whether in the yellow or red zone, there will always be something to do, and you will most likely stumble across hordes of painfully stupid enemy AI, which makes the game a chore to play. It's easy enough to completely avoid them due to them apparently being blind, deaf and dumb. If you're lucky, you'll find the motorbike, which is hilariously stupid, as it can practically traverse any environment in the world.

Anyone that has played a recent Far Cry title will be extremely familiar with the general concept behind Homefront: The Revolution. It's essentially an open world first-person shooter set in downtown Philadelphia, with dozens of activities and goodies to find. Sadly, this really interesting setting takes place in an atrocious game where every time you want to enjoy it and explore, you're relentless hit by performance issues.

After a bit of exploring and completing of missions, access will be granted to a plethora of weapons and gadgets to help tackle the incoming invasion. This is one area that certainly doesn't disappoint, as there are plenty of goodies to play with and each of them has a range of customisation, which should make adventuring easier. The downside here is that the actual gunplay is not enjoyable in the slightest, and the controls feel sloppy, which makes actually using the guns in battle a frustrating experience.

Every time The Revolution does something slightly right, a mountain of issues emerge to ruin it. One of the few redeeming factors really is the four-player co-op mode, which lets players create their own resistance fighter and team up with pals, taking on six fairly entertaining missions. Regrettably, it doesn't last too long; these missions only take about two hours to complete and the rest have to be waited for in promised DLC via a season pass.

It's not fair to criticise a game purely for its looks if the gameplay is enjoyable, but that may not be possible with Homefront: The Revolution. Everything from the character animation and lip-syncing to just the world in general looks bland, blocky and outright bad. Even eight years ago when the Xbox 360 launched, this would have looked dire back then.

If it at least looked good and occasionally had a bit of a frame hiccup, that would be understandable, but the low frame rate combined the constant crashes and freezing makes it almost unplayable at times. It gets to a point where you're trying to avoid interacting with anything, as it almost always causes the game to freeze for a few seconds at a time.