It’s…okay?
After experiencing utter disappointment with the first Homefront I expected nothing less than the same crushing feeling playing the Revolution closed beta (which kicked off today on Xbox One). But to my surprise it was…okay? “Serviceable,” is probably what I’m going for here.
The build is still very rough (they have a decent amount of time until May to fix it), but there’s at least something there for people who like to grab a few friends and dive into mission-based gameplay.
Set two years after the original, Revolution yet again sees the US taking on Korea after the “Battle of San Francisco” (haha, I couldn’t make that up). Nonsensical plot aside, the new “Resistance mode” that’s on display in the beta is an excuse to inject some heavy perk-like elements in alongside of co-op missions that actually show some semblance of promise come May.
The character creation (the whole art style really) is very muted and drab, though I eventually ended up settling on a dude that looks like Hans from Frozen (Santino Fontana) which was a plus. Your “background” is nothing more than a gamey way to influence your playstyle, ranging from the utterly bizarre (a “Cab Driver” persona that boosts your RC Car prowess, what? That should have been “Inner Child”) to the practical, such as a history as a former baseball player enhancing your throwing power.
From there, you’re whisked away to a magical treadmill land of supply drops, leveling up, and co-op missions. I like the shift to four player co-op myself, as I don’t think Revolution could offer anything new from a PVP standpoint. The open world angle for its campaign (separate from Resistance) could also work in developer Dambuster’s favor as well. I’m not hopeful due to its pedigree, but I’ll give them a shot since this is their first game, and many of its members once called Free Radical Design home, which worked on TimeSplitters.
You can see a whole scenario play out for yourself in the above video.
