Another instance involves a hectic firefight when, seemingly from nowhere, a Korean solder blindsides you. There’s no time to react but, just as Death’s about to strike, a teammate saves your skin with a well-placed bullet. Replay the same fight using the same movement path and this surprise encounter probably won’t occur again, giving the scripted events a more natural feeling.
The Drama Engine has the potential to be a great tool if used correctly. Worryingly, if its behaviour isn’t heavily moderated, Homefront could be absolutely dreadful: imagine if said soldier encounter happened every five minutes. Kaos isn’t run by mugs though, and we’re confident that in the year or so left until launch they’ll craft the Drama Engine in ways that should prevent any HAL-style loopiness.
Despite boasting a lobby spacious enough for 50 people, Frontlines didn’t exactly threaten to steal gamers away from Halo or Call of Duty. Unperturbed, Kaos is planning a similarly large scale multiplayer environment, and one which might also cater to those after a cooperative experience. The campaign mode is definitely for single-player only, but like Modern Warfare, there might just be special co-op features to keep buddies happy during the weeks after launch.
If Homefront’s single player is indeed more like Modern Warfare, it could attract a bigger crowd, which would mean its massive multiplayer maps would finally get the communities they deserve. It’s a huge “if” – and, we admit, a highly improbable one – but Kaos is home to some talented developers and it’ll be tragic if Homefront sinks as fast as Frontlines did.
We all love blammo and Homefront won’t disappoint on that count. Becoming a Modern Warfare contender will be a problem though, especially as this is on course to be Frontlines reskinned with slightly tighter gunplay.
Jul 15, 2009
