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After their first attempt at a military shooter with Frontlines: Fuels of War, Kaos Studios are back. Homefront takes place in 2027 when the Korean People's Army has invaded America. The game aims to offer a shocking singleplayer story, along with a robust online multiplayer package featuring support for 32 players thanks to dedicated servers. The team has an impressive back-catalogue, from their work on one of the biggest Battlefield1942 mods Desert Combat, to arguably the best in the Battlefield series with BF2, but do they have what it takes to compete with the big boys?

The singleplayer portion of Homefront puts the player in the shoes of Robert Jacobs, a former US helicopter pilot. After being rudely awoken by Korean soldiers, players are treated to an interesting on rails section, reminiscent of that seen in Half Life 2, where the game introduces the shocking brutality of the invaders. It's not long however before you're drafted into the Resistance. From then on you'll battle your way through masses of enemy soldiers and vehicles for around 5-6 hours in a fairly standard shooter affair. Where Homefront's campaign sets itself apart is in the wonderfully realised setting of a war torn America. Kaos have done a fantastic job of crafting an extremely believable rendition of the US. You'll be fighting your way through real life recognisable locales such as 'Hooters' and other stores. This setting certainly goes a long way in immersing the player in the story.

Another way Kaos have tried to set the game apart from the crowd is with the 'Goliath' sections. The Goliath is a powerful 6 wheeled unmanned ground vehicle which the player must use at various points throughout the campaign to assist them. By using a target painter the player can use the Goliath to destroy both soldiers and vehicles. This breaks up the basic shooting sections and helps to add variety to the campaign. However vehicle nuts need not worry as players will be able to manually control a helicopter in a later level.

The shock factor regularly used throughout the campaign certainly helps to keep you engrossed. Without spoiling any particular moments John Milius has done a great job of portraying the true brutality of war. That said the overarching story itself is made largely disappointing thanks to a poor cast of characters. Connor Morgan is the main culprit of this - a former soldier turned resistance fighter, who largely acts as your commanding officer throughout the game. He'll give you orders and assist during battle, however is completely unlikeable thanks to his cocky and extremely irritating nature. Rianna on the other hand often offers some moral grounding during the more harrowing moments of the game, and is certainly a much more interesting character.

The campaign is indeed short, weighing in at around 5-6 hours. Through that time it certainly kept me interested but failed to wow at any particular moment. It's a solid albeit unspectacular romp. However where the meat of the game lies is definitely in the multiplayer. It is here where the game really starts to shine. Kaos have managed to craft an online experience which borrows from the best and sprinkles in twists of its own. The game offers the accessibility and fast paced action seen in the Call of Duty series, whilst combining this with the scale and vehicular combat from the Battlefield franchise. 32 players can duke it out over the game's 8 maps and multiple modes. The stand out game type is certainly Ground Control. Here both teams fight over 2 or 3 points to capture and hold (depending on map size, usually 3). When a team wins a round however the map actually shifts backwards or forwards, depending on who wins, to reveal another set of points, until one team wins the best of 3 rounds. This offers some tense push and pull gameplay which indirectly forces players to fight as a team to be successful.

Homefront offers the usual RPG-lite ranking system which has become a staple in first person shooters as of late, allowing players to progress from rank 1 through to 75. Players can customise their own classes to create their desired role. Although the list of weapons is fairly small, each allows for a wide range of attachments which must be unlocked through kills with that specific gun, along with various camos which are unlocked through killstreaks with that weapon. The game uses a point based perk system; each perk is assigned a point value, such as 3 points for one which provides 2 extra grenades, and 1 point for a perk which improves your reload speed. Each infantry class has a maximum of 4 points, which is increased to 5 upon reaching level 25. As expected more perks are unlocked as the player progresses. This system results in a highly customisable balanced perk system - do you get 4 or 5 smaller perks, or just a couple of larger ones, the choice is yours. 

Kaos have expanded their loadout system into vehicles too. As you progress you'll unlock the ability to customise your perk loadout for the game's vehicles. The game features unique vehicle perks which follow the same point based system as explained above. These perks range from increased turret turning speed, to increased damage, and even a perk which auto-ejects the player out of the vehicle before its imminent explosion. You're also granted 2 specific slots during class creation where you can choose Battlepoint purchased bonuses. Battlepoints are offered as a form of currency for every task you do during the multiplayer - kill an enemy or capture a point and you'll be rewarded with BP. With this you can choose to spawn in a vehicle at a cost, such as an APC, Tank or Helicopter (Apache unlocked at Rank 12), or spend your points on the fly on your Battlepoint slotted abilities. These range from Hellfire Missile and White Phosphorus airstrikes, to a handheld RPG launcher, to fully remote controllable drones. These drones offer the player ground based anti infantry and anti tank variants, RC Helicopters and even a manually controlled UAV style drone. Using this players can be rewarded for supporting their team mates without actually gaining kills, instead by spotting enemies. The entire team will then get red diamonds on their HUD to indicate the enemy's location. All of these drones offer unique and interesting gameplay whilst never being overpowered thanks to their weakness to EMP grenades and also their low health. The result of the BP mechanic is in an ever-changing battlefield; at the start of a match players will rush to the objectives on foot, yet by the third round you'll have airstrikes coming down, drones flying around, tanks destroying infantry and helicopters owning the skies - it's quite a sight.

Players can also participate in Battle Commander variants of Ground Control and Team Deathmatch. Here each team gains an AI Battle Commander. As players earn killstreaks their Commander will give them benefits such as a personal UAV or damage resistance, however the enemy team's commander will place a BP bounty on their head and show a rough idea of their location on the minimap for a few players. This system is an interesting combination of GTA's Wanted mechanic mixed with Call of Duty's killstreak system. The better a player does, the more benefits he gets, but the more enemies are sent to kill him with the increasing incentive of a BP bonus for doing so. It's a pretty unique system for online shooters, and adds another layer of objectives onto the multiplayer for those that want it. Overall the multiplayer is a refreshing experience which has already sucked me in. It's not particularly groundbreaking, but offers the perfect blend of speed, accessibility and scale, whilst maintaining lag-free games thanks to the inclusion of dedicated servers.

The game looks and sounds great. Although it won't necessarily wow anyone in either department, it does a solid job of representing the wartorn USA caused by the Korean invasion. The attention to detail in the environments throughout the campaign is absolutely fantastic, especially during the walk around interactive civilian sequences, thanks to some smart use of lighting. The weapon models have all been wonderfully crafted, sound beefy and are satisfying to use. The game runs along at around 30fps for the most part without much slowdown whatsoever, even during the heated combat moments both online and offline.

Overall Homefront is a brilliant package. Although the singleplayer is short and unspectacular, it does offer some great moments and will certainly keep you interested throughout. That said if you're going to pick up the game then do so for the online multiplayer - this is Kaos doing what they do best. With support for 32 players, a robust unlock system, the fantastic battlepoints mechanic and some manic vehicular combat this is an online experience shooter fans won't want to miss.

Homefront Gets An Official Game-Pad 8.9/10