THQ and developer Kaos Studios’ Homefront – with its quasi-visionary premise and future-North Korean invasion stroyline that had shades of Red Dawn – was one of the darker military first-person shooters released in 2011.
But even though it almost succeeded in crafting real moments of poignancy within a quality FPS, our Homefront review noted how the second half of the the game became increasingly lackluster; its narrative essentially epitomized the developers themselves: an inspired, but ill-equipped-for-the-long-haul studio going up against then-gaming superpowers Call of Duty: Black Ops and EA’s Battlefield series.
Which is why, for Homefront 2, THQ decided they needed help. Financial struggles closed Kaos Studios in June of 2011, and so the publisher shipped development duties of Homefront 2 off to the UK branch of Crytek – the developer whose CryEngine technology has powered the Crysis series to markedly better critical success.
The game isn’t slated for a release until 2014, but in an interview with Games Industry, Danny Bilson, outgoing executive VP of THQ core games, sees the development switch as a revelation for Homefront 2′s future. He thinks it gives the IP more clout in the cutthroat FPS market:
“Not that [Homefront] wasn’t good, but you’re being compared to Call Of Duty and Battlefield, two of the best made games in the business.”
“So what do you do if you’re us and you’ve got this IP you believe in, you know you’ve got the fanbase, you’ve got a million ideas? How do you solve the problem? You go to a beloved developer that we believe can bring our execution up to the level of Call Of Duty and Battlefield with our incredible IP.”
To back his conviction, Bilson’s not just basing his statements on blind hope or sales pitches, either – he’s seen the work on Homefront 2 Crytek has already begun and thinks it’s “phenomenal”:
“the pre-production has been spectacular – I think it’s 5X the game we delivered before when it’s fully realized. And our idea was the consumers who may have been disappointed with some of the aspect of Homefront, with Crytek applied to it, it gives them confidence in the execution with a brand that seems to have a lot of appeal.”
With Kaos Studios having made bold promises before the release of Homefront and Crytek themselves hyping Homefront 2 in an equal fashion, it’s no surprise that Bilson, as well, would share sentiments of grandeur. Mediocre reviews scores or not, sales have shown that appeal was definitely a card the first installment had up its sleeve, and even if “5X the game” (a game that will be 3 years old in 2014) results reflected little more than some commingling of video games and Moore’s law, Homefront 2 should captivate its ardent fanbase on CryEngine 3′s visual vitality alone. That being said, a fleshed out multiplayer component will be crucial in keeping fans hooked after the 10-hour campaign.
Ranters, this isn’t the first time executives at THQ have compared the Homefront series to successful shooters like Call of Duty – do you find Bilson’s belief in the IP to be genuine? Should more developers be outspoken about the goals of their games and their place among competition?
Homefront 2 is in development for a 2014 release on the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC. Next-generation consoles have also been hinted at.
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Source: Games Industry [via MP 1st]
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Awesome, but I won’t play this until I Homefront.
@ATG
I say don’t even bother with the first one, there was barely a narrative, so you really wouldn’t be missing anything. I say wait for the reviews of this second one, if it’s overwhelmingly positive, and they have a demo, try the demo, if you like it, buy it, play it, enjoy it, and just forget that there was ever a first one… That’s my plan…
part 1 did have a good story top short though
Even though the story length sucked, and it went from very promising to eh, I still liked the game. I have hope that they will deliver in the sequel.
@Epsilon
The concept was VERY promising. I was hoping to play a game form of Red Dawn, but the actual narrative in the game was so weak and the gameplay was just so… blah… what a wasted opportunity…
Totally agree, they need to make their main focus on the story this time around, the multiplayer was fine.
by 5X better he means visually
see this is why i say CoD is killing innovation and creativity – everyone wants to beat it why ?! why not try and go for something different and fresh to draw in your own fan base rather then trying to leech CoDs pre-teen idiots that dont know quality when the see it (alot of those rejects hate bf3 b/c it’s ‘to hard’).
i really hope thq pulls it off in the end b/c those guys deserve a break, i know darksiders 2 and metro will bring in a nice sum for them but i doubt it will be enough to move them out of cold water and intro the heat. i also think pushing out saints row 4 so soon is a little premature, imo in order to release a numbered sequel (like gta 4) you need to have something truly unique. that’s not to say gta 4 brought anything new to the table (i consider it a really HQ HD version of gta3 in all honesty) but it was substantially better then 3 (however vague the mechanics where and how empty the game world felt). i make the same criticism with gta 5, it’s basically san andreas but with everything gta 4 featured, and that wasn’t a lot:
pretty cool and responsive AI
cover fire
realism in cars (the engine can cease if it takes to much damage)
and better visuals (but still nothing over the top or comparable to the texture mod recently released by the community for it).
f*** me that was way off track (and partly not related to the topic at hand). in conclusion, i think it will sell a little more then homefront 21 (which made something like 400k sales in 1 week (which is pretty good imo for a new ip)).
I believe the reason that a lot of COD players don’t play BF3 is because BF3 plays at a much slower pace (especially on consoles), not because it’s “to hard.”
Where Homefront lacked in the campaign – it made up for it with the multiplayer.. Too bad the game was forgotten about, with no updates and its fair share of server connection problems, glitches and lack of support by THQ. I understand that KAOS went bust not long after its release – but THQ should look after its HF fanbase, by updating the game, in the lead up to the sequel’s release in 18 months time.