VG Review - Homefront

I know this title is a bit older, but it did in fact take me this long to get around to getting it, so I'm sure others will appreciate the review as well.

First of all, the premise of the story is amazing and kind of spooky. North Korea's leader passes away, his son takes over, unifies North and South Korea and starts making his way through Asia and eventually attacks the US, taking Hawaii first and then California. It takes place sometime after 2027, so its both far enough away to be slightly futuristic, but close enough so that everything in the story is kept realistic and plausible.

Obviously, its a First Person Shooter, so we need to talk graphics, weapons and replay-ability.

Graphics: The graphics were a bit better than I expected, very sharp and clear. I also liked that they used video clips of actual political figures in the beginning when they're explaining the story and premise. They used them for the beginning of the time-line, and as they worked their way to the "present" of the story, it became more vague about the political figures and more detailed on the horrors of the ongoing war, which is fitting as well as a nice transition into this world they've created. The blood isn't flat when it splatters on objects, though sometimes it looks a little too singled out, since its something that was added to the previous object, but its pretty realistic otherwise.

Weapons: Most of the time, decent weapons can be found. Everyone is going to have their favorites, so I won't go into criticizing one over the other. Personally, I like the red-dot sights best, but the holographic sights were interesting. For the die-hard old school shooters, there are plenty of ACOG sights all over the place too. The weapons themselves varied little, having only a dozen or so different types, but then if you're in the middle of an occupation/war, and all you can get your hands on is the enemy's weapons, that's going to happen. They also vary in firing, from the M14/M16 that fire single shots and 3 shot bursts, to the fully automatic machine guns that you can cut down a row of enemies if you've got the control for it. The recoil is realistic in that, if you  have that automatic firing, it'll try to go straight up from your original position if you let it. This can be good if you want to make sure you really got him, start at the midsection and stop when you get your head shot.  Otherwise, controlled bursts, as always, are usually the way to go. PS - there's a dot-sight which had a Blue dot which was so nice, i did my best to find it whenever possible.

Replay Factor:  I was warned repeatedly that the game is short, by reviewers everywhere, by other gamers, and anywhere I read about the game really. And yes, the game is short. I started it last night and finished it last night. I'd say, a good four or five hours worth of game play. Of course, I've gone through other games almost as fast too, usually taking two to three days for normal games. That being said, I'm torn. The story is good, and the missions are interesting. The game seems replay-able in that, its a shooter so hearing the story over and over isn't usually a big deal since the point is to run around being sneaky, sniping and/or shooting. But as the story in this game is one of its main features, I'm guessing it would probably be dull after a while, since there's so little story to it. So, replay factor will probably depend on how often you play it through.

All in all, this was a good game, especially considering I got it for free (buy 2 get 1 free sale).
Graphics: 9
Weapons: 9
Replay: 8

Overall Score: 9/10

The crazy world we live in, and how it might just get worse...

Note: This post is going to be a bit informal, a bit informational, and a lot of ranting and raving. Brace yourself.


         Alright, as most of my readers know, since so far most of you are friends and family or maybe you took the time to read my bio, I'm a computer tech by trade. As a computer tech, there are always people out there who ask for help, need things, and usually require it as simply as possible. In an effort to provide this to friends, customers, family and random passers-by who are complaining about tech issues I can help with, I have spent money over the years on different servers and/or services online. I have LogMeIn Free for my personal computers and those of my immediate family, I have FreeVNC for customers or friends who require it, and I have a paid file-sharing account, where I can post anything from my own music files (which I also post on YouTube when I can be bothered), free tech tools, and the occasional picture I'm trying to share with people. I've never shared anything copyrighted on my file-share account, unless you count my own songs which are sometimes cover songs of other people but don't actually count as copyrighted material in the 'piracy' side of the mentality.

     For years, I've had the same company doing the file-sharing. Recently, I noticed I was paying quite a bit more for this service than I would somewhere else. So I switched services over to FileSonic, who offered not only unlimited space, which is always good, and unlimited time limits on my uploads. They also offered a 2GB file size limit, well above any other people's file size limits for uploads, which means that no matter how big the tool, how huge the signature file or how long the song/video I captured and wanted to share was, I'd be covered. Yay!

     Now, last week, the FBI raided MegaUpload, arrested the owner, seized the website and hardware and god knows what else. In my looking into file sharing servers last month, I almost chose them because they're well known, they're inexpensive, and they usually have easier links to their files than some places because they tend to be shorter. When I'm dictating a link to a customer/friend/family member over the phone, simplicity is essential. So, thank goodness I didn't choose them, right?

     Nope, doesn't matter. The raid on MegaUpload has caused several different file sharing services to block their file sharing! This means that while I can upload files to be stored... I can't share them with anyone!

THE FILE SHARING COMPANIES AREN'T SHARING FILES.

That's like saying the cops arrested a doctor in LA, so now all the other doctors aren't practicing. They'll let you visit, and they'll charge you... but they won't diagnose you, and they won't write prescriptions, just in case. And its not just one or two. I've counted thirteen, so far. Obviously, MegaUpload is down, and doesn't count in this list.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/14-free-megaupload-alternatives/

In this lovely list of alternatives to MegaUpload compiled by Digital trends, you yourself can see that 13 out of their 14 alternatives have reduced their functionality to Personal Storage only. Meaning that if you want to take that video you recorded of your daughter taking her first steps and upload it to a file server to share it with everyone more easily, you may just be out of luck for a while.

     As for me and helping others, what am I to do now? I have no idea. I might go back to paying more at my old file-sharing service (Rapidshare) who, at least for now, is still working normally. But that also means that the money I just shelled out for this brand new File Sonic account might be a loss due to the stupidity in the world around us. And I don't think that is tax deductible.