HomeFront - Said To Include Dedicated Servers, Server Tools, RCON, DirectX 11 Support

[Zema Bus]

I was listening to Paul Thurrott (who does a show on Leo Laporte's web studio) talking about HomeFront today. He's a big gamer, and really into all the CoD titles. He described HomeFront as being very much like CoD, but with bigger maps. He said the single player, although very good, was short, but he really likes the multiplayer. Apparently they took a different approach with HomeFront, in that it's supposedly not scripted the way most games are, where you complete a set of fixed tasks and then get swept away into the next mission. Instead, you stay right there, and "you have to live with everything you do". The trailers look pretty good, but we all know how misleading trailers can be. Here's a few trailers, developer interviews, and single player and multiplayer game play videos and the HomeFront page on Steam with pics, and some interesting info down at the bottom I discovered:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/55100/

This sounds promising:

Homefront's PC version has been outsourced to Digital Extremes, a Canadian developer responsible for numerous Unreal Tournament games and Bioshock ports. Frank Delise, the executive producer of the PC version has stated that the PC version of the game will feature exclusive content and dedicated servers. Additional exclusive features include clan support, DirectX 11 graphics, and first person vehicle cockpits.[19][20] It has also been confirmed that Homefront will be released on Steam,[21] as well as the OnLive gaming service. Also, spectator mode and demorecording will be included along with a dedicated server executable, server tools and RCON.[3]
The Game for the PC is authorised and validated through steam and at the time of writing this (18th March 2011) the game is not compatible with Windows XP64. "Steam - Error The Game is currently Unavailable please try again at another time."

That's the word from Wikipedia

as well as this:

Developer(s) Kaos Studios
Digital Extremes (PC)
Publisher(s) THQ
Writer(s) John Milius[1]
Engine Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OnLive
Release date(s)
NA March 15, 2011
AUS March 17, 2011
EU March 18, 2011
JP April 29, 2011
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)
BBFC: 15
ESRB: M
System requirements
Minimum System requirements[2] [3]
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or later
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.8GHz (Quad Core 2GHz+ recommended)
2GB of RAM
Shader Model 3.0 graphics card with 256MB of memory
NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS / ATI Radeon 1900XT (GeForce 260 or ATI Radeon 4850 recommended)
10GB of free hard drive space
Internet Connection

and:

Homefront was met with mixed to positive reviews across all platforms, with most critics praising the atmosphere and story, as well as giving particular praise to the multiplayer, while criticism has focused on the short length of the single player campaign. According to the Homefront Official Facebook Page, PlayStation: The Official Magazine Italy gave Homefront a 9/10 rating, calling Homefront: ‘One of the most intense, emotional experiences of 2011’.[33] CVG has given the game a 8.6/10. GamingExcellence awarded the game an 8.4/10, praising the cinematic story-driven gameplay, but criticizing the short campaign.[34] Metacritic awarded the game an 71 out of 100 on Xbox 360[35] and 74 of 100 on Playstation 3. Metacritic User Ratings are 69/100 and 63/100 respectively. GameRankings awarded the game an overall 75.88% for the PlayStation 3 version and 74.45% for the Xbox 360 version. IGN awarded the game a 7/10, praising the setting and presentation, while criticizing the short campaign.
GameSpot gave the game 7.0 of 10, praising some memorable moments and the well crafted multiplayer, however it criticized the short length and that it felt too familiar compared to other first person shooters.

 

[V_R]

Sadly its seems its unfortunately a very average game!

Also Homefronts not available to us Brits via Steam, yet.... :/

 

[TriplexDread]

Yep Yanks always get looked after first!

 

[Reefsmoka]

I got homefront delivered friday and havent been able to play it. Everytime I try steam just comes up with a message "this game is currently unavailable, please try again another time".

 

[TriplexDread]

Servers are goosed. Apparently they should have been resolved today. Although I don't have it so can't be sure

 

[Reefsmoka]

well un-installed it and reinstalled it and now steam has been "updating" it for the best part of over an hour by downloading at a constant 1.2mbps, i'd hate to see how long it would take on a slower connection! around 80% complete on downloading. This aint right when you buy a game from a shop, its a disc and not a digital copy for christ sake!

 

[V_R]

Half of me wants this, i'm not usually one to turn down an FPS...

Just know i'm gonna be disappointed.... Am waiting for it to appear on Steam for cheaper.

 

[Reefsmoka]

well played about 40 mins of it, not very impressed. Its way to linear, makes call of duty look like a free roaming game! Theres plenty of cool guns though, and tons of enemys to keep you shooting away. The controls feel very clunky aswell, like its a console port sort of. Graphics wise its pretty impressive, as good as black ops but no where near the level of crysis of metro.

Wish i didnt spend £30 on this, shoulda got rift instead.

 

[captain zed]

I got it on xbox 360mlast night but still haven't played it yet.
I'm playing Dead space 2 at the mo and have to say it's the mutts.......

 

[Reefsmoka]

Just finished it, what aload of crud. Wish i'd saved me money for crysis 2! Just a generic on the rails shooter. Could easily do it in 1 sitting how short it is, it must only be 4 or 5 hours long! Avoid this game.

 

[V_R]

Such a shame, but that is what i've been hearing about the SP, However, Reef, hows the MP does it redeem itself?

 

[Reefsmoka]

Not tried multi yet, might have a whip later. I know its not gonna be owt compared to black ops online. Theres Crysis 2 and dragon age 2 are both out and i buy crabby ole homefront, summut not right with me

 

[Zema Bus]

Not tried multi yet, might have a whip later. I know its not gonna be owt compared to black ops online. Theres Crysis 2 and dragon age 2 are both out and i buy crabby ole homefront, summut not right with me

You did a public service testing it out for the rest of us

It's pretty discouraging the direction things are going with PC gaming, are there any new games at all that aren't console ports? I'm hoping that we start seeing some good open source efforts eventually.

 

[captain zed]

I started Homefront last night and have played an hour so far today......controls are a bit slow.
The story is great so far. The graphics aren't as good as i was expecting. It reminds of far cry 2 mixed with resistance fall of man 1. I will keep playing and let ya's know.

 

[captain zed]

Well Homefront is finished.......very, very, very short SP campaign....MP xbox live was good fun. Played it for a couple of hours and couldn't put it down. It's nowhere near as polished as Black Ops though. It was like the graphics filled the picture in as you moved through whatever area you were in.
Fun while it lasted.....will be trading it in against Crysis2. Should get a decent trade in price. Wasn't the game it was hyped up to be and certainly wasn't worth Eu 49.99...
I'm gonna try Grand theft auto 4 now...just for the evening while i'm between games lol. Me brother has a lend of blackops.....might never see it again.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Think I'll pass on this one

 

[V_R]

Same a mate got it on the xbox, and said it was gash.

Maybe if i see it in a sale on Steam or something, i may pick it up. But no way as full price.

 

[captain zed]

I'd say if ya get it free, take it.

 

[Reefsmoka]

I'd say if ya get it free, take it.

I'd still say no!