While getting limited time in the Homefront: The Revolution Beta - I thought I'd share my experiences and why the game deserves some ire, but also holds some promise. I can't say I'm giving it as much hope as I gave the original, since I've already been hurt once (twice if we're counting Brink)

A bit of setup

The beta featured a co-op mode called Resistance - a four player mode that focuses on working together to get through the controlled city and complete objectives.

Framerate / Performance

First glance the framerate killed me - if we want to get into a debate over 30+ vs 60+ then fine, but this was sub 30 and very choppy at more than a few points. When I dropped into my first game it was extremely rough, and instantly set the wrong kind of impression. I did notice some lagging and some t-poses, but as it's a beta I'm really hoping that all of this is overhauled. I saw something about it all being an older build on the Homefront game page which I'll put in below, and hope that this Beta is truly that - a beta that was essentially stress testing and getting a feel for how things will work because these initial impressions didn't give me a ton of confidence.

Mission Design

The co-op seems like it could be actually pretty fun - I was able to choose from random or a selection of maps, then match make with other players in order to take out the KPA. The missions were fairly basic, go here, hack this or kill this unit, then move on - but they were multi phase, and were fairly fun to take on with a crew. Levels themselves seem actually quite open, with multiple paths for players to take - snipers can take up perch and overwatch, while gunners can get behind cover to lay down suppressing fire. Flanking is not only an option but a necessity.

Fighter/Character Customization

From the beginning you'll choose your sex and face, as well as be able to control things like the color of your fatigues and see that quite a bit of things are locked. Missions completed earn cash, which can be used to purchase crates - which come in Gear, Weapon, Ordinance, or attachments (presumably for weapons in the form of grips, stocks, sights, etc.). I tended to earn about $1500-1800 per mission and was one of the lower on the team so I assume there's more to be earned with more kills and objective play. I bought a Gear and Weapon crate during my time and was actually really happy with what came out, even though the gear was just some shooting glasses, a beanie, and hack tool refills. The Weapon crate was a long-range bolt action receiver, making my M4 a sniper rifle. I was pretty interested in the fact that I could swap out parts on my gun to make it almost whatever I wanted. I noticed during gameplay I could also hold a button in the Crysis style of staring at your gun while different attachments pop on or off.

The above constitutes what could keep me coming back to this mode - sure I would probably only play through it a few times on the higher difficulties a few times before it probably got a bit old, but I actually enjoyed the parts that weren't marred by the aforementioned framerate problems. The post I was referring to one the Homefront page can be found here and the devs promise that things look better, play smoother, and ultimately that the line "not representative of a final product" might hold true. I hope it does take some changes and move forward because I can see the gleaming of a good game under the dirt and smudges of the issues present so far. Here's hoping that the revolution does indeed rise up.