52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[bizzgeburt]

15 - Homefront [AT][CH][DE] (PlayStation 3)
https://vgcollect.com/item/288665

Hardware: PlayStation 3 fat
Playtime: about 30 hours

I initially played Homefront shortly after it's release in 2011, but quickly abandonned it in favour of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which got me sucked in for quite a few years … now in 2025 - a good 14 years have passed - and after finally re-achieveing a functioning PS3, I attempt to "dig at the roots" of my PSN trophy-tree, starting with this title.
NOTE: since the online-server has long been shut down, I'll focus this review solely on the single player campaign.

Homefront is a first-person-shooter that was developed by KAOS Studios. This division of THQ was founded in february 2006 by former Trauma Studios Inc. employees. The only other game I found information of, that KAOS Studios was responsible for developing was Frontlines: Fuel of War (xbox & PC, 2008). This division appears to have been closed by THQ in june 2011, which actually was about 3 months after Homefront was released in march 15th 2011 by THQ Entertainment in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, where I purchased and played it.
This game praises itself with an intruiging background-story written by US author John Frederick Milius, who was also involved in the scripts of cinema blockbusters such as "Red Dawn" or "Apocalypse Now". The story is mostly settled in Montrose, Colorado in the year 2027: after North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il's death in 2011, his son Kim Jong-un went on reunifying the two Korean countries into one - The Greater Korean Republic, which soon began to strenghten it's influence in asia and the whole globe, resulting in an attack on the USA. In 2027 almost half of the north american continent is occupied by the Korean People's Army (KPA), with the highly radiated Mississipi acting as a radioactive border between the communist occupier's forces and the remains of an almost defeated and scattered US Military, supported by local resistance groups. You as the player assume the role of helicopter pilot Robert Jacobs who ends up joining such a resistance group, urging to fight of the Korean oppressors. In all those years between me playing Homefront the first time, and now that I've finally played through the whole campaign, I kept this unique plot in good memory, and even 14 years after it's release, this weird distopy captivates me and kept me hooked to this game the past few days. The US being occupied by a villain state type of enemy like (North-)Korea, with everything cruel that comes with it, is illustrated in a highly cineastic and therefor spine-chilling manner, truely bearing the handwriting of John Milius, who already shocked audiences with terrifying anti-war scenes. The story in Homefront really is something very special and imo kind of a gem in it's genre.

Besides that, Homefront is technicaly a very basic first-person-shooter of it's era, but with a very sophisticated ballistic engine for it's time. Or at least it felt like that back in the day. Maybe that's the reason why it play's itself a bit like Battlefield Bad Company 2 or Battlefield 3 - nevertheless it's still enjoyable today. Missions themselves are all linear but already with a ton of cinematic sequences spread througout them, enough but not too many vehicle-missions to not get you annoyed and an acceptable armory of different guns and gun-configurations to satisfy your local NRA-guy (like Author John Milius, by the way). 

It's really difficult to assess 2011's graphics with 2025's eyes, but honestly? Graphics look amazing to me when I try to put myself back in that time, especially the lighting appears very modern, setting a very realistic atmosphere. I guess I'll have to play more FPS from that year to really be able to compare it to anything…
NOTE: I noticed specifically this game crashing/freezing my console (first Edition 80GB fat lady PS3) repeatedly, which didn't occur playing other games … maybe it's just my copy being faulty, but it tended to freeze entirely, especially after longer sessions or repeated loading/reloading during a session, and mostly in situations, when the game attempted to load another section of the mission or when getting in/out a vehicle. Maybe someone reading this remembers having any similar problems with this game?   

Interestingly, the musical score to Homefront was composed by the same guy that composed the soundtrack to KAOS Studios' other development Frontlines: Fuel of War - Matthew Harwood from Sumthing Else Music Works. Most of the time, the music kinda whobbles in the background of your fighting action with only a few elements of significance, like in any semi-good action-movie. Only the piece in the last mission felt a bit more present and pompous. I don't expect much of a FPS's music, so that's all just fine with me on that part. Normally, music is the part of a game I love to adress most, especially when reviewing 8- to 64-bit era games … somehow in a war-like scenario, most music seems out-of-place and unrealistic, and there are only a few great examples of how the soundtrack can elevate the experience in such games, like for example in Halo: Combat Evolved. Homefront's soundtrack succeeds in setting the atmosphere fitting to the scenery and action, but it certainly isn't any type of gaming soundtrack you'll find yourself searching for on YouTube.

Although I'm sad that it's impossible to get the platinum trophy with the servers down, I really enjoyed revisiting this game after 14 years and it aged well, I must say. It's great for a quick playthrough with an interesting story and challenging difficulty. So give this game a chance and try it out. 

Another game finished … on to the next one 

[bikingjahuty]

124. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (PS1)

It's interesting to see where our opinions overlap and differ from another. Despite mentioning how I think I may have enjoyed Resident Evil 3: Nemesis more than the previous two series titles, I'm not one to rank or score games. To me, they're all three about on par to each other considering their time of release and existence as debut, sequel, and third entry titles.

Also, at this point, I can see why Resident Evil is the most popular horror franchise (objectively at this time and arguably not anymore), but I'm still far more captivated and unnerved by Silent Hill. Yet even if Silent Hill debuted first, I think Resident Evil would have gained the broad audience appeal.

The original three games each definitely bring something new to the table that makes them memorable. I guess all things considered, the originality and creepy mansion setting of the first game, and the crazy scope and story of the second game elevate them over Nemesis chasing you around Raccoon City in the third game. You're definitely not alone in liking the third game more, and if anything it seems like more people than ever consider the third game the best. For me though, I love the first two noticeable more despite really liking 3 still.


I really need to branch out more with the Silent Hill franchise. I adore SH2, but I don't care for the first game as much, mostly due to how dated the gameplay feels. I know they both use tank controls (as do the early RE games), but I jsut got frustrated with how much less precise they felt and how I kept on getting hurt or killed when I knew what I was supposed to do. The game just wouldn't let me do it, or at least not do it as well as I would like to actually succeed. But yeah, I still really want to play 3, 4 and some of the later games. SHF is towards the top of my To Play list for next year. I really looking forward to trying that one out.

[kashell]

81. Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge

Water's Edge gave me a watershed moment: I finished my first PC game. Ever. One of my friends that likes to watch me game and vice versa suggested that we play this. She used to play a ton of these back in the day, and she said that since I like mysteries, visual novels, puzzles, and Japan, then I might like this. I'll start with the bad: the control scheme. Point and click adventures of this era are pretty awful and I don't know how people had the patience for them. This isn't just limited to navigation. Simply interacting with things requires certain steps that make zero sense. You're forced to listen to others state everything from start to finish - you can't skip dialogue. I may write a review that lists all of my issues because they really stacked up. Also, this game is supposed to be for a younger crowd but I don't see how in the hell folks finished some of these puzzles without guidance. There's one near the end of the game where you're supposed to cut ropes before a timer runs out or poor Nancy drowns. Seriously! Home-girl gets killed in this "for kids game." On the other hand, I loved the Kyoto setting, and getting to use the JR system was fun and nostalgic since I've been to Kyoto. The non-guide puzzles were super clever, and the story was entertaining thanks to the phoned-in (but racially problematic) voice-acting. Some of the puzzles allowed me to flex my knowledge over the Japanese language. I think the best part of the game was that it was another fun, comical, bonding moment with a friend. I doubt I'll play more in the series but hey, I gave something completely new a shot and that counts for something!

[bikingjahuty]

9. Gaiares (Genesis) - ABANDONED

In general, I love shumps. however, I am not afraid to say that the most shmups of the 80s and even up to the early 90s has some incredibly annoying gameplay issues that prevent me from enjoying many of them, including what are generally considered to be some of the better shooters from that era. Power up marooning, arbitrary stage checkpoints you have to restart from when you die, and poor enemy/projectile balancing plague so many of these games. While there are definitely some older shmups that possess these vices that are way more tolerable than others, in general it's something I am so happy most shooters moved past by the late 90s. Unfortunately, 1990's Gaiares suffers from all three of these old STG gameplay pitfalls to an extent that made the game unplayable for me fairly early on.


This isn't a case of the game was too hard; I love shmups and there are very few that I would classify as easy. However, outdated gameplay mechanics and design are just that, outdated. There's a reason the genre moved past removing all your power ups when you die, only to die over and over again at the same spot you died before even with all the power ups you had originally. Also stage checkpoints are just arbitrary and annoying as hell too. Gaiares also puts you in many situations that are either just downright cheap or just poorly designed. The game's saving graces is that it looks excellent for a very early 90s shmup and the soundtrack is very catchy. Sadly though, I kinda hated playing this game to the point where I just couldn't do it anymore just three stages in.


Gaiares was on my backlog earlier this year and due to time constraints and feeling like playing other games instead, I just never got around to playing it. With a week left in the year, I got a wild hair and decided I was going to play it. I kinda wish I hadn't now. I'm happy for people that really like this game, but I'm certainly not one of them. (12/24/25) ABANDONED