slop101

I dug KZ3 - it is kinda short (barely over 5 hours), and I delayed finishing it just because I didn't want it to end - I'll probably play through it again soon. But they knew they had a winner on their hands since official, full reviews were out a good 2-3 weeks before the game even came out.

Decker

It's certainly nice to see lots of positive early reviews, but an embargo isn't always a sign of problems. . Both Call of Duty Black Ops and Starcraft II had no early reviews. MLB The Show 11 had an embargo as well. But when I see a new IP with no early reviews, I tend to wait rather than pre-ordering. Kmart has done a nice job giving good release-week deals that allow me to get some reviews and impressions read before buying the game.

K&AJones

Well allot of questions would've been answered about the game if a demo was released. Granted most demos don't telll the whole story about a game but at least gives you a taste/sample of what you may or may not buy.

Flay

Here's an interesting article about the breaking embargo issue I brought up in regards to Homefront: http://www.bitmob.com/articles/why-y...rly-metascores

Decker

That's interesting. But what about when Game Informer, PtOM or OXM has an "Exclusive First Review"? Those are different and should be as reliable as any other one of their reviews, right? Because it seems almost every major first-party PS3 title gets that "exclusive first review" treatment.

Decker

I'm actually more curious to know what happened behind the scenes at Joystiq where they released the most scathing preview I've ever seen on their site, then later put out a revised one that says " they fixed everything we had a problem with", and then after release date, publish a review that confirms everything the first preview had said. Something is fishy there.

mugwump

I'm liking the game so far but don't plan on keeping it once I'm finished and likely won't even bother with the MP. Definitely a rental or bargain bin title.

I like the grim storyline and the way the guns "feel" but dislike the invisible walls and the secondary characters are all too generic (wasn't that Rianna chick in Half-Life?).

Liver&Onions

Do you have links for that?

TheBigDave

I'm kinda pissed at Joystiq. I'd planned on waiting for a pricedrop. But that revised "everything is fixed" preview talked me into a preorder.

TheBigDave

ORIGINAL PREVIEW
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/ho...layer-preview/

"EVERYTHING IS FIXED" PREVIEW
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/22/homefront-preview/

REVIEW (2.5/5)
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/15/homefront-review/

House

Who else thinks that Homefront has brought a turning point into how games are viewed? This was a relatively hyped game that turned out to be a dud. Factor in the huge price drop a day later and for myself personally I will give pause before pre-ordering games that are new titles.

I always thought Crysis 2 would be a great game, but now because of what happened with Homefront I am questioning this. Basically now it seems like we get some blockbusters in the fall, decent sports titles sprinkles throughout the year but other than that no great games. Last year we had Red Dead, but what other good games. I try not to buy a game unless it's a 9.

My personal opinion is that we are due for new consoles to push the envelope and give us new and better gaming experiences. I mean we have already pretty much experienced everything we can from this generation sans kinect games.

Thoughts?

Barth

That is kind of disturbing. The only thing I can figure out is that the first two reviews were done by the same person and the third one is from someone else. Still it's the same site so they should have some consistancy.

I just finished the campaign. I thought it was ok but nothing great. I think around a 6 out of 10 is about right. I rented it and would not be happy if I paid 60 bucks for it.

Liver&Onions

Thanks.

Easily is just because it's two different guys. Sure they are the same site, but different people will think different things. Also - the full gave vs three levels is likely a big point, because games can seem great initially but quickly degrade into the shit zone.

xmiyux

I only played the first 3 levels of the single player and can attest it degraded to a shit zone pretty early.

Invisible walls... I mean really.

Decker

Two other things I thought were funny in this game :

Their collectibles are the anti-COGs. They're huge and brightly glow when you look in their direction. I was wondering if the team started by having you search for flashing neon sign collectibles. And let's not forget, what you find are twelve year old newspapers. Because, you know, we all find those laying around our backyards all the time.

They tell you early to conserve every bullet. Seems fair enough. Then the Koreans manage to leave a wider selection of automatic weapons than you see in the start up menu of Battlefield Bad Company 2 around every corner. No two soldiers seem to be carrying the identical type of gun. Who is supplying the Koreans such a huge variety of weapons? As far as I know, you can't even find two different types of bread in that country.

K&AJones

Just saw this over at Teamxbox....

Homefront Players Report Freezing Issues

It seems that owners of the recently released Homefront are having trouble enlisting. Users are having problems with both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 builds of the game. There are various glitches afflicting players but luckily Kaos Studios is already looking in to these problems.

Some multiplayer matches aren't ending correctly causing users to have to hard reset their consoles once a multiplayer match has finished. Other users are reporting that the game will not proceed past the developer's logo in the opening credits. Players have had to reset their consoles multiple times to overcome this particular glitch.

Kaos Studios representative Jeremy Greiner issued a statement surrounding these various bugs on the official forums.

We're looking into the issue that is happening to a few users, once I have an update it will be posted here. Thanks for your patience!

In the meantime, those experiencing the issue: If you could please post the exact step by step process of how it occurred, that would be appreciated. ~ Kaos Studio Devs [Via official forums

mugwump

I actually tried out the MP a bit ago and damn me if I didn't enjoy it. The lack of map variety would get old quickly but it fell somewhere in between COD and BF in terms of game play which I liked.

Rob V

Jesus H Christ... how did they fuck this game up so bad? The hype and marketing around it were immense for a game that flopped so hard.

Decker

Well, to be fair, the marketing and hype flopped as well.

xmiyux

Got an email from Amazon this morning. When I pre-ordered there was a bonus of an avatar outfit. I noticed they never sent it up didn't really care.

The email said THQ hasn't given Amazon the codes yet so to apologize Amazon gave me a 5$ credit towards my next video game purchase.

I like that better than an avatar outfit!

MoviePage

The whole business of pre-ordering has gotten way out of control, and I hope that experiences like this one have an effect on that...but it probably won't.

Decker

That's nice of them.

Of course for less than that $5, you could have rented the game from a Redbox machine for a couple of days and, you know, finished it. Just sayin'.

kms_md

i got the same email yesterday!

in addition, i emailed earlier in the week and got amazon to refund me the difference from the preorder price and the day 2 price drop. in essence, i paid less than $40 for the game - which, based on my SP play through thus far, may be too much. i usually take reviews from justin mcelroy (joystiq) and arthur gies (ign) with a grain of salt. they tend to by way too negative in their overall outlook on games. but, in this case, some of their complaints are valid. the graphics (especially when compared with gameplay video of crysis 2) are subpar. the invisible walls are annoying. waiting for teammates to go up a ladder/through a door breaks game play immersion, as well as the collectible system (which may be as bad as the thermoses in alan wake). hell, i had to look up online how to change the difficulty level.

the MP may change my overall opinion of the game, as everything i have read thus far suggests that it is very enjoyable. i will try it later today after i finish the SP. i may keep the game to finish the SP achievements, but i am more likely to trade it in. i am enjoying the overall story, but the storytelling process is not the best.

DeanoBKN

This is exactly why I have learned to put zero stock in any preview for a hyped game, especially if it's an exclusive deal.

I know the press always argues you can't really judge a game when it's unfinished, but c'mon, you know when a game will turn out shitty. Stop cashing those publisher checks and be honest with your readers.

xmiyux

Redbox in my area doesn't rent games. Also, after the first half of the game I had no desire to finish it. As for the money out of pocket - I made it back by selling it.

I ended up paying about 43$ for the game and sold it for 50$ (45$ after Amazon takes their cut). I still have 15$ credit and now the other 5$ credit for the slow avatar stuff. So I'm content with having bought it.