Homefront
Homefront is, when all is said and done, a very good game, with one of the best stories in the genre in recent years that is supported by a strong style of storytelling- I’ll give it that. But much like Killzone 3, Homefront tried to imitate franchises like Call of Duty way too much for its own good, so much so that it lost its own identity, and one could very easily pass it off as a game from the aforementioned series. The campaign was short, and the set pieces and missions structure highly reminiscent of other First Person Shooters. The online, while addictive and enjoyable, had no original ideas of its own, and implemented nothing new. We expected Homefront to be a game that would be strong enough to compete against the best of the best. Sadly, right now, the brand name Homefront does not have that strength. Under Crytek’s guidance, though, it might achieve that.
Shadows of the Damned
The mysterious “Grasshopper Project” had been in development for a long time, and its hype amongst the masses had grown exponentially over the last few years. When it was revealed, it turned out to be a hybrid between Resident Evil and a few other survival horror games and also boasting of a few twists of its own. I have to admit, the game was incredibly fun, and the writing was hilarious too- some of the characters in the game were highly memorable, and their quotes even more so- but at the end of the day, DMD gave me nothing that I had not already experienced before, and by the time I was done with the game, I could not help but feel disappointed.
Brink
So much was expected of Brink, with its unique setting, its brilliant artistic style, its seemingly unique gameplay… and the fact that the awesomely directed trailers only built its hype further did not help. Brink, when released, turned out to be broken, buggy and hosting a ton of issues- poor AI, broken multiplayer (which was still fun when it did connect), limited number of maps, an uninspiring story and blurry visuals. It was nothing like what we had thought it would be, and ultimately, it left a bitter taste in my mouth, turning out to be perhaps one of the most disappointing games of 2011.
