Alright, I guess I'll write about Homefront.

I haven't blogged in a while, but this time I have no lame, grovelling excuse to make, like 'wah wah wah I work so hard at college' or 'sorry I was burning down Infinity Ward' (I think I have actually used that one once) as the reality is I haven't been playing a lot of new games. Dead Space 2 was far too unexceptional to really rant about, and the shutdown of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero hardly bothered me in the slightest. My Xbox had a breakdown not two weeks ago, as did I - though I insist there is no correlation between the two - but with that not being particularly noteworthy, there simply hasn't been reason to blog.

Homefront, it seems, is something to write about. Kaos studios have never made a game that has hit big, but suddenly games bloggers, newspapers and even my beloved Roger Ebert Journal have gone berserk over the game's storyline and context. To be honest, it puzzles me that this is such an alien concept, when not two years ago the overwhelmingly atrocious and intensely boring Modern Warfare 2 campaign showed the 'big bad Russians' having the gumption to not only invade the US following a preposterously powerful EMP strike, but act like it's the 1940s and send in the army via parachutes. But North Korea, the country with the second biggest army in the world invading America? Ridiculous. How absurd. Heil Uncle Sam.

My thoughts on how the game will actually be are varied. The storyline, no matter what people and/or degenerate patriots say, I am looking forward to. With the writer of Red Dawn and co-writer of Apocalypse Now behind the wheel, I have hopes of a grizzly and emotional yet scarily believable tale unfolding, and from what I have heard from Jeff Cannata of The Totally Rad Show - a trusted source in my eyes - said hopes are likely to come true.

What I do worry about is the gameplay. Kaos recently released through various sites some footage of standard mission gameplay... and it's not fantastic. If there are many truly spectacular moments, with large set pieces and original dynamics, it's all yet to be seen. So far, all we've been shown is Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor etc. as the player runs and guns through streets, showing little of the 'impact of the kill' the developers were so eagerly talking about in interviews. It also appears to have fairly rough visuals, poor animation and a sense of unnecessary heaviness, considering the protagonist is not a fully kitted-out soldier. Have a look at this clip and see what you think.

That's my lot for now, I'll be renting the game upon release and, if the multiplayer lives up to a healthy, replayable standard, I may give it a purchase.

PS: I am now occasionally (and I mean occasionally) writing for an alternative culture site called Flush the Fashion. My Dead Space 2 review is up there.