Homefront: The Revolution, PS4 and PC review: ‘competent combat, repetitive quests, and a ludicrous plot’

At its best, Homefront: The Revolution is a competent shooter with an ingenious weapons system set in a beautifully-realised war-torn Philadelphia, US. At its worse, it's a host of repetitive quests sewn together by a ludicrous plot and uninteresting characters.

The year is 2029 and the North Koreans have taken control of America - relatively easily it turns out. Back in the early 2000s, America decided to become almost solely dependent on North Korean technology - especially for its military. Great idea.

Laughably, all the North Koreans needed to do was turn it off a few years later, rendering the States defenceless. And that's where you come in.

Your job is to help build a growing uprising against the North Koreans - or KPA - using everything at your disposal.

To make things harder, the KPA have divided Philadelphia into a series of zones. Red zones are highly militarised and full of enemy strong holds, meaning that night time ops are your best bet for success. Yellow zones contain civilians - and although militarised - you can blend in and roam the streets at any time you'd like (as long as you don't get to close to a guard, camera or drone).

Thankfully, there's a brilliant weapon system at your disposal should things go pear shaped. In a similar vein to Crysis, you're able to swap in components and attachments on the fly. Want to sneak in without leaving a trace? Equip a silencer. Need to take down a KPA commander? Swap in a high-powered scope. Some weapons have three or so variations to help stave off monotony.

Unsurprisingly the combat is where Homefront really shines. Head shots are accompanied by a satisfying thud and a clear impact system lets you know when you've scored a successful hit.

It's made all the more rewarding thanks to the formidable enemy AI. KPA will flank you and throw grenades if you stay put for too long. They'll also attack your fellow resistance fighters rather than just home in on you. As a result, one of the best things you can do in Homefront is to fire off a shot and watch the KPA and resistance break out into a mini war.

Should things get too hectic, motorbikes are littered around the red zone, allowing for a speedy escape. Be warned, though – handling takes some practice. In the yellow zones, you're able to hide in bins and loos, but if you're spotted, enemies go into an alert status and will try and hunt you down. Often heading for higher ground is the best way to evade detection.

Sadly, it's when Homefront starts trying to add structure that cracks start to appear. Missions, for example, are little more than glorified fetch quests - often requiring you to re tune a radio, take out KPA propaganda units and capture KPA strongholds. These 'strike points' are comically automatically cleared of all foes if you speed run into them and, essentially, flick a switch.

Thanks to a host of boring characters, becoming emotionally attached to the greater cause becomes near impossible – despite Homefront's constant attempts to reinforce just how nasty the KPA is through graphic executions and torture scenes.

It also loses a point for its inconsistent presentation. Played on our testing PC on ultra settings - a rig powered by the Geforce GTC 980Ti - Philadelphia looks pretty in parts but is let down by middling textures and lighting effects. Character models look fine from a distance, but have a 'plastic-like' sheen up close.

Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the performance is the framerate. The 980Ti is one of the most powerful cards around, but the game struggled to keep a consistent frame rate - hovering uncomfortably between 30-40FPS.