Six ways Homefront is better than Killzone 3. Give or take.

Homefront (pictured) and Killzone 3 are pretty different. I mean, yeah, they’re both shooters with inconsequential sleep-inducing singleplayer campaigns and robust multiplayer support. They both have a lot of leveling and unlocking, complete with gadgets and tricks and special abilities. I suppose they’re both fun, if you want to go there. Neither one has a needler, or a chainsaw-on-a-gun, or a power leash, so you could call them “realistique”.

But I’ve been playing multiplayer in both and it occurs to me that there are six ways that Homefront is better than Killzone 3.

After the jump, why I occasionally prefer Homefront’s multiplayer

6) Vehicles
I do like vehicles in my shooters. There’s nothing like a friendly helicopter reigning death and destruction from above. Partly because you know most of the enemies will either be cowering or looking up to shoot at it. Either stance makes an enemy easier to kill. Of course, the opportunity to be the guy flying that helicopter is always great. Tanks are swell, too. Until you unlock them, there’s a nifty APC. Even a properly placed Humvee with its mounted .50 can wreak a lot of havoc. You also get minivehicles in the form of drones. And I don’t just mean annoying RC vehicles with bombs on them. I’m talking about toy tanks and helicopters with very non-toy guns mounted on them. All this stuff is in Homefront.

In Killzone 3, you might be able to grab a jetpack if you’re lucky. This will allow you to hover uselessly above the battlefield where you can be more easily shot by the other team.

5) No medics
I would rather have no medics than medics done poorly, as is the case in Killzone 3. So I prefer Homefront’s no-medic approach, which is a decisive “when you’re dead, you’re dead”. When you’re dead in Killzone 3, well, you’re mostly dead there as well. However, Killzone 3 cruelly teases you with a shred of hope. Perhaps some poor medic is making a beeline for your corpse in a desperate bid to use his revive skill in the two seconds before you respawn. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a medic system as incompetent as Killzone 3’s.

4) You earn stuff during a match
This is probably Homefront’s greatest strength. Although you can set up any loadout you like (provided you’ve unlocked it, of course), you still have to buy the best goodies with the points you earn while playing a match. Do you spring for a flak jacket early on? Or so you save up for that tank later on in the match? And when you spot an enemy tank, can you resist the temptation to spend your saved up points on a Hellfire strike? It’s the best bit of Homefront’s multiplayer matches. Killzone 3 might let you grab a goody from a captured spawn point (like the aforementioned jetpack), but you’re playing with the same toys at the end of the match that you were playing with when you first spawned.

3) You can go prone
I hate guys who go prone. Unless I’m the guy who’s gone prone. But I mostly either forget I can go prone, or I go prone and some guy comes up behind me and kills me from the very embarrassing position of my sprawled on my tummy and him standing behind me. He obviously knows I think I’m being sneaky by lying down. And he obviously gets even greater delight killing me because of that. So I don’t tend to end up prone very often. I don’t really miss it in Killzone 3, because no one can do it, what with wearing all the bulky space marine armor. If you were to go prone in that stuff, you’d never be able to get up. You’re be rolling around like a tortoise on its back for the rest of the match. But I appreciate that if I want to lie down in Homefront, it’s always an option.

2) Umm…
I don’t really have anything for this slot, so let’s move on.

1) So, yeah…
I’m afraid I don’t really have anything for this slot either. Sorry, Homefront.

(Click here for six ways Killzone 3 is better than Homefront)