[Stephen Chin of The Guildhall at SMU picks apart the narrative of THQ and Kaos Studios' Homefront, evaluating the characters, setting and storytelling techniques that make up the game's fictional war scenario.]
Overview
Homefront depicts part of a fictional war between North Korea and the United States. Prior to the events of the game, North Korea unites with South Korea under the leadership of Kim-Jong Il and subsequently forges the Greater Korean Republic from many Asian countries. At the same time, a series of global events erodes the power, wealth, and population of the United States as well as Europe. Soon thereafter, the Greater Korean Republic initiates a war with the diminished United States using a nuclear EMP burst that devastates the American power grid.
Taking place shortly after the Greater Korean Republic has gained control of all of the United States west of the Mississippi, the game details the forceful drafting of Robert Jacobs into the American Resistance. As a trained pilot, the resistance has placed Jacobs and other pilots like him at the center of a resistance plan to fight back against the invasion.
Characters
The cast of Homefront contains a diverse cast of characters chosen to represent the traits of their respective countries and to comment uniquely upon the events of the game. The game in turn uses the premise to reflect upon how such horrific and devastating events can and will affect individuals and people as a whole. Through a sometimes harshly blunt lens, Homefront presents the cast as people driven by the purpose of their current situation and yet despite these strong defined traits, how the emotions of war reduce these same people into faceless and nameless characters. Most characters are strongly defined not by their past but by their current situation and role.
- Robert Jacobs - The player avatar, Jacobs remains a silent protagonist throughout the entirety of the game. His helicopter pilot training draws Jacobs into a Resistance plan to aid what remains of the US military. As a result and contrary to many protagonists, the game treats Jacobs more as a follower and pawn within the grand scheme of things.
- Conner Morgan - A high-ranking figure in the Montrose resistance cell, Conner acts as the heroic lead within the story. Full of anger and sometimes arrogance while driven by blind purposefulness, Conner comes from the same mold as the classical hero; powerful and larger-than-life yet possessing fatal flaws. The story of Homefront is as much his heroic journey as it is the player's journey.
- Rianna - As the only female protagonist, Rianna serves as an emotional foil to Conner and the player. Whereas Conner approaches the war from a perspective of a leader and a nation, Rianna views the war from an individual and humanitarian approach. Rianna expresses disgust and distain at some of the actions forced upon her or others by the war.
- Hopper Lee - Among the Montrose resistance cell, Hopper acts as the technical expert. Though his skills are an important part of the resistance, his Korean American ethnicity forms the basis of some of the strongest moments in the game. Compared to the other resistance members, Hopper remains calm and collected throughout the game. This demeanor, however, hides a very real fear of the anti-Asian sentiment among portions of the American populace and a need to prove his loyalty as an American.
- Boone Karlson - The leader of the Montrose resistance cell, Boone develops the plan that draws Jacobs into the Resistance. An older and wiser man, by the start of the game, Boone has become a father figure and figurehead of the Resistance. The close connection he forges with the other Resistance members and his eventual death casts him as a classical mentor in Conner's heroic journey.
The minor characters develop different reactions and situations that occur during war as experienced by non-heroic people. Often, their personal stories are as tragic as the protagonists, yet overlooked in the greater scheme of things.
- Ben Walker, the Voice of Freedom - As the man behind the American guerilla radio broadcaster the Voice of Freedom, Ben Walker has no physical presence within the game. Instead, his voice and role serves as homage to wartime propaganda personalities such as Tokyo Rose. His broadcasts relay information to the player between levels as well as setting the mood for the level to come. In the greater backstory of the game, Ben travels with some of the remnants of the US military and supports the fight through intelligence and morale boosting.
- Arnie - A civilian in one of the Korean internment camps, Arnie aids the Resistance in various ways. His role in Boone's plan consists of helping the resistance gain access to a Korean supply depot. However, by his introduction to the player, Korean forces have captured his family. In return for the members of the Montrose resistance, the Korean forces offer him the safety of his family. Arnie consequentially betrays the resistance to protect his family.
- The Captain - The Captain leads a band of American survivalists living in territory beyond the heavily controlled urban and suburban areas of Montrose. In contrast to the resistance, the Captain and the survivalists serve only themselves. In addition, they display the same sort of immoral behavior as the occupying Korean forces. The Captain allows his men to torturing captive Korean soldiers, hunt resistance members for bounties, and lynch Asian-Americans. Interested only in enjoying himself among the carnage, the Captain breaks the deal he made with Boone, demanding instead Rianna and Hopper in exchange for the promised aid.
- Janice - A civilian with a baby who initial lives among the non-interred American population, the Korean forces attack her town in retaliation for Conner's rescue of Jacobs. One of the set pieces of the game takes place in her home where the player must hold off Korean forces while she and her crying baby huddle nearby. In the aftermath, Conner takes her back to Oasis, a hidden resistance village for safety though Oasis is later attacked and massacred while the resistance fighters are away. Representing the innocents caught in war, Janice reminds the player that through the events of the war, the Korean forces are not the only characters reduced into hordes of faceless people.
