History YMMV / HomeFront

* SpiritualAdaptation: Crosses over a bit with HilariousInHindsight, as the game came out first, but this game could easily pass for an adaptation of ''Film/RedDawn2012''.

** The United States in the game is depicted as a broken-down shell of its former self with riots and civil unrest as well as an economic crisis and a widespread pandemic of the bird flu. Nearly ten years after it's release, eerily similar events have occurred in real life such as the chaos and destruction related to Black Lives Matter in numerous American cities and an economic recession caused by the coronavirus.

*** Incidentally, diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, while already very poor, have worsened due to this pandemic.
*** The United States in the game is depicted as a broken-down shell of its former self with riots and civil unrest as well as an economic crisis and a widespread pandemic of the bird flu. Nearly ten years after it's release, eerily similar events have occurred in real life such as the chaos and destruction related to Black Lives Matter in numerous American cities and an economic recession caused by the coronavirus.

** The Arab Spring, picking up when the game was released, has resulted with Iranians and Saudis trying to exert influence on key countries (Bahrain being one). Wikileaks reveals of Saudis pushing for a war with Iran, and the worsening relations between Iran and the West also took place around the same period.

** There's a variant of the bird flu that is claiming a large number of lives. Come 2020 with the [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]].

* HarsherInHindsight:

** Luckily, THQ has confirmed that Homefront 2 will be [[ChannelHop developed at]] a little-known [[VideoGame/FarCryFarCry game]] [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} studio]] called [[http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/ Crytek.]] One can already hear the fandom rejoicing from miles away…

* ParanoiaFuel: A majority of the events in this game could actually happen in real life. In fact, Kim Jong-Il died on December 17, 2011--so very close to the date of his death in ''Homefront''[='=]s timeline. Just like in ''Homefront'', Kim Jong-Un succeeded him. Cue a MassOhCrap from ''Homefront''[='=]s fans. However, he seems to be more or less like his dad in terms of running things (not particularly well) instead of the brilliant conqueror that he is in this game.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The idea of North Korea invading and occupying over half of the United States, which is only modestly compensated by the real-life elements incorporated into the game's backstory.

* EmotionalTorque: ''The VERY first level'' where the two KPA soldiers kill the screaming child's parents and possibly him pretty much convinces the player to kill every single KPA soldier ever. Actually pretty much everything the KPA does can have that effect.

* TheScrappy: For some players, Connor dives head-first into this. Repeatedly he [[NeverMyFault shrugs off the sheer collateral and horrifying things he causes]] as being justified, despite endangering his own allies and innocents he's supposed to be saving in the first place, and constantly belittles his allies for trying to play it more safely or mercifully. The fact that he went behind everyone's backs to order white phosphorous instead of explosives [[PayEvilUntoEvil to make the KPA suffer as much as possible]] [[spoiler: ''before'' his UnstoppableRage at the mass graves]] made it easy to paint him as a NominalHero, and him harshly ordering around [[PlayerCharacter Jacobs]] like an asshole for almost the entire game does little to endear him to the player.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[UnscrupulousHero Connor.]] You either agree with him in taking down the North Korean forces by any means necessary, especially once the atrocities the KPA have been committing are demonstrated to both him and the player, or you're frustrated with him being an overzealous MilitaryMaverick that is so caught up in killing the enemy that he completely fails to take into account the safety of fellow Americans or ethical boundaries in the process. For some players, this borders into TheScrappy, especially given the loud chiding of his allies if they don't agree to his violent ways.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Compared to its contemporaries, ''Franchise/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'', ''Homefront'' is an ''extremely'' dark and depressing game (the introduction scene in the first level doesn't help). The main characters are {{anti hero}}es at best, and the villains are among the worst monsters you encounter any kind of game, and watching what happens in the game tends to provoke nihilism rather than attachment.

* BrownNote: ''The VERY first level'' where the two KPA soldiers kill the screaming child's parents and possibly him. High-strength BrainBleach would be needed.
* CriticProof: The game only got mixed reviews from the critics, which contributed to a 20% drop in THQ stocks. The game is THQ's most pre-ordered game, selling 375,000 copies on the first day (pretty impressive for a new IP by a game company that's not Activision or EA games), topped the UK charts until Crysis 2 came out and is still in the top ten, and recently surpassed one million units in sales worldwide (all in one week).
** However due to cost it didn't make that much in terms of net profit.

* WhatAnIdiot: The Nobel committee give Kim-Jong Un a Nobel Peace Prize for peacefully reuniting Korea. Five years later, the Greater Korean Republic invades Japan.

** Luckily, THQ has confirmed that Homefront 2 will be [[ChannelHop developed at]] a little-known [[FarCry game]] [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} studio]] called [[http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/ Crytek.]] One can already hear the fandom rejoicing from miles away…

* HilariousInHindsight: The writers of ''Homefront'' actually predicted the actual cause as well as the time of Kim Jong-Il's death more or less right (arguably they were only off by a couple of weeks). So far they were wrong about Kim Jong-Un being a dangerously competent and charismatic EvilGenius, but the decade is still young. They were also right in predicting Kim Jong-Un's ability to manhandle the Generals opposed to him and more or less re-assert his control over the previously dysfunctional and uncontrollable military.

** Luckily, THQ has confirmed that Homefront 2 will be developed [[ChannelHop at a]] [[BlatantLies little-known]] [[FarCry game]] [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} studio]] called [[http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/ Crytek.]] One can already hear the fandom rejoicing from miles away…

* MemeticMutation: Since Japan is replacing every reference to Korea with a "Northern Country", [[CanadaEh Canada]] is apparently the greatest threat in the known world.

* VillainSue: Kim Jong-Un. On one hand, he manages to take a backwater, underdeveloped pariah of a nation and uses it to gain control of South Korea (presumably in a sufficiently subversive, non-violent manner that he credibly gets the Nobel Peace Prize for doing so), takes over several major neighboring nations, and build up the Korean army to the point that it's able to successfully take over the United States. On the surface, this looks like [[Literature/TheDraka Draka]]-level hypercompetency. And that part about reunifying Korea non-violently under his rule? Yeah, he does that in one year.\\
\\
On the other hand, there are mitigating factors. The United States (as well as other major world powers) had been weakened by a global economic crisis. In the case of the U.S., the situation was so bad that the states were given autonomy and were just a few steps away from civil war. The Asian Bird Flu epidemic only made things worse. One in-game newspaper article notes that when Canada closed its borders to the U.S. (thus requiring a visa to enter), there were also new laws requiring permits for food, materials, medicine, and other supplies. The implication is that a lot of people were trying to leave the country--and this is all before the GKR fried almost every non-hardened piece of electronic hardware in North America with an EMP.\\
\\
The {{irony}} is that the real life's Kim Jong-Un's rule is the complete opposite of the events that lead up to the game's plot: by all indications, he's driving the nation even more into the ground with a new famine on the rise and droves of soldiers are running to the borders due to lack of food even for the military. And rather than the world looking the other way, they're cracking down hard on North Korea; even China, their biggest ally, has given them an uncharacteristic cold shoulder, probably stemming from increasing public opinion that North Korea is simply not worth the trouble.
** The idea that North Korea could either unify ''or'' conquer Southeast Asia given the region's internal grievances and powerful militaries.

** A 2013 report by the Department of Homeland Security [[http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/dhs-study-north-korea-capable-of-emp-attack-on-u-s/#OJg5K3BZjrQixgXL.99 suggested that North Korea could indeed be capable of launching an EMP attack against the United States.]]

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: North Koreans, survivalists, and ultrapatriots to name a few.

** Luckily, THQ has confirmed that Homefront 2 will be developed [[ChannelHop at a]] [[BlatantLies little-known]] [[FarCry game]] [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} studio]] called [[http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/ Crytek.]] One can already hear the fandom rejoicing from miles away...
** In the storyline, Kim Jong Il dies in 2012. He actually died in December 17, 2011. Sounds creepy enough...

** The plot of the story has North Korea becoming more aggressive after Kim Jong-Un takes power. Given that recently, the North Koreans stepped up their aggressive rhetoric, going so far as to release ([[SoBadItsGood laughably]]) bad propaganda movies...

* ParanoiaFuel: A majority of the events in this game could actually happen in real life. In fact, Kim Jong-II died on December 17, 2011--so very close to the date of his death in ''Homefront''[='=]s timeline. Just like in ''Homefront'', Kim Jong-Un succeeded him. Cue a MassOhCrap from ''Homefront''[='=]s fans. However, he seems to be more or less like his dad in terms of running things (not particularly well) instead of the brilliant conquerer that he is in this game.

** [[spoiler: The Survivalists cross it within minutes of meeting you.]]
** If you had any sympathy for the North Koreans after the opening level [[spoiler:(which was almost none to begin with)]], it was completely lost by the time you find [[spoiler: a mass grave where all of the re-education subjects were systematically executed and put into a gigantic pile to be forgotten.]] Did we mention you had to [[spoiler: lay down in the corpses to hide from them]]?

** Not to mention what happens when the Resistance base is attacked. There are a large number of children in it, and the KPA kill everyone in th etown.
* Narm: The random Hooters product placement, in the middle of a gun fight no less.
* NauseaFuel: At one point you have to [[spoiler: hide in a mass grave to avoid getting shot. By the way the black guy's lifeless stare sticks in your mind]].

The {{Irony}} is that the real life's Kim Jong-Un's rule is the complete opposite of the events that lead up to the game's plot: by all indications, he's driving the nation even more into the ground with a new famine on the rise and droves of soldiers are running to the borders due to lack of food even for the military. And rather than the world looking the other way, they're cracking down hard on North Korea; even China, their biggest ally, has given them an uncharacteristic cold shoulder, probably stemming from increasing public opinion that North Korea is simply not worth the trouble.

* WhatAnIdiot: The Nobel committee give Kim-Jong Um a Nobel Peace Prize for peacefully reuniting Korea. Five years later, the Greater Korean Republic invades Japan.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: What some reviews said about the game's single player, arguing that the entire occupied US thing could had been explored in greater detail, along with more character development, but was nudged aside for [[ModernWarfare C]][[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps O]][[VideoGame/CallOfDuty D]] style gameplay and game mechanics, putting the campaign into SoOkayItsAverage territory. They were much more positive about the multiplayer, though.

** Kaos Studios has announced that they will attempt to rectify this by developing DLC campaigns to continue the story, and to lead up to a sequel that is already in the works.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Compared to its contemporaries, ''Franchise/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'', ''Homefront'' is an ''extremely'' dark and depressing game (the introduction scene in the first level doesn't help). The main characters are {{anti hero}}es at best, and the villains are among the worst monsters, and watching what happens in the game tends to provoke nihilism rather than attachment.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Compared to its contemporaries, ''Franchise/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'', ''Homefront'' is an ''extremely'' dark and depressing game (the introduction scene in the first level doesn't help). The main characters are {{anti-hero}}es at best, and the villains are among the worst monsters, and watching what happens in the game tends to provoke nihilism rather than attachment.