Lynxworks

After not inconsiderable cajoling by a friend of mine, I hired a copy of Homefront on PS3. It transpires that this is a formulaic FPS title.

The game is buggy. I’ve played through the first four levels and the PS3 has crashed on each of them, requiring a power recycle. The collision detection with scenery is very unpredictable – it often inhibits movement when there is no visible object in your path. When there are NPC in your party you cannot go through doors until they have. Worse still is the way checkpoints are handled – surely play testers noticed that putting lengthy character conversations after the checkpoint means sitting through these tedious dramatics repeatedly.

Without doubt the most irritating FPS title I’ve played. If you enjoy the desire to throw your controller through a window this game will afford you the opportunity in spades.

I’m 35. There’s one PS3 in our house and I bought it. It’s attached to a nice big Plasma TV with a high refresh rate. If that sounds like I’m bragging, I’m not.

See the kids come in from school a good hour and a half before I do. So they can adhere to the rules (complete homework and get their kit ready for the next day) yet still be engrossed in video games by the time I get home. But it doesn’t end there, see I have a Lovefilm subscription so that means my wife likes to watch a film or two on the PS3 once we’ve eaten.

I like on line multi-player, particularly FPS but I can’t really get on before about ten each evening. The weird thing is I’m not alone. I just logged off after an hour playing with three other men my age(ish) – completely unplanned.

There’s something deeply flawed with three thirty-something married men whispering into headsets at midnight on a week night trying to play PS3. Its almost as if its a taboo.