Despite marketing hype and cinematic pretensions – the latter thanks to a story from self-plagiarising Red Dawn screenwriter John Milius – Homefront is a distinctly average first-person shooter.

Set in a near-future United States occupied by North Korea, the game casts players as a resistance cell member fighting alongside a po-faced manly man, an Asian-American man and a woman who gets upset a lot. Other freedom fighters make fleeting appearances before betraying the cause or getting killed, cursing the injustice of the whole rotten kerfuffle as they go. North Korean antagonists are so hammy they might as well sport moustaches to twirl menacingly.

Levels are relentlessly linear, weapons lack variety and gameplay consists of unforgiving slogs between checkpoints, shooting at enemies who pop up from cover like whac-a-moles and occasionally using vehicles to do the same thing with a louder gun. Pacing is rotten and players will frequently have to wait while their comrades conclude rows over who is the most patriotic before the game moves forward. A shamefully short running time leaves the impression of a rushed, unfinished product. Homefront isn't a write-off, and its imagery is often stunning, but it pales in comparison to its rivals.