The reviews for the ‘what if’ shooter were ”radically spread” means it’s a game with ”a point of view”, even ”controversial” maybe. We ”can’t apply math to art,” he says.
Does that mean we should discount sales figures as a measurement of success? No I didn’t think so. Reviews ”matter less to me now than a month ago,” said Danny Bilson.
”I used to think for a core game they matter more. I think I realise now that when you make a mass-market game it’s more like the film business. The idea and the concept will resonate with a large group or it won’t.” Homefront was THQ’s biggest pre-order title ever.
“If we were universally panned, I would say ‘Yeah I guess it didn’t work.’ I think the idea of 50 reviews that are so radically spread says that we made a game that has a point of view and that you might even argue is controversial,” he said.
”When we set out, and I was sitting with Kaos in New York, I was saying ‘Guys, if we’re going to make a modern shooter of any kind, we have to compete with the best of the world.’ I remember in those meetings, the summary was: ‘We don’t expect to beat those guys; our mission is to be in the conversation.’”
”And on being in the conversation: mission accomplished. Everybody’s talking about Homefront,” concluded Bilson. ”Do I prefer that it’s controversial? No, I’d prefer if everybody in the world loved it. But there are 20+ reviews that are over 80, there are some haters, and there are some mid-range ones.”
”Do I read them all to see what we can do better next time and have every review be 100? Of course, our goal is always that. What I will say pretty clearly is the game is not a ‘71.’ You can’t apply math to art.”
We defied ‘Bilson’s Law’ and actually managed to ‘apply math to art’ giving it 7.0/10. To work out how we managed such a feat you should check out our Homefront review.
