I think almost any objective reviewed agreed the THQ first person shooter Homefront was a mess. But why? Polygon reporter Rob Zacny digs deep and uncovers a lot of problems with the game’s AAA development process:
It might have been too late to truly set Homefront apart from Call of Duty, but that didn’t stop upper management from belatedly trying to match it in terms of spectacle….Intimidated by Modern Warfare 2, senior managers started going back over Homefront asking, “How exciting is this moment? How can we dial it up to 11?”
What frustrated directors and producers about the eleventh hour revisions was that they meant misery for the lower-level developers who would have to implement all these changes. If THQ and Kaos’ senior management were going to throw out two years’ worth of preproduction and development, then a long, brutal crunch was all but inevitable.