Feature: 'Homefront's Fall of US: Fact or Fiction?

Over the history of art and entertainment, creative minds have long gazed into the crystal ball to conjure visions of the future, often with terrifying conclusions. Sometimes, the line between art and truth can be very blurred, as creative predictions come quite scarily close to the truth (a look at the work of French science fiction author Jules Verne rather bears this out). Video games have taken this 'future gazing' to a whole new level, using the almost limitless creative possibilities of the medium to imagine apocalyptic new eras for planet Earth. But what are the consequences of future gazing, especially in terms of scenarios that would be so horrifying and destructive if they actually came true? Here we come to THQ's recently-released first-person shooter Homefront, which imagines an invasion and occupation of America by an empowered North Korea. Digital Spy joined David Votypka, creative director of Homefront developer Kaos Studios, to discuss whether this nightmare scenario could ever actually happen.

The idea for Homefront was conceived after Votypka watched 1984 movie Red Dawn as a teenager. The concept of Soviet troops and tanks swarming into small-town America instantly resonated with him, and he started wondering whether the world's greatest superpower would ever allow its people to be occupied by a military oppressor. Homefront's story, developed with Red Dawn writer and director John Milius, depicts the US deep in the economic mire as a post-peak oil state - in which oil supplies have peaked and fallen into decline - has led to a near-total collapse of the American way of life.

Due to the crippling financial problems, US military forces have withdrawn from Asia, enabling the Communist North Korea under Kim Jong-un, son of the late Kim Jong-il, to unify the country with the South. The newly-formed Korean People's Republic then expands throughout China, Japan and other Asian countries, creating a new world superpower. In 2025, the Korean government launches a satellite into space on a so-called 'goodwill' mission, but it actually delivers a crippling electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack to America, bringing the country to its knees and allowing Korean forces to launch a full-scale invasion.

On paper, it's a theoretically feasible scenario for an occupation of the US, but there are a number of issues that seem to make it highly unlikely. A post-peak oil state would hit all parts of the world, not just the US, and any downturn in America's multi-trillion-dollar economy would have serious ramifications for all global financial markets, certainly impacting countries in Asia. But most of all, America's military spending was $663 billion in 2009, more than double the amount spent by all 27 members of the European Union in second place. Even taking on the military infrastructure of Japan and China, a unified Korea would still surely struggle to compete with America's military might.

However, Votypka explained that Homefront's imagined scenario of a Korean invasion of the US was more about setting up the circumstances for what the team was really interested in; the occupation of America. Homefront is all about asking what would actually happen if America was invaded. Just how would the land of the free and the home of the brave cope with servitude under an aggressive oppressor? The development team did extensive research work modelling the possible ways that US citizens would react to occupation, after the twin blows of a peak oil situation and EMP strike have shattered America's devotion to fossil fuel-powered consumerism. They concluded that this would lead to widespread looting, criminality and horrific violence, but also the rise of co-operative and sustainable living, including the return of windmills and grow-your-own food in a more agrarian, agricultural lifestyle.

"We are exploring both chaos and order, but more so the chaos," said Votypka. "America's greatest weakness is our 'just in time' economy. We have three days' worth of products on the shelf, and if it gets beyond that then we are in trouble. So an EMP blast would be devastating. That's the chaos side, but then the coming together side is how the civilians and freedom fighters pull together. The resistance headquarters is covered with camouflage netting, but it's also where families and children are living. You see people milking goats, that sort of thing. This community has come together to retrofit their lifestyle and try to survive and adapt to the new world."

Homefront's portrayal of occupation certainly features some very controversial ideas, not least its opening sequence in which the player goes on a harrowing journey inside a school bus gazing out at the brutality of oppression. Korean troops are seen savagely beating, abusing and killing citizens in a quintessential small American town. At one stage, a mother and father are shot against a wall, as their crying child runs to hug their bloody corpses. It's pretty strong stuff to stomach, especially for a largely Western video gaming audience. Votypka said that it was never the team's intention to shock the audience, but rather to make the occupation feel believable.

"Some people are going to view the bus ride and some of the events that happen in the game and be fairly taken aback," he said. "We have done lots of focus groups with different types of people, and my experience has been that the child and the parents scene is pretty shocking and it still bothers me every time I see it. But that is kinda one of the reasons we needed to leave it in there, because we want to portray the idea of occupation, and things like that happen in occupation. We did not put things in there for shock factor; we put them in to create a compelling, convincing and believable occupied America. I think there will be some things that people will be taken aback by, but that is part of the goal of selling this idea."

During the development, renowned filmmaker Milius brought his extensive knowledge of military history to Homefront, giving examples ranging from Atilla the Hun and Alexander The Great to Vietnam and Che Guevara. Milius told the team that at the heart of most military movements is the animalistic, human soldier; the compulsion to kill before being killed. This means that in situations of occupation the real driving force is about people wanting to save their own lives and the lives of the people they care about, rather than taking back a whole country. This also taps into the notion of how people deal with the prospect of occupation in different ways; do they try to get on with their lives, build a resistance, or actively collude with the occupying force?

"This is very, very important," said Votypka. "There are three resistance members who you go through the game with; there is Connor, who is a Rambo type more concerned with just taking out the enemy without caring about anything else. Then there is Boon, the squad leader, who wants the same thing, but is more concerned about the civilians. Then there is Riana, who has been trained as the hunter in the woods, but has got caught up in the resistance. She is uneasy with certain things, but is pushed forward by Connor saying that they have to just do whatever it takes to fight back. So that is the close scale, but there is also the wider civilian populace - there are active collaborators, people who just want to be left alone and even Americans who are torturing Koreans."

Homefront offers a pretty bleak portrayal of a future America, despite its rather barnstorming ending. The country is devastated, with its economy in ruins, its people subjugated and horrors conducted within its borders that would leave a lasting legacy on whatever remained of the America psyche. It's a stomach-churning prospect, but realistically one that is pretty farfetched. There would have to be a pretty cataclysmic set of circumstances all coming into line for Kaos's future gazing vision to come true. However, in a post-Holocaust world, it's important to grimly remember the old adage 'never say never', and it's certainly true that North Korea is no friend of the US.

Votypka said that the secretive Communist state was chosen as the chief agitator in Homefront because it offered the most credible threat in the modern world. The Cold War era of Soviet military power is long gone, while the Islamic terrorist groups throughout the Middle East are far too disparate to pose an organised threat, despite what the US and UK governments might have us believe. In the game, North Korea is certainly painted as the aggressor, but Votypka stressed that the story is really not about the Korean people.

"I am guessing that Koreans are not going to be great fans of the game! But we have kept a few things in mind, firstly that it is not about the Korean people," he said. "It's about the Korean regime, and they have been very publically venomous to the Western world. So we are just going off what they have already portrayed themselves as. A lot of things made North Korea feel right, especially if there were to have unification with South Korea and then improve their military technology by annexing Japan, with new air capabilities, satellites, sea force and technology, such as the EMP. We just couldn't really see that happening with Iran, for example."

He added: "Secondly, the game could really have any enemy; it doesn't necessarily have to be North Korea, because the game isn't about North Korea. It's about an occupied America. We just hope that players get to step out of reality and experience a different world that will hopefully never become reality."

> Click here to read our Xbox 360 review of Homefront

Homefront is out now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Did you enjoy the game's story? Add a comment to the space below!