Despite the fact that Homefront: The Revolution isn't the most polished experience out on the market today, there's still plenty of entertainment value to be had for those who are looking to spend hours inside of militant Philadelphia. From raising the comically named Hearts and Minds rating of every zone all the way to upgrading your weapons to their utmost potential, Homefront: The Revolution isn't light on content. For those of you that are looking to get the most out of your experience with the newest title from Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver, we have five handy tips that should put you in a far better position to succeed.

1. Never go out in the open

Because of the fact that Homefront: The Revolution does not have regenerating health, managing the amount of life you have is absolutely critical. While the third tip on this list will certainly assist you in staying alive, but considering that every enemy packs a pretty hefty punch, you're going to want to keep some sort of object in front of you at all times. Luckily, the AI in Homefront: The Revolution isn't necessarily the brightest, so crouching behind an object will often cause them to either forget about you, or slowly wander into a more vulnerable position.

Despite the fact that you essentially have to stumble into it as a mechanic, there is a way for you to utilize cover in a way other than simply hanging out behind it. Basically, whenever you crouch while standing directly behind an waist-high object, you'll be able to prop your gun up, which reduces recoil and converts you into a cover-based killing machine. Considering that Homefront: The Revolution doesn't necessarily have the most generous checkpoints in the world (you respawn at the closest safehouse and have to run back to the objective generally), making sure that you're not getting hounded from all angles is absolutely critical.

2. Figure out what your favorite weapons are and upgrade them completely

Despite the fact that there are only a few core weapons available , there is a great deal of gun variety thanks to Homefront: The Revolution's awesome gun conversion tools. By popping off the base of a weapon, you'll be able to make crazy swaps that turn a regular pistol into a submachine gun or a crossbow into a flamethrower. Because you can only equip two guns at any given time, you're going to have to quickly decide what your favorite weapons are, as heading back to the safehouse through load-heavy fast-travel or arduous back-and-forth walking is somewhat of a drag. Because purchasing different attachments and weapon upgrades prevent you from having cash to drop on consumables or character gear upgrades, it's important that you do your best to find your weapon of choice early on in the proceedings to save yourself cash going forward.

Because of shooting that can get slightly swimmy with a mouse and keyboard, the standard assault rifle and the submachine gun conversion for the pistol wind up being two of the best bets, along with the rocket launcher as a second primary. Try to purchase items that boost damage so that you can take down enemies far quicker, and be sure that you upgrade each weapon to three stars as quickly as possible. Not only is this a great way to utilize your cash in a way that has a tangible effect on gameplay, but it also frees you of one of your biggest monetary burdens early on in the campaign.

3. Buy a Tactical Vest as soon as possible

For a mere $5000, you can unlock a piece of permanent gear that reduces the amount of enemy bullet damage by fifty percent. Think about that for a second. In a game in which managing your health is absolutely critical, being able to take two bullets for every one is a perk that is simply too important to ignore. Because you can get extra currency by picking up valuables, completing jobs through safehouse bulletin boards and conquering main missions, it's actually not all that difficult to amass the extra coin. The added bonus to doing this is that once you've purchased the most expensive upgrade available, it's really simple to buy lesser upgrades by the bunch, as each story mission will wind up giving you more and more cash. Of course, the one negative aspect of this is that it makes it easy to buy up all of the upgrades right away after getting the biggest whopper under your belt, but your experience as a whole will benefit from this choice.

4. Pick up every valuable in sight

Collectibles in Homefront: The Revolution often contain long-winded stories that build up the universe a bit, but those who aren't fond of extra narrative content should still explore. Dambuster has baked a loot system similar to that of Fallout 3, though to a much smaller degree. Essentially, whenever you see a glowing object in the environment, you'll be able to harvest some sort of valuable item that can be sold for cold, hard cash at any gun locker. While you may wonder why a prison contains dressers loaded with tuna fish and duct tape, it's best to just mash the interaction button and collect as many valuables as possible. Not only can you cash these items in to purchase grenades and molotovs when you're out of crafting materials, but this system will allow you to obtain better permanent gear. In-game currency is your key to success in Homefront: The Revolution, so get ready to convert fish into weapon attachments (so to speak).

5. Holster your weapon

If ever there was an indicator that Homefront: The Revolution was meant to be played with a controller, it's that there's currently no way to map the holster command to the key of your choice. Mechanical shortcomings aside, this is perhaps the most crucial mechanic in each of the many Yellow Zones found on the world map. The entire point of Yellow Zones is to blend in with the surrounding civilians in order to avoid alerting the KPA of the presence of any revolutionaries, so whipping out a high-powered rifle isn't the wisest choice in the world.

Aside from the fact that you won't be using any valuable gear or ammunition by keeping your weapon tucked away, you'll also have far more freedom to explore and complete objectives while in stealth. It's near impossible to win over a territory if you constantly have the KPA on your tail, so do yourself a favor and holster your weapon as much as humanly possible.