Hey everyone, I normally do not double post, but a month or more has already passed, so I just wanted this update to be more easily seen.
I did finally reach the Arcade Cabinet in the Restriced Zone in Homefront: The Revolution, and played through the whole easter egg. In a word, it was AWESOME! Both Siberia and Chicago are indeed fully playable, and even have their cutscenes intact! What's more, the game cartridge that you find in Siberia normally just has Anaconda as a playable mini-game, but not in this case! That's right, you get access to ALL 3 mini-games on the Temporal Uplink, once you pick up the cartridge in the level! Oh, the levels are remastered graphically, and the increased resolution makes TS2 look stunning on the PS4 (the version that I own). Just to clarify, this easter egg is available on all platforms that the game was released on (PS4, Xbox One, and PC).
However, all of that being said, I did encounter a few oddities while playing. Keep in mind that this easter egg is actually a port of the original TS2, so some things may have been lost in the transition. In Siberia, I noticed that the further away you are from a door, the more visible a green mist-like substance becomes, giving interiors in particular a strange greenish tint. Also, when you pick up the Flamethrower, you'll likely notice that those circular front pieces attached to the barrel are actually semi-transparent. They are still visible, it's just that you can somewhat see through them.
Also worth mentioning is that the controls are quite different, and are directly based off of Homefront's controls, rather than TS2 itself. It took me a short while to adjust to them, but once I did, I had no major issues. It turns out that I was right about the aiming system being reworked, as there is no more floaty, manual aiming once you bring the crosshair up on screen. The crosshair is indeed fixed, and that means the ability to rotate your gun as you aim is gone. This version of TS2 did feel a bit stiff at first, but that's mainly due to my familiarity and muscle memory with the original version of the game. Auto-aim is still very much present, so there's no need to worry about the shooting feeling un-TS2.
Lastly, the auto-aim makes using sniper rifles in both levels weird, since you are almost guaranteed to get a headshot even when aiming at an enemy's chest. That was really the only thing that bugged me, as using a sniper rifle with that much auto-aim did make the weapon feel cheap. That said, this was a port, so a few things probably had to change in order to get the game to run well on PS4 and the other current gen platforms (and run well it does!).
I do think that if any of the TS games were to get the proper HD Remaster treatment on current systems, the above issues would very likely be worked out, especially the over-generous auto-aim (and I like auto-aim in TS, as it feels just right to me!). Wow, this post turned out way longer than I initially expected, so thank you for reading (or at least skimming) this uber wall of text!
