The Plusses in this game:
+Polished game play
+Fluid level design
+Intense firefights
The Minuses in this game:
-Convoluted story
-Difficult even on normal
Final Rate: 9 / 10
Controller support:
Yes
System requirements:
Minimum:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon 64
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 4 GB free hard drive space
Video Card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS / ATI Radeon HD
3870 or better
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Sound: DirectX Compatible
Recommended:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz / AMD Phenom II x4 2.5
GHz
Memory: 3 GB
Hard Disk Space: 4 GB free hard drive space
Video Card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT / ATI Radeon HD
4870 or better
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Sound: DirectX Compatible
Review:
Hard Reset came out of nowhere a few months ago, impressing
lots of PC gamers with its lovely graphics and promising to deliver a high
quality experience from a new studio, called Flying Wild Hog, composed of
veterans from other Polish developers like People Can Fly, the makers of
Painkiller or Bulletstorm, or CD Projekt Red, the creators of The Witcher.
Now, the game is finally out and people can see if Hard
Reset can actually live up to the expectations of PC gamers, who want a cross
between all the games mentioned above.
So, does Hard Reset manage to deliver a retro shooter
experience, with tight gameplay and simple mechanics, or should it be put out
of its misery with a full on headshot? Let's find out.
Story:
It's hard to talk about a story in Hard Reset, as it follows
pretty much the same bare bone structure of Painkiller, for example, meaning
you just go through levels and shoot everything that looks at you funny, or in
this case any robot that tries to plant its metal into your fragile human body.
You play as Major Fletcher, a former Army veteran now
handling security for a large corporation called … The Corporation, in a
futuristic cyberpunk dystopia, where rogue robots controlled by an AI hive mind
are threatening humanity in order to emerge the dominant force.
The Corporation is all that stands between Fletcher's home
city of Bezoar and the robot hordes, but not everything is as it seems. Over
the course of the game, the protagonist is set to deal with a robot breach into
a district of the city and find its source, but it quickly becomes something
much larger than himself.
Sadly, while the story in Hard Reset is pretty interesting
in theory, the execution is convoluted and the animated comic book cut scenes
don't really make it clear what's happening in the narrative. In a nutshell,
you just need to run around and shoot robots until the end credits roll, just
like in various other mindless shooters like Painkiller or Serious Sam.
Gameplay:
Seeing as how the story is hard to comprehend, Hard Reset
needs to more than make up for it in terms of gameplay and, fortunately, I can
report that it does just that. The shooting feels tight and precise, there's a
lot of weapon variety, you can even level up your firearms and enemies are
varied enough to keep you on your toes, especially on Normal difficulty.
You truly see the experience of Flying Wild Hog's members in
terms of first person shooters with Hard Reset, as the gameplay is well
balanced while the levels just beg you to take them into consideration when
facing off against robot hordes. As such, you'll find a fair share of explosive
barrels, but also various electronic displays or hubs which, when shot, send a
surge of electricity flying around them, killing the smaller robots instantly
while the big ones are stopped in their tracks.
You can also shoot cars that explode after popping enough
bullets into them, while two main weapons are more enough to dispatch of your
enemies, if you upgrade them carefully.
You collect three basic things in Hard Reset: health,
obviously, as this isn't a modern shooter with regenerative health, ammo for
your CLN rifle or NRG blaster, and NANO, a sort of in-game currency that allows
you to upgrade your abilities or weapons.
When visiting special upgrade stations, you can choose to
improve your standard weapon, or unlock new powers for it, like turning the
regular rifle into a rocket launcher, or the NRG blaster into a sort of
lightning dispenser. You can also upgrade your own body by implementing better
armor or even a health or shield regenerator.
You'll certainly need most of these upgrades, as Hard Reset
isn't an easy game, even on Normal difficulty, throwing at you legions of
enemies at once, each with their own special powers, from small, razor
blade-equiped ones to massive, human-like machines that can fire from a
distance, not to mention a variety of hulking beasts that charge at you or
throw grenades all over the level. As such, expect to die quite a lot if you
don't learn to keep a good distance between yourself and the enemies.
These opponents are pretty smart, often using their large
number against the player, so you always need to make sure you're using all the
helpful items from your environment, while moving about to dodge their powerful
attacks or lure them in traps.
Besides the levels, weapons and enemies, there's not a lot
more than can be said about Hard Reset, as it keeps things extremely simple
yet, in practice, everything goes better than quite a lot of games these days
that want to throw all sorts of mechanics just to give players something new to
do. In this game, firefights are short but intense, while the levels don't
outstay their welcome.
Graphics and Sound:
Hard Reset is a gorgeous game, as Flying Wild Hog's
proprietary Road Hog engine manages to shine, using all sorts of new graphics
technologies to make its gritty cyberpunk world come to life. While you'll
fight it out against robots at night, the world feels bright and colorful,
thanks to the great design of your user interface as well as the variety of
flashing lights and billboards decorating its levels.
Enemies are detailed, weapons effects look quite impressive,
and there's not a single freeze or loading issue to be had. It's also worth
pointing out that the game handles Alt+Tab situations very well, as it suspends
its video rendering systems, restarting it when the player enters the game and
immediately loads up the whole level just as you left it.
In terms of sound, Hard Reset is quite good, using a lot of
futuristic electro music to highlight the nature of its world. There aren't any
standout performances, largely because most of the times you'll be busy
fighting it out with the legions of robots, listening to your own symphony of
bullets than the actual music score.
Voice acting is pretty decent, with Fletcher having a good
enough voice, although one of the characters you meet halfway through bears a
striking similarity to the announcer of older Unreal Tournament games.
Conclusion:
Hard Reset is a cross between Bulletstorm and Painkiller,
with a few sprinkles of Witcher in terms of the upgrade mechanic. The resulting
mix is a great experience, especially for retro shooter fans that have awaited
a new Painkiller or Serious Sam in recent years.
While it's not a particularly long affair, clocking in at
around 5-6 hours, depending on the difficulty, Hard Reset is more than worth
its $29.99/27.99€ price tag.
Hard Reset is now available on Steam, exclusively on the PC,
and has support for both the regular mouse and keyboard control scheme as well
as controllers like the Xbox 360 one.
by
-
Tricker
