Hard Reset Review
After seeing Hard Reset around on Steam, my curiosities were definitely raised. The cold, dark, image of a man with an eye implant, clearly sci-fi in nature, was strangely appealing, and after watching the trailers, I knew I would be in for a deep sci-fi experience, something I've definitely been missing for some time.
Upon starting the game, I was met with a rather nice rendered and animated menu, its not often a menu catches my interest, but that they bothered to make some effort and put some detail into it, was certainly noticed. From there I hit new game, dived straight into Normal, and was met with a nice storyline cut-scene. The art-style for the story telling lends from classic comic book styling, over the top speech captions and bold texts, with a very vague brush-stroke style for characters, It works quite well for the dark atmosphere sci-fi vibe you get from the game, it almost reminded me of reading 2000AD in my youth, and made me feel quite comfortable. I’d barely entered the game and already felt a sense of immersion, something many games fail to do today.
Upon starting the game, I was met with a rather nice rendered and animated menu, its not often a menu catches my interest, but that they bothered to make some effort and put some detail into it, was certainly noticed. From there I hit new game, dived straight into Normal, and was met with a nice storyline cut-scene. The art-style for the story telling lends from classic comic book styling, over the top speech captions and bold texts, with a very vague brush-stroke style for characters, It works quite well for the dark atmosphere sci-fi vibe you get from the game, it almost reminded me of reading 2000AD in my youth, and made me feel quite comfortable. I’d barely entered the game and already felt a sense of immersion, something many games fail to do today.
As the game loaded, and I was thrown into the world, I was taken by the detail of the whole environment. Hard Reset is a very good looking game, and it’s very alive, the whole world is full of activity, and borrows strongly from Blade Runner in both look and feel. Bright billboards light dark streets, devices and terminals are common place, buildings tower up into the sky, and streams of hover cars pass overhead. The immersion factor is very well done, you do feel part of a sci-fi based world, and honestly it excited me, I was more than ready to get going on my adventure.
You start in Hard Reset with two weapons, the CLN, a modular assault rifle, and the N.R.G., a plasma-based weapon. Both are beautiful models, and as soon as you start firing, you see the true attention to detail in them. The CLN heats as you shoot, coming to a glowing almost molten like orange as its casing gathers heat, the whole process is smoothly animated, the chambers animations, the barrels spin, its just beautiful. The N.R.G. is in the same league, very alive, reminding me of the giant plasma balls you would see in museums as a child, it feels powerful. You feel as if you are wielding something with a great energy to be released, and throughout Hard Reset’s battles you certainly do.
Hard Reset took its development team mainly from Painkiller, and in the combat, it definitely shows. I was a big fan of Painkiller, the “old school” feel and speed to it, and as such I was very quickly engrossed in Hard Reset’s combat. There’s something about holding down your trigger like a crazed mad man and diving around filling masses of machines with lead that’s strangely therapeutic. Bullet ricochets, physics enabled objects reacting all around you, explosions as stray bullets catch parts of the environment, combat in Hard Reset is fast and adrenaline fuelled and a hell of a lot of fun.
In the early stages, combat is well balanced with just enough enemies for a classic FPS feel, facing almost overwhelming odds but always coming out on top, but it soon becomes evident that you’re going to need to put more thought into things than just spraying and praying, and that’s where the Upgrade system comes in.
Gathered from pick-ups and kills, upgrade points allow you to make purchases at the upgrade terminals scattered along your travels. It’s here the weapons really begin to shine. Unlike other FPS's, the two weapons you start with, and the two weapons you keep throughout the entire game, but through a multitude of upgrades, you attach modules and pods to unlock new weapon modes and attacks. The CLN takes the classic destruction path, with shotgun, grenade, rocket upgrades etc, all in 3 stages per module, the N.R.G. however brings something very interesting in terms of crowd control. You cant ignore these options in Hard Reset, being able to net and slow the masses of machines you face is a must, and you will find switching weapons and weapon modes is something that you need to survive encounters even in the first hour of the game.
Things get hectic and tough in Hard Reset. You will die. Lots. You’re often overwhelmed, and pushed to the limits, and there’s times it can get frustrating, even on Normal, but you always seem to find a way. I don’t recall going back to a checkpoint more than 3 times which is a difficulty level I find quite rewarding. No one wants to fly through a game in no time, you want a challenge, and Hard Reset delivers one on what I feel is a perfect level. I cant imagine how the Extreme and Ex Modes will be, but I am sure its going to be very very intense and will push even the best of FPS veterans to their limits.
Ex Mode is an interesting addition for re-playability, something needed in this single player only title. Basically once unlocked, it allows you to revisit and replay the game with the upgrades you already chose in your previous play-through. Along with the mass of achievements, and the secret areas on each level to be found, this is a very welcome addition as you will most definitely want to back through at least once and find those parts you missed.
The big killer for some, will be the lack of multi-player. I’m not going to lie, I was disappointed at first hearing it didn’t have one, and after playing and feeling the combat in-game, it could have been a very strong online shooter. I do appreciate that instead of simply leaving out multi-player and not spending time elsewhere, they’ve made the single player experience solid and re-playable, which it seems was the right thing to do as they have pulled it off quite successfully in my eyes.
Coming away from Hard Reset, there are a few small frustrations. Firstly the physics objects in the game. The environments are amazing and very interactive, but the number of times I would die due to a physics enabled object crossing my path was annoyingly high, as items roll and fly around from explosions very regularly. Secondly the lack of enemies, not in number, but in variety. From start to end there are very few different enemies you actually encounter, types are very generic, although well implemented, and that may be a bother to some that like to see a lot of different enemy classes and models.
One comment we’ve seen elsewhere has been on the length of the game, so I feel I need to address that to in our review. Personally, I’m a very hardcore FPS player, and on Normal came in just under 8 hours for my first play-through. Now when you consider the re-playability options included, that’s going to about double, and if you’re an achievement hunter, its going to at least triple. I don’t have an issue with that, I find it reasonable and I do feel Hard Reset justifies its cost. I would not recommend playing on easy though as id expect it brings a lower time to complete the first play-through, and I feel some of the complaints may have been avoided if Easy was left out altogether.
If you’re looking for an old school feel FPS, masses of action, and a cold sci-fi setting, Hard Reset will more than deliver. Is it ground-breaking? No, but its damn good fun, and an experience I’m glad I could go through.
8.00/10
8
Hard Reset (Reviewed on Windows)
This game is great, with minimal or no negatives.
After seeing Hard Reset around on Steam, my curiosities were definitely raised. The cold, dark, image of a man with an eye implant, clearly sci-fi in nature, was strangely appealing, and after watching the trailers, I knew I would be in for a deep sci-fi experience, something I've definitely been missing for some time.
This game was supplied by the publisher or relevant PR company for the purposes of review
COMMENTS
Ex0dUs-1428097470 - 11:41pm, 3rd April 2015 Author
If you're looking for a single player fps and are a fan of scifi, this is a must buy, support these guys they have mad skills!!
Rasher - 11:41pm, 3rd April 2015
Nice review man, I did spot this when it came out, but was unsure if to get it or not, thanks to your review i have now picked this game up, looks like some classic (old school style) FPS gaming that i would love.
Kaostic - 11:41pm, 3rd April 2015
Not my cup o'tea but great review :)