It shows the charme of classic FPS, with a certain tactical side and a positive management of upgrades. If you don't care about the lack of multiplayer, then the only downside is the short campaign.
I truly believe back in 2011 2012. game development was in competition with other games developers. and there was a growth in games graphics. and its games like this one hard reset that make me feel like that interest in making great quality games that work on release that interest has gone. the interest to build and create amazing games seems to have died a death. this is truly a marvel. if you have never played this game on high settings you need to. there are games out today in 2016 that dont look as good as hard reset. or feel as good and as well put together. the weapons are amazing. the light shines all around and when you run you see camera blur that was done very very well. this game has alot to offer. and has to be one of the greatest designed games ive ever seen. its beautiful. its like doom 3 but it kicks ass. its a sci fi shooter. and i really love it. and i really mean it when i say there is not alot out today that looks this good. so what happened. ?
Hard Reset
Too good to miss!
No this is nothing like those old games. It's 2014 and I play 30+ games in rotation, including the GoG Doom 3, and this gem shines above them all as a vacation from the typical...
Have you ever kicked a vending machine? Knocked over a newspaper dispenser. Smacked an ATM? Tisk-tisk. The machines fight back in this one. Hard Reset is one of the unsung triumphs of its time. It's a wonder this isn't an episodic franchise. The greats do slip past us. Get ready to be hit hard by this Monster-sized madness as you hit back with its unequaled weaponry set in a desolate dystopic future.
If nothing else it has the greatest upgrade station in gaming.
Does what it intends to do quite well. This is a game that begs you to replay those four hours. Take it for a spin with a harder difficulty setting or focus on a different set of weapons, and you'll feel like you're playing a different game.
Hard Reset is a very decent debut - a game that reminds (in a very nice way) all PC gamers of the somewhat forgotten times of simple but exciting shooters. It's very pretty, very explosive and very short. But still it's worth the money the developers want for it and, perhaps, with sufficient sales they will be able do create a true bestseller in the future?
This game hit the time and the spot with its conception unlike the others from the past – making a virtue out of its mediocre and plain form is something we don't see very often these days.
It brings back memories of Painkiller and Serious Sam – again and again you get drowned in enemies. From time to time Hard Reset will beat the hell out of you but it does it in a quite pleasant way and graphics are very nice. The game has two substantial flaws – the single player campaign is short (ca. 6 hours) and there is no multiplayer mode. [October, p.66]
You can see things worth admiring here. The promise of sandbox combat emerging from the interplay between environment and gun-modes never comes good, instead devolving into a repetitive, gruelling bedlam - but that promise alone is more than many shooters offer. To make anything of it, however, Hard Reset would need to go right back to the drawing board.
GOOD: Nice video, good audio, WOW gameplay
BAD: short campaign
Hard Reset is probably the best "classic" FPS i played in the last 9 years (I say 9 to avoid a conflict with HL2): it combines 90s FPS tipical gameplay with modern elements. Its core is the interaction with the enviornment, that one can (in practice must) use to kill enemies. There are 2 weapons that can fire each in 5 different modes with different effects.
advantages:
+ amazing graphics
+ cool sound
+ futuristic climate
+ fast and dynamic
disadvatages:
- no multiplayer
- too short (about 7 hours main game + 4 hours Exile DLC)
- only automatic save game, no manual
mark: 7/10
Hard Reset [Extended Edition]
When I first heard about the game in question, I was a bit doubtful. A sci-fi themed game in an action-oriented/arcade style gameplay. It would have seemed to put together all of the stereotypes but, after sometime from its debut, I decided to try and play it; found on some sale for a very few bucks. The graphic and the art style are sleek and polished; the cyber-filled world quite unique and well made; the sound compartment surprisingly well done. So, you're gonna ask "what about the downsides"? 'cause I can say, they're there.
The game's self-professed "old school" (and I shall open a discussion topic about that, perhaps) mechanics are just dull and flat as you basically run through a mega-hallway - that is the world it-self - divided into chunks of areas, that I'm gonna call "arenas", where you are flooded by hordes of enemies and you don't have an "escape route": the door/passage/you-say-it that you've just passed through will suddenly close/crumble/whatever and you'll have to figure out how to kill'em all without dying. That's wouldn't be of any concern if played at low-level but, if like me, you play through a hard difficulty level.. prepare to die and suffer a lot: enemies will just take forever to die, literally; even the smaller-cuty ones, will lasts for too much what you'd expect. Boss fights? Repetitive - as every other fights - and frustrating.
Luckily, here comes the last aspect of the game and a positive one. "Customization". Yes, you can upgrade yourself and your arsenal by using exp points you'll earn killing enemies and picking up special bonuses, let's call'em that way, and spending them at some "upgrade-machine vendor" integrated in the world. You basically starts (and finish) with two weapons, one for each kind like "standard" ammo and power energy; each of them can be upgraded into 4 more weapons for a total of 5 per kind. Every weapon has a primary and secondary mode as well an upgrade. So, you'll have plenty of variety to experiment with though you'll end up using the same two model that best suites you. You can also upgrade your armor/health/utilities, like more health, more resistance to damage, and on..
So, by the end what happens? Well, later on - and not too late - in the game there were times in which I just wanted it to be over; too repetitive in the mechanics and playing it on hard's just too hard: it is not the smart hard, at all, it is the frustrating one that ruin it all. The world itself is well presented; quite varied plus the good points I've already explained.. but the negatives' quite ruined the feast as the game ain't balanced at all. At all. Summing it all up:
Graphic: 8*
Art: 8
Sound: 8
Music: 6**
Gameplay: 6
Uniqueness: 8
Partial: 7.3
F.F.: 75%***
*not latest gen but still very appealing
**bland, uninspired and repetitive music score
***Frustration Factor: game's far too unbalanced on higher difficulty levels but some situations give relief upon completion
good graphics, good sounds. nice light effects.
the music is a pain in the arse.
its not my kind of game, just monotonous enemy spam without any sense á la serious sam.
there are not even many different kinds of enemies.
basically the game consists of spraying with your gun and unlocking doors.
it might be fun for a few minutes, but then i got tired of it.
very sad cause the detailed level design looks promising.
its for sure overpriced and not a must have.
I wanted to like this game. A PC exclusive steampunk FPS with promises of sandbox levels full of exploration and lots of secrets? Hell yes! Unfortunately it fails to deliver in almost all categories. I expected much more from the graphics. My 3-year-old PC played the game smoothly on ultra settings. I miss the days when "Ultra" or "Max" settings would bring a 1-year-old PC to its knees. Music is decent but repetitive. Voice acting is bad and in many cases cringe-worthy. Story, while not terribly important in an FPS is boring. Levels are linear and repetitive. Secrets are too easy to find. Combat is relatively fun at least, and there is a good variety weapons since each of the two guns has 5 unique modes. Finally, I don't like the fact that the first patch straight up decreased the difficulty. There was absolutely no reason for that. If you're an FPS fan, it might be worth picking up on sale since it's cheap to begin with, but the game had so much more potential.