Hard Reset is a futuristic first-person shooter that originally released on September 13th, 2011. While the game received a mix of reviews, leaning toward the positive side, the title never really gained a ton of popularity; it stayed within a small following, and gained a cult-classic status over the years. Now, five years later and the cyberpunk inspired shooter has gotten a modern day makeover, with the newly introduced Redux edition.
In Hard Reset you play as Major Fletcher, a genetically modified soldier who likes his guns big and loud. Humanity is nearing extinction and a war has been waged against the mass army of robots; it is your duty to take as many of those mechanical heathens down as possible. The story is told through cutscenes that are drawn up in a conceptual graphic novel style, although about halfway through the game the developers decided that there was apparently no need for a plot anymore. The story itself is one that is incredibly lackluster and uninteresting, as well as it leaves more questions and plot holes hanging than it resolves.
Now, you may know all of those things already if you've played the original game; so what about this Redux edition? Well, I must say that the graphics quality is outstanding, and the game is incredibly well optimized. I held a constant 85 FPS (the limit I set it to) for the entire duration of my 5.8 hours with the game, no exceptions. It's a really amazing upgrade to the original, plus it includes all of the previously released DLC. Before you continue reading, let me say that if you did enjoy this game when it first launched, you won't be disappointed in the least by this Redux. If you're new to the game, continue on.
The inspiration that the developers took from classic fast-paced shooters such as Quake and Doom really shines through the industrialized urban wasteland. Every battle is quick, and intensely ferocious; ammo and health management are extremely vital if you wish to make it to the end of the game. Any setting other than easy can pose immense bouts of frustration due to the overall difficulty of the title, and there are even some battles that are extremely challenging on the easiest setting. While you have your standard health and ammo pick-ups, you also collect N.A.N.O. points in order to purchase upgrades for your guns and gear.
You have two primary weapons; a rifle and a plasma gun. Throughout the course of Hard Reset, the more you upgrade either weapon, the larger your arsenal of guns becomes. The rifle can be turned into a grenade launcher, RPG, and shotgun, while the plasma gun can transform into a rail gun, shock blaster, electric mortar, and more. Each of these weapons have three upgrades to them, and upgrading your toys plays a major role in surviving long, complex battles. It's important to not forget about upgrading your armor, as having more health, ammo, and shield capacity is never a bad thing.
So by this point you must be thinking, "But Belphegore, all of that sounds really cool and fun, why the thumbs down you nub?". Well, while Hard Reset sounds like fun when you write it all out, the game is abysmally boring. There is very little in the way of diversity, be it the foes or the environment; including the ways that you kill enemies. There are fire barrels and different ways to shock your enemies, other than just blasting them to smithereens, but these gimmicks become incredibly stale very early on in the game. Likewise, the gameplay is tediously predictable. New area? Robots. Flip a switch? Robots. Go out of your way to pick something up? Robots. Have to go back the way you came? Robots. I found that the entire time I was playing the game, I was on autopilot and not paying any attention whatsoever, unless it came to a very difficult battle.
I'll admit that I didn't care for the original Hard Reset, it never grabbed me and I'd never even finished it until now. I figured for $3.30 CAD I couldn't go wrong, but unfortunately I did. The story just abruptly ends in the middle of the game, and there's absolutely no reason to continue with finishing the title; there's zero payoff when you reach the end. The boss battles are mildly interesting at best, but not difficult by any means. There's more challenge with the run-of-the-mill robots when they gang up on you and beat you in to a corner. There's little reason to use anything other than the rifle and RPG, as well. Hard Reset had a lot of opportunity, but the developers missed every one and instead just made another generic FPS. On the bright side, the game runs like a dream and looks spectacular now.
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