Review

Hard Reset

Flying Wild Hog recently released free DLC for their first person shooter, Hard Reset. After looking into it, I was obliged to review the extra content when it occurred to me that…we’ve never got a chance to review Hard Reset itself. So, to remedy that, I’ve decided to review them together. 

Hard Reset is set in the distant future where mankind wages war with machines. The humans are all but extinct; there is only one human city left on the whole planet. This last safe haven, called Bezoar, is constantly under attack. If the robots manage to get inside, they’ll lay waste to everyone there. That’s why there are soldiers, like our hero Major Fletcher, who are trained to battle the machines and ensure the safety of the city. At least that was the case; somehow Bezoar’s protective barrier has been breached and all cybernetic “heck” is breaking lose!

Hard Reset is a FPS that harkens back to the old days. I’m talking massive amounts of enemies on screen all at once, health packs, fast paced action; the staples that are no longer found in modern shooters. Gamers will trek down mostly linear levels, battling waves of enemies while solving the occasional puzzle in the vein of “press this button to unlock this door”. Rinse and repeat. While that might sound bad on paper, nostalgic gamers can attest that this is actually a good thing. The gameplay is fun and frantic. Not only that, but not having certain modern conventions (like auto health regain) makes the battles seem more epic in nature. Walking away from a crazy encounter with a giant death bot with only 10% health  lets you know you’ve been in a real fight!

While that’s cool and all, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what the newer shooters are doing nowadays. The developers must have felt the same way because they added a few modern mechanics to the formula. Take the upgrade system for example; by taking out enemies, gamers will gain experience points used to upgrade Fletcher. Once you’ve reached a certain amount of XP, you’ll be able to upgrade your equipment at upgrade “booths” scattered around levels. When it comes to Fletcher himself, you can improve attributes like his hit points, shields, and hud (heads up display). One cool perk, called perception, made everything except the player slow to a crawl whenever his life got low.  This allowed you to do things like blast fast moving enemies easier, escape bad situations, or switch weapons without being attacked. It definitely became a life saver towards the end of the game.

One interesting thing to note is how your weapons are upgraded. Fletcher only has two guns; one that is a more conventional weapon and the other is a more futuristic one. When you upgrade the guns you are able to unlock more sub weapons. For instance, the conventional weapon is your basic automatic rifle. One upgrade will allow it to change from a rifle into a shotgun; the gun’s parts will move and change, transforming into a shotgun in real time. Scrolling up and down on the mouse wheel will change it back and forth between the two gun types. In addition to this weapons upgrade system, there is also the option to unlock a secondary attack for each sub-weapon, adding more variety to your combative options. Take the futuristic gun/plasma rifle. One upgrade turns it into a mortar that shoots electrically charged plasma balls that stick to any surface (including enemies). The secondary attack places a force field on the ground, trapping any enemies that wonder too close inside its walls. Even though it only lasts a few seconds, this gives you more options; one of my favorite tactics would be to freeze a bunch of enemies and then switch to an explosive weapon, a poor choice for moving targets, to finish them off.

While the weapon system is different, I’m not sure if it’s better than just having multiple weapons. On one hand, you don’t have to search for multiple ammo types. Because there are only two guns, there are only two types of weapon ammo. On the other hand, not having multiple ammo types means you can run out of ammo for a gun, making multiple sub weapons useless all at once. For instance, a rocket launcher sub weapon uses up more ammo per shot than the shotgun. If you are battling a tough opponent and use all of your rockets, you won’t be able to switch to the other sub weapons found on the conventional gun. To be fair, your ammo does slowly regenerate and there is normally a lot of ammo lying around. Still, it can be frustrating to not be able to use multiple weapons due to the shared ammo feature.

The world of Hard Reset can be described in one word, cyberpunk. Movies like Blade Runner come to mind; all of the high-tech gadgetry and modern locals are seen through a dilapidated lens. The future is a bleak one, which makes sense being that an army of machines are trying to wipe humans from the planet. That said, Hard Reset’s world is pleasing to the eye. You can tell that Flying Wild Hog worked hard to make everything look good; there is a certain “pop” to the neon lit world. And, even though it’s mostly a linear affair, the levels are well designed. My only problem with Hard Reset’s world is in the scattering of explosive or otherwise volatile objects. Visually, it’s cool because they add details to keep the game grounded; placing a car in a parking lot makes sense. At the same time, there are just too many things in the environment that go boom. I understand that they are placed there to be used against enemies. A well placed rocket could start a chain reaction, destroying large groups of tough-to-kill robots. On the other hand, a missed step could blow Fletcher to smithereens; I literally died by walking into an explosive barrel. To be honest, that’s one of the only reasons I had a hard time getting through the game. Yes, the enemies can be difficult to take down, but the excessive  level hazards are what did me in most of the time!

In spite of the developer’s need to place explosive barrels everywhere, Hard Reset can be a fun game. Like I said, the fights are frantic in nature, requiring twitch shooting skills and the knowledge to know when to use certain sub weapons. As it stands, it delivers good old school gaming with modern elements sprinkled in for fun. Which is why I was so shocked at how the game ended. For you to fully understand my dismay, I have to explain how the Exile DLC comes in. You see, everyone who bought the retail copy of Hard Reset (which came out after the digital version), got what was called the Extended Version. It included five extra levels taking place after the normal game ends. Everyone who got Hard Reset via digital download missed out on these levels. So, the developer recently decided to give everyone who downloaded the game the levels for free (aka Exile). After playing through the main game and seeing the abrupt ending, I felt like there was something missing. Like there was more to the story…and apparently there was.

Exile doesn’t feel like an extension to the game and/or bonus content; it feels like it should have been there the whole time. If I would’ve bought the digital copy back in September, I would have felt cheated once I played the Exile levels. This makes me believe that they had no choice but to release the extra levels for free; anyone who purchased Exile would have realized that those levels should have been there in the first place. That said, I can’t speak on the intentions of Flying Wild Hog. For all I know, they may have wanted the game to end the way it did.  Then again, from a consumer’s point of view, the original electronic version of the game was ended suddenly without the last five levels, as if it were rushed to make a certain release date. Now, this isn’t too bad because anyone who buys the game now will get everything. My problem is that the ending of Exile is just as abrupt as the main game’s ending. I came away feeling like I still haven’t experience everything that I was meant to.

It’s clear that the game’s story is important; a decent amount of work went into the voice acting and the hand drawn cutscenes. If it was an all-out arcade shooter, this wouldn’t have been an issue. No story; nothing to complain about. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be played though. Even if it’s only for the crazy action that ensues and not the story, you shouldn’t skip this game outright. As it stands, Hard Reset is an entertaining alternative to the more modern shooters being released nowadays.