The uniqueness of the screenshots, in my understanding, is due to what is depicted in the picture (and don’t say that I’m Captain Obvious, now everything will become clear). First of all, this is not a game about fascists, not modern shootouts with shotguns, pistols and sniper rifles, not a huge setting universe, like Fallout . In my understanding, this is what the shooter and action genre needs now, a breath of fresh air, a return to the roots of the genre. Hard Reset - a game that I can call the successor Quake and Unreal.
It was the similarity to the good old games that attracted my attention. And I wasn't disappointed. A minimal interface and futuristic weapons on half the screen - that’s all that will separate you from the world of cyber-punk and sci-fi.
The game is released by the company Wild Hog Fly , which included developers of games such as Painkiller and The Witcher. The game is exclusive to PC , digital distribution (full high-quality Russian translation!) and price around 30 USD. due to the company’s position regarding technically outdated game consoles from five years ago (on which, according to them, it is impossible to release modern projects) and the desire to minimize the costs of developing and distributing the game. By the way, this is precisely the reason for such a late press release of the game: the developers did not want fans to wait a long time for the game (not to mention Duke Nukem ), and the new small company does not have enough finances to maintain the excitement around the project for a whole year.
But enough third-party information, let's move on to considering aspects of the game.
As the mission progresses, we receive all the necessary information from the command (and not only that, the plot is revealed gradually, I see no reason to spoil it): where and what to blow up, at what time and whether it is worth leaving anyone alive. It is also possible to display or hide a barely noticeable and not at all disturbing marker indicating where to move in order to move further in the level (i.e. if you don’t know what to do next, and in front of you there is a huge gate, then most likely the sign will show you where the mechanism for opening these same gates is, and not on the gates themselves, so it’s almost impossible to get lost). Over time, the notorious restoration of health was replaced by the good old system health -packs, which are either adequately placed throughout the combat area, or simply fall out of enemies along with ammunition.
By the way, there are also several types of enemies.If at first we come across completely small and fairly harmless robots with saws instead of noses, which are killed with one or two shots, then soon enough we will meet suicidal robots that explode on the way to our exquisite person, or robotic bullies (who take for the habit of running away from a long distance and crushing even those environmental decorations that cannot be destroyed by the player himself). But this is not all the miracles of technology, but I don’t see the point in talking about them all.
Among other things, in my lifetime (correct me if I’m very wrong now, as it was said above, I’m not particularly a fan of shooters) this is the first game where you don’t have to shoot at the enemy, but at everything that’s next to him. The design of the levels, despite its monotony, is thought out to the smallest detail - there is always some kind of fuel tank in a long narrow passage that will smash hordes of small harmful robots into nanoparts. Or an electronic device that instantly releases a huge amount of electricity, sending opponents into an instant reboot ( Hard Reset :))
I’ll be honest: such a devil periodically appears on the screen that you can’t even see where to shoot, and which of the enemies is still intact and which is no longer there.
Graphic arts It’s not super new or cool, it’s exactly what it should be - atmospheric, but not complete bullshit. The shadows are designed simply amazing, the animation of the models is also excellent. For example, some robots continue to fight even if you shoot off their leg or a machine gun from their hand (in the latter case, they will rush at you hand-to-hand). There were also bosses and similar clashes. The first boss (or rather, there are two of them) will be powerful robotic rocket launchers, who in the near future will complete huge battles and become a completely familiar part of the game. There were also bosses, although here we are talking about the animated Atlas sculpture...
With all the monotony of the levels and surroundings, for some reason you never get bored. It’s very fun and interesting to smash enemies to pieces, first examining every corner of the future battlefield, looking for hidden exploding barrels.
Around the same period, the eyes look for an orange light on the screen emanating from special items- Nanites. These nanites are used to improve their weapons (both adding the functions of a shotgun and a rocket launcher to a standard machine gun, and opening up alternative shooting options: for example, alternative shotgun bullets paralyze practitioners for a short time) and equipment (standard improvements to the maximum health reserve, ammunition, etc. Further).
In between the endless shooting in the form of comics, we are shown various stories and dialogues of the characters, which, in fact, make up the plot. During the game itself, communication usually occurs only at the moment of completing a certain task, and then we are given a new one.
Music the game is quite good (there are both calm motives for, so to speak, the research mode, and hard trash talk, under which the troubles take place: it is by the music that sometimes you can only determine whether you have already destroyed all your opponents), and the sound effects are simply beautiful : everything is clear and understandable - this is an explosion, and this is a discharge electric current. In addition, various “shops” (exterior items) in good and clear Russian offer to buy various gifts from them, discount coupons, or ask you to come back when you go far enough.
In general, the game is pretty good, although there is not a lot of innovation in it. Especially suitable for fans of the good old action-shooter games.
PS . I’m going to prepare a few more reviews of new products, so I would like to see your wishes and suggestions regarding what points in each game should be covered more, or maybe I, on the contrary, have given out too much information and I no longer want to explore the game on my own. Please, without swearing and constructively (point by point, if possible) - in the comments.
The eternal journalist was with you ModGames - Aspard
Overall rating of the game- 85 (Private opinion)
P.P.S. In the last screenshot you can see how a legless robot is trying to crawl towards us. If you wait a little and only then shoot him, you can get the achievement" Sadist" :)
Instead of tearing off limbs, exploding carcasses and rivers of blood, Hard Reset amuses the viewer with another, generally no less attractive visual stimulant. In this game the most a large number of...electrical discharges and explosions. Enemies continually explode and close in left and right, without hesitating to fall apart. Moreover, there was no blood in the game at all, since some cyborgs are made on an organic basis, and the main character It’s not sewn with a steel thread, but still, it’s mainly the special effects that rule the roost here. Beautiful and rich special effects. Their concentration during firefights is so great that at first it is not even clear which of them were brought into the game for the sake of visual beauty, and which are dangerous and can cause damage.
The plot is presented in the form of comics, which is a completely obvious and logical move: of course, there was not enough money for full-fledged videos, and it doesn’t matter - this is not the first time this has happened in the industry (and, as some Finnish guys have proven, with proper use it even benefits the game). However, let's look at the story in more detail. When talking about the plot outline of a “meat” shooter, one often hears caustic remarks in the style of “In general, we could have done without a plot.” Oddly enough, in the case of Hard Reset, this statement can be safely used without the slightest doubt - it will be more than just appropriate. Compared to the patient, classic Doom seems to be the happy owner of a good, exciting, sometimes shocking script for a solid fantasy horror action. Even Painkiller, for all its wretchedness, produces more elaborate script moves. The local plot easily sets a new, hitherto unknown level of indifference.
Soon, even the most patient of players begins to give a damn about such a scenario, for which the game punishes very strongly, demonstrating how much it gives a shit about the player himself in return. It misleads the user into a colossal misconception, ultimately giving the user something else instead of the required “wow effect,” which is extremely unpleasant and has the opposite sensation. The situation is this: you just have to get excited, get into a frenzy and start preparing for the final, especially intense battles of the last levels due to an overabundance of opponents, when suddenly “bam!” - and the game ends. “Uh, wait, where?.. What?..” thinks the surprised gamer, desperately reaching out to the darkened monitor, from which credits are pouring in instead of the next level. This leaves one in bewilderment with only one thought: “Fuck, is that all?!”
Soundtrack – musical accompaniment, which should inspire heroic deeds, does not particularly shine with memorable melodies here: the electronic motifs playing in the midst of battle do not linger in the head, unlike the same techno from Firestarter - similar both in genre subtype and in cyberpunk style to the Ukrainian craft from guys from GSC Game World. But the local ambient music, humming in moments of calm, is sometimes very capable of sending a few goosebumps down the spine.
It is very difficult to draw a clear conclusion. On the one hand, very pleasant appearance and classic game mechanics leave a purely positive impression, if only because they don’t make such games anymore. However, on the other hand, we have a very short duration, mediocre gameplay and no script. This kind of game can be safely recommended to fans of old-fashioned “outhouse washers”, but not without a healthy dose of skepticism, since, being an old-school game, Hard Reset does not cope with its most important task: it tightens too weakly, and after tightening it, it immediately lowers the curtain, saying goodbye with an intrigued and not very happy player.
Game production is a difficult business. There is no place for mediocrities and quitters. And those who lack experience will face either economic collapse or a return to free add-ons for high-profile projects. Developers from Flying Wild Hog probably dreamed of financial victory, great love from the players and loud applause from journalists, but, alas... it takes 4 hours to complete, offers a damn monotonous process, and the hero’s arsenal consists of only two “guns”. What is this - laziness or an unsuccessful seed before much greater achievements?
With an iron fist
Two types of weapons are, of course, conditional. As the player completes levels, he earns experience points. At special kiosks you can spend them on leveling up. After upgrading, the machine can turn into a shotgun and then into a rocket launcher with the press of one button. The second weapon, electric, can also be developed. So, with a certain improvement, the user will be able to create ionized spheres similar to those in. For the fastidious ones, who find this not enough, the authors have provided an alternative shooting mode and additional functions, such as a grenade launcher, shots that stop enemies, and an optical sight.
The main character is also not against reconsidering the capabilities of his own body. Of course, it’s far from reaching the level of projects like this. The ability to collect can be developed more first aid kits and ammunition from the bodies of enemies, as well as health and shield parameters. Development should not be neglected, because local conditions will scare away weaklings in no time.
The spirit is very reminiscent of cyberpunk style. Here the player can be simultaneously attacked by several dozen opponents different types. Therefore, constant movement is a great way to maintain health. During firefights, you need to watch your surroundings. Sometimes you can get so carried away that you miss a treacherous blow from behind. It’s also worth shooting at cars, explosive barrels (Be careful! They explode immediately if you step on them) and electrical panels in order to somehow catch the freaks.
The most dangerous creatures are red “koloboks”, which, when approaching the player, selflessly detonate. Fast and small, they make you run away from you to the side. The rest, however, also do not stand still. Small chicken-like droids seek to cut the hero circular saw; medium-sized cars press with weight; and huge bosses simply have a huge supply of health.
They have a short conversation...
The authors drew simply fantastic scenery. In some places it seems that the city simply copies Los Angeles from "Blade Runner". And this undeniable dignity. Dirty streets, neon and constant rain... Somewhere above, dozens of flying cars cut through the air, food warehouses gather dust in the slums, and roads and buildings are in desperate need of repair. It’s a pity that the sad music is turned on out of place, and the psychedelic “chopping” during battles only hurts the ears.
Unfortunately, it’s not worth going through solely for the sake of the plot - it’s here only to warm up before the fight. In the distant future, most of the population lives in virtual reality, having given their bodies to the preservation of a government security company. Fletcher admits that he serves in it only for the money. After work, the hero is not averse to pawning his collar, but that day once again he was unable to drink. In one of the sectors, a large activity of robots was discovered, which constantly ruin the life of the company. Later it turns out that some evil professor is behind this. That's basically all. No intrigue.
An old-school shooter offers no health regeneration, no saving at checkpoints and is completely ordinary, tasteless game process. The hero does not know how to squat, wanders alone, performing the same type of tasks, listens to briefings different people and destroys thousands of robots without reloading the weapon. In this case, the short duration is rather a plus. For those who miss and, it’s worth a try, it might get you hooked. For the rest, it’s better to pass by. This autumn is already rich in interesting projects.
P.S.: Localization from 1C turned out simply amazing. Almost everything has been translated, right down to the messages on monitor screens and other textures. It would always be like this!
Graphic arts: 4.0
Plot: 3.5
Sound and music: 3.8
Gameplay: 4.0
Why play? The question is actually simple - out of great love for stupid, frankly speaking, shooters, of course. Well, you know, where there is nothing at all except explosions and shooting, but blowing up and shooting is a lot of fun.
The game was released five years ago and was created by those who had a hand in the development and. True, Hard Reset does not reach either one or the other, but this does not detract from its merits. If you didn’t have time to verify this in 2011, it’s time to correct the situation - recently an updated and improved version of the game was released, entitled Hard Reset Redux.
Twenty-fifth century. A bleak future with endless rain, gray skyscrapers and cold neon lights. People live in fear of robots out of control, and somewhere around the corner in one of the bars, Rick Deckard is probably knocking back shot after shot.
If your craving for shooters is combined with a love for cyberpunk, then Hard Reset will not waste your time - it maintains the visual style perfectly and creates the right mood with its design, music and even sounds. Everything, of course, is collected from genre cliches, but within the gaming industry they have not become so worn out, and the overall result is quite decent.
There is no life on the streets - the city seems abandoned.
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| But all these billboards, posters on the walls, flickering bar signs and abandoned cars attract attention and make us believe that people really lived here before we arrived. There is even something in this. | |
A quiet life in such a world, you understand, is impossible. The city of Belphegor is under attack by intelligent machines seeking to penetrate an archive containing digital “casts” of the personalities of millions of citizens. There is a theory according to which the threshold for the development of artificial intelligence is limited, and the archive can help robots... in general, then everything in that spirit. All that matters to us is that the brave Major Fletcher stands in the way of the robots. He is angry, drunk and ready to commit a real tin genocide.
The plot is presented only between levels in poorly drawn comics that you want (and it is possible) to immediately skip. Of course, if you wish, you can find exciting twists and a lot of interesting references to cult works in the cyberpunk genre in the story of Major Fletcher, but such a desire is unlikely to arise. The story is spoiled by the presentation, and stupid dialogues finish it off. And at the levels themselves, the plot does not appear in any way, and the events quickly disappear from your mind. Don't try to run Hard Reset Redux for the sake of the story.
It’s not entirely clear what angers Fletcher more: the fact that robots slaughtered thousands of residents when they burst into the city, or the need to work overtime because of the hardware.
But for the sake of speed, explosions and a pleasant metallic clang, feel free to launch it. The game revolves around a single element - shooting. You can shoot back at the insolent pieces of iron with a machine gun and a plasma cannon, which seems to be the same machine gun, but slower.
This, in a certain way, is what Fletcher's arsenal is limited to. But by collecting containers with nanites at levels, you can get hold of special points and spend them on new modes for the two available guns. A dozen of these points, and the machine gun effectively transforms into a shotgun or RPG, and the plasma gun begins to fry robots with electrical discharges.
The important thing here is that all weapon variations sound impactful and feel very convincing. When a machine gun fires shells into battle, you literally feel all these steel components working tirelessly under the metal body of the gun.
And how the enemies react to hits! Robots shower sparks all around, scatter metal plates, fall apart, explode, touching each other. Add to this the fact that most of the time there are dozens, or even hundreds, of enemies on the screen. The feeling of destroying them is difficult to put into words, but the combination of sounds, special effects, weapon recoil, breakneck speed and the need to constantly move is almost euphoric. In their best moments The game works no worse than ASMR videos.
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| The levels are filled with explosive elements. No matter where you shoot, something is sure to catch fire, explode, or start emitting electric arcs. | |
But in the re-release, the developers figured out how to enhance and complement the effect. Between the Hard Reset itself and the Redux version, Flying Wild Hog managed to reboot the old shooter, and there they often had to swing a katana rather than shoot. So, the developers put the experience gained into action: from now on you can feel like a samurai in Hard Reset. Fletcher will find the cyberkatana buzzing like a lightsaber early on. Well, in order to have something to apply it to, stupid cyberzombies were added to the army of opponents, pouring in crowds from literally every nook and cranny.
The mechanics of stabbing and the sensations from it, quite expectedly, migrated from the same Shadow Warrior. And this is good. The blade hums pleasantly and cuts the zombie like a hot knife through butter. It is convenient to control the trajectory of the blows, and the collision of the blade with the flesh is perfectly readable. You can also chase other robots with a katana, but it’s not so easy to deal with them with a sword - it’s clear that initially the behavior of the enemies did not take into account the player’s use of melee weapons. However, as an additional weapon that allows you to quickly get rid of enemies in close proximity, the katana is quite appropriate.
It is still not recommended to swing the sword too often and thoughtlessly. The difficulty of the game is quite high, and the hero can be trampled very quickly.
But all the pleasure is based on “tactile” sensations. The game doesn't try to create interesting situations - you just face crowds of enemies in large arenas. As, however, in most similar shooters. But there is progress in this area: in the original, it was often necessary to fight off an army of robots in narrow corridors, where there is nowhere to turn around. In the updated version there is much less such “entertainment”; the developers have revised the location of the enemies.
In general, the re-release is better than the original in almost every element. The only exception is the graphics, which is unexpected. The picture in the updated version is worse than in the original five years ago. In Redux, many textures have noticeably become cloudy and some have disappeared lighting effects. But the developers separately boasted of porting the game to the latest version of their proprietary engine. However, no big tragedy happened - the game looks good even with such a picture.
Hard Reset is not a game that anyone would call a favorite. Ten years later you will hardly remember it either. But here and now it can bring a lot of pleasure. It doesn't require much time and doesn't ask you to take it seriously.
Hard Reset review
Developer: Flying Wild Hog
Publisher: Flying Wild Hog
Publisher in Russia: 1C-SoftClub
Genre: Old School FPS
Platform: PC
Official site
Release date: September 13, 2011
"Hail the robots! Kill all humans!"
(Bender, Futurama)
Sometimes they come back...
Just as a theater begins with a coat rack, so this game begins with a chicly designed menu, a robotic hand snatches what you need from a cell and immediately puts it in front of you (if you wish, you can speed up this process by clicking on the button in the lower right corner). Sheafs of sparks everywhere (something is apparently being cooked), steam and hissing complete this picture. But now we have chosen the difficulty level (only difficult, we are not looking for easy ways) and comics in the style of the unforgettable Max Payne(well, almost) - January 17, 2436, the city of Belphegor.
There is a war between people and machines: the robots have almost won, driving humanity into a reservation, the last city free of tin cans. Major Fletcher, one of those who protects ordinary people from rare robots that, having become lost, could penetrate into the holy of holies of humanity. As usual, after finishing his patrol, he goes for a drink at a local bar. But it was not there, there was some confusion in the sixth sector, gritting his teeth, the major puts aside the glass of whiskey and goes to find out what the hell is happening in this sixth sector. And there is complete chaos, destruction everywhere, the remains of burnt out cars and corpses, corpses, corpses. It looks like this time the cars entered the city in b O in larger quantities and caused a stir. Fletcher must figure out how they managed to penetrate in such numbers through security system cities...
A robot is an iron machine, a slave of people
Playing on normal level complexity, you will practically not resort to combining weapons and their modes, since the enemies are malleable, there are few of them and they die quickly. But it’s worth going to the most complex one, like even the most ordinary robot with a saw on its nose (vile creatures, they like to attack in crowds, and they come with different sides) will send you to your forefathers in a matter of seconds. Suddenly, the robots begin to act more meaningfully, there are two (or even three on some levels) times more of them, the damage from their attacks increases, and they themselves become much stronger.
It’s worth paying attention to the enemies, for example, the most common and frequently encountered species in the levels, a gorilla-like machine, loves to ram you like a bull with a red rag. From these blows, Fletcher can throw back his hooves very quickly, so standing still is highly not recommended; you will only be able to survive with such tactics for at most a minute. There are also shooters, cyborgs with huge reverses, I especially don’t like these bastards, they just love to shower you with fire (extremely accurate bastards, it should be noted) while they try to gore you or cut you into pieces by other types of local “fauna”. But what are we talking about enemies, what is a shooter without exciting gameplay?
welcome to my world
Higher nose, piece of meat.
A modern player, spoiled by shooters for the evening, in the heat of battle will immediately run to look for cover or a fence behind which to sit out. Only he won’t find them in this game, there are no shelters here, so be upset. Hard Reset will teach you to “move your buns”, make you run in circles and pray that the last killed freak will throw out a first aid kit (even a tiny one) into the light of day. By the way, they don’t allow you to save here, only checkpoints, so you will experience for yourself what it’s like to be left with ten percent of your life, after a difficult battle, and not be able to save. Meanwhile, ahead you can already hear the heavy tread of another car.
The level design is simply magnificent, the hand of people from People Can Fly. Every corner, every corridor is all a single whole, the designers make the most of the territory given to them, if you see a bridge at the top, you know that soon you will have to run across it. Having climbed it, you can see almost the entire level, everything is done very well and compactly or something. There are simply no extra rooms in the game, you can go everywhere, everything can be explored (there are indeed places where you cannot get to in the usual way, in other words, secret zones).
Hello, coffin fillings!
Moving away from the car, it will not lose detail; the drawing remains at the same level, regardless of how far we stand from the object. They didn’t skimp on the enemies either; they all look very beautiful and just as beautifully lose detail and explode when Fletcher takes on them. True, the loading times in the game are quite long (considering not the most big size levels), but maybe it's because of my hardware.
The music turned out to be ambiguous, on the one hand it is perfect for such a game and its atmosphere, on the other hand, you simply don’t want to listen to it separately from the game (unlike the magnificent ambient melodies of the first Painkiller"a). There was really one melody that was especially memorable, played in the hospital, creepy place, by the way, the hand of the game makers is also visible PCF, it is very similar to the insane asylum that Daniel ran through with a shotgun in his bosom in 2004. The sounds are good, there is a clear click of switching weapons, never confused with anything, and each robot has its own unique “voice”. And I won’t even talk about the sounds of explosions, real music to our ears.
Prejudice contradicts reason...
Score - 7.5 points
Pros: Excellent shootouts that don’t let you get bored, great design levels and the world in general, a viscous cyberpunk atmosphere
Cons: Lack of a sane plot, unnecessary bells and whistles" new school", strange ending, average soundtrack
