Hot new PC exclusive game: Hard Reset

[RejZoR]

never played... looks interesting....

Imagine Serious Sam with bio-mechanical robot like enemies in an urban environment. That's Hard Reset. I quite liked it. It also has Killing Floor like Skrimish mode where you're tossed in an arena where enemies attack you in progressively harder waves. It also has sort of RPG elements in both modes where you evolve your abilities and weaponry. It's cheap on Steam so grab it for sure if you like such genre. Or wait for Hard Reset Redux if you want improved graphics with hopefully unchanged gameplay (or improved in a better way at least).

 

[Artas1984]

I am true fan of old school shooters, for me there is nothing better than running as fast as you can and destroying hordes of monsters with big awesome guns.

But i will give you my honest opinion!

For some folks who have not played this game i will indulge the strong and weak points of this game.

Good points

1. The game is atmospheric, and the detail of objects is astonishing.
2. Graphics are premium at the time of release.
3. Soundtrack is not memorable, but ambient sounds are done very well, you really feel like in Blade Runner.
4. 2 guns with massive transformation options, meaning this game has like 30 weapons or so..
5. Great environmental gameplay tricks, traps, using of environmental objects to cause damage
6. Level design looks great, but just the looks.

Bad points

1. Even though this is a fast paced shooter, this game is MUCH SLOWER than Painkiller or Quake 2.
2. Too many invisible walls make this game too straightforward.
3. Movement is very basic, there is no circle strafing and accelerated jumping like in Quake 2, no accelerated bunny-hopping and wall-climbing like Painkiller.
4. The variety of monsters is not impressive.
5. Boss battles are slightly boring - you can clearly see what must be done in order to beat them, this is disappointing, considering 2 of the game developers also made Painkiller.
6. Level design wishes for larger movement spaces, you often get stuck and monsters swarm you in narrow corridors, unlike in Serious Sam, for instance.

Overall i give this game a 7 out 10.

This is nowhere as good as Quake, Quake 2, Serious Sam 1, Serious Sam 3 and original Painkiller, but it's certainly better than Dreamkiller, Daikatana, Will Rock or any Painkiller game released after Overdose.

But since this game is 5 $, it's a 10 out of 10

Also, i think most people forgot the definition of fast paced shooter games.

Quake, Serious Sam, Painkiller - fast paced shooters
Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter Strike, whatever - NOT a fast paced shooters

 

[Drone]

Back in the day I used to like Painkiller but now I see it was a mistake. Painkiller is basically Doom, Blood3D and Serious Sam on steroids. Doom was more scary and Serious Sam had bigger areas (especially the Next Encounter and Serious Sam 2). But anyways old shooters were cool, no reloading weapons, no cover system and no iron sights.

I don't think that Quake 1 and 2 were really fast paced. Fast pace came with Unreal and Quake arena with their unreal speed, really fast rockets and high jumps.

But it's a real shame that some really great shooters got underrated and forgotten. Yeah, I'm talking about Zero Tolerance and Requiem: Avenging Angel

Especially Zero Tolerance. It'd be great if they revived/remade/continued/rebooted/whatever that game.

I also miss Blood 3D

and of course Duke Nukem. So many great games just got lost while worthless shovelware shooters get released every year

 

[Niteblooded]

Thanks didn't know they were coming out with a redux.

What made Hard Reset stand out back in the day is no one saw graphics of this quality from an Indie dev. Not only did it sport really good graphics for the day it released but they created their own engine. This was insane and on top of it, it was a true PC exclusive! They sweetened the pot and made the add-on free.

The game itself may not be ground breaking but it's still a solid game and a great way to make an entrance. I will buy the redux without hesitation. I don't go out my way to support indie developers but when they put in this much effort I almost feel like I have to.

 

[Artas1984]

Fast pace came with Unreal and Quake arena with their unreal speed, really fast rockets and high jumps.

You obviously have not watched how really skilled people play Quake or Quake 2? Those games are faster than both Unreal and Quake 3 Arena, this is not even a discussion, ask any pro CPL player and he will tell you that the "earlier" the Quake, the faster it is. Anyway, let's stick to single player games, i believe you mentioned Unreal and Quake Arena in the context of multiplayer games.. Hard Reset does not have multiplayer, so it is only fair to compare it to other singleplayer games. I never regret anything related to original Painkiller, it's my favorite FPS. And when it comes to be scary - well non of these fast paced shooters were meant to be scary in the first place, we have games like Dead Space and Silent Hill for that purpose..

 

[Drone]

You obviously have not watched how really skilled people play Quake or Quake 2? Those games are faster than both Unreal and Quake 3 Arena, this is not even a discussion, ask any pro CPL player and he will tell you that the "earlier" the Quake, the faster it is. Anyway, let's stick to single player games, i believe you mentioned Unreal and Quake Arena in the context of multiplayer games.. Hard Reset does not have multiplayer, so it is only fair to compare it to other singleplayer games. I never regret anything related to original Painkiller, it's my favorite FPS. And when it comes to be scary - well non of these fast paced shooters were meant to be scary in the first place, we have games like Dead Space and Silent Hill for that purpose..

I was talking about original Unreal not tournament. And if you mean sp then why you talked about about Counter Strike?
Quake 1,2 were meant to be scary not as scary as original AvP or Doom but definitely they had horror elements. And what Dead Space and Silent Hill got to do with this? They're not even FPS and they're not even from the same league. Silent Hill series is pure horror psychedelic game, Dead Space is just dark and jump scare cliché game.

 

[Artas1984]

I talked about Counter Strike, Battlefield and Call of Duty as of general type of games, that people sometimes misidentify as fast paced shooters, while in fact they are not.
Nobody denies that Unreal is a fast paced shooter, it's just that it all started with Quake several years before Unreal appeared on the scene.
I was referring to Silent Hill and Dead Space as of games meant to horrify you, even though they are obviously not FPS. Fast paced shooters can be scary, but that is not their main purpose - the advantage of speed and powerful guns is not the type of thing that defines the game as a horror game. I think we can agree on that?

I checked out Avenging Angel and stumbled into some old news by Tom's Harware, it's funny to read them now:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/3do-unleashes-requiem-avenging-angel,news-259.html

"The game achieved its 1920-by-1280 resolution at 30 frames-per-second running on Creative Labs' newest 3D graphics accelerator card, powered by NVIDIA's RIVA TNT2 3D processor."

 

[Drone]

Powerful weapons will make you feel safe even in horror atmosphere. Because real horror begins when ammo is scarce like in Alien Resurrection

Indeed Quake came before Unreal. I agree about those mp shooters, they're not fast paced.

BTW there's Quake on Xash3D engine which supports bunny hopping with smarter monsters and other fast paced stuff. That totally changes the game. I need to play it

 

[Artas1984]

I don't want to necro a thread, but if anyone likes Hard Reset, they should also check out Bulletstorm (having in mind they played original Painkiller and Serious Sam 3 too).

It's a very similar game when it comes to gameplay. All the negative points that i gave to Hard Reset do fit to Bulletstorm also, except Bulletstorm does have a larger variety of more interesting monsters and the level design is not so monotonic, but the biggest difference is that in Bulletstrom you actually feel like playing a story, lot's of interactions and smack talking. I liked both of these games equally. Bulletstorm biggest flaw was 60 FPS cap and some strange resolution limits.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I've outgrown twitch shooters with simple horde attack AI long ago, partly due to being MUCH older now with slower reflexes, but mostly due to getting bored with the repetition and lack of suspense, tactics, etc. I did play and enjoy Bulletstorm though, but clearly that is not just a typical horde shooter.

I was also quite shocked recently when I saw the now heavier Cliffy B. I didn't even recognize him at first, and he seems to have totally changed his attitude about PC, admitting he was wrong, and that it's a great platform to develop for.