Hard Reset: Redux Review

Games of old like DOOM(new one is awesome!), and Serious Sam gave you that cure to a itch. You always had to usually mow down crowds of enemies and feel good doing it. Nothing to complex within the game itself just a down to basics rip apart some baddy butts.

The story or plot is: the world as we know it ceased to exist. Humanity is at the verge of extinction, living in the last closed city of Bezoar. Mankind wages war against the machines controlling vast areas of what became the ‘Barrens’. Machines want to control and assimilate ‘The Sanctuary’. The story it self is somewhat limited to comic book style cut scenes with vague information or anything completely detailed in terms of knowing what the heck is going on. What I gathered from it all is you play as a hunter working for a faction called the corporation named James Fletcher. Trying to find a Scientist named Novak. A man who created interior AI. This said AI is currently trying to bring every thing down.

So you run around and uplink to everything and take over to corpses of enemies to obtain information. More or less, games like this do not need a strong story when it comes to run and gun fps titles. Basically the games weakest point is it’s story. It has something there but not enough to be considered anything worth trying to dig too deep into. The voice acting at least is pretty good, but good lungs and vocal cords aren’t going to smooth out the games bland story script.

Hard Reset: Redux is past its flaw in the story department a super fun to play game. You have the option between two weapon types: the Rifle, and Plasma. Enemies have weaknesses and using each type of weapon on the fly is important in the game. I went with  the rifles Shotgun double barrel and rocket launcher,  for bigger baddies up close and out far. Plasma is mostly for bots and all sorts of robotic scum. I was always falling back to the Smartgun and Mortar. My usual goal was to funnel enemies into a pocket and smash them out. The game has a good range of weapon variants. Including the new Cyber-Katana. Toss up mortar’s slow mo mode and wail on ground enemies. A ton of fun! They have added a good range of ideas and mechanics borrowed from the site to save me time but:

• Enhanced Visuals: The game has been updated to the newest version of the RoadHog engine and includes improved lightning and effects
• Improved Performance: Enjoy faster Load times, a new Quicksave feature and full joypad support
• Brand New Cyber-Katana Weapon: A powerful new weapon which provides an effective close range combat option
• Brand New Enemy Type: Various variants of a threatening new Cyborg Zombie now lie in wait for unsuspecting players
• New Quick Dash Move: Provides players with a new movement option in battle to help avoid incoming attacks and enemies
• Re-balanced Gameplay: The game now includes improved difficulty levels and better pacing
• Different Enemy Placement: Enemies are introduced differently throughout the game, and provide a new challenge for even the most seasoned Hard Reset veteran

Now the games other major issue, lag. Whenever in a intense engagement ensues. You’re screwed. Then when the lag subsides, you’re dead. This kind of thing will happen a bit. Taking away from the fun factor. performance issues set this game back a bit, specially on a beefy machine like a PS4 or Xboxone. Here is hoping for a possible fix to smooth that all out for the game’s sake. At first the game ran great, then in certain areas, later on in the game, at a junk yard area filled with gorilla robots it bogged down greatly. So it was a massive sting with more frustration then pleasure in this case.

Levels are pretty decent in length around thirty five minutes a head. With some things to find and discover. The whole goal up of the game, is to build James’s stats and upgrade his weapon variants. This all actually fun to sit back and go to a upgrade bank located in spots through the maps and pick some upgrade variants. Finding things like EXP nodes from dead enemies or out of the way locations,  is a nice touch to the games pace stretching out the content a bit more. The game itself lasted at least six and a half hours for me from point A to Z. It has a good depth for enemy ambushes. Having a manual save being a life safer for helping you conquer points where you think to plan out your attacks. The games balance adjustments is also felt. Recalling the core game a while back,  it did feel a lot more smoother to move about vs getting hit by a mac truck at random times. Now I felt like if I did die other then lag spikes was more justifiable then before hand from the core game. The new dash ability is freaking awesome. It is something I remember from Dishonored, you tap the RB or right bumper and are able to slide around like a ice skater on crack. This is great for getting away from enemies, when they charge towards or are firing a projectile. Let’s round off this review.

In Closing:

Hard Reset in its core had a solid feel about it. It was never majorly about a good plot, but about its gritty challenging gameplay. They added a slew of great fixes and quirky ideas to the game that were more then welcome.  The game is fairly priced and looks great on PS4 at least, which was my given copy for this review. IF you loved games like Doom and Quake, worth a pick up for sure if you do not mind some slight performance issues and lack of story on the console.

Recommended!