Hard Reset Redux from Flying Wild Hogs is like a throw-back to a simpler time of the late 90’s FPS’s. It’s retro in style with its Cyber punk visuals where the neon glow is prevalent on the background of a grey – both literally and figuratively, society.
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’ a network that holds billions of digitalized human minds. Our hero, Maj. Fletcher, is a soldier of CLN – a corporation combat unit, established to protect the city. Machines are constantly assaulting the walls of Bezoar. Fletcher moves in when Bezoar’s protective barrier is breached.
There are no jump packs, there’s no wall running, no assassination kills. Its run and gun, its collecting health packs and finding secret doors that hide ammo, its exploding barrels, its retro AF!
That’s not to say that if feels old or outdated though. For all intents and purposes it is a HD remake of the old Hard Reset game released back in 2011 except now it has improved gameplay, enhanced visuals and additional content.
The story for the game is delivered via comic book like cut scenes, but to be honest I’ve struggled to really take it in, or to buy in to it. Personally I just want to blow stuff up and I don’t really care why I’m doing it. If you’re looking for something to grab you and be really engaging then this probably isn’t the romp for you. But if you’re just looking to have a fling with some over the top action, buckle up!
The first few missions things feel fairly run of the mill – moving from location to location killing anything that moves, enemy types start out easy and slowly get bigger and tougher. There is actually a really good mix of enemy types too – from big hulking, slow moving types, to the more agile ones that just want to get close and blow you up. You upgrade your weapons as you go by collecting experience from killing enemies and picking up experience packs as you might expect. The upgrades to both the machine gun and plasma rifle work more like modifications, so you don’t actually change weapons, more so just add to it. There are quite a lot to choose from too with a shotgun, grenade launcher and RPG being just a few to choose from. Some offer more obvious offensive capabilities, whilst other upgrades can give you more passive bonuses.
As I said, run of the mill, but still enjoyable. My highlight being the moment when I picked up a Samurai sword and then soon after having to face my first real boss – the Atlas. This, for me, was really when you had to start using a variety of weapons to take down your foe and it added another level of fun to the game. Sure it wasn’t the most challenging boss fight I’ve ever encountered but it still made you think and use some tactics for taking him down.
You can get through the story in around 5 – 6 hours, you could also extend that a little by finding all the hidden extras and areas if you’re in to the whole completionist thing. I think the game length is good, it didn’t feel like it dragged on too much, or that some areas were unnecessary.
Performance and visuals wise I can’t complain. The game looks good although I don’t think it’s anything ground breaking – the grey city setting doesn’t help this though, and it runs fairly smoothly too. The only time I notice any hitches were if there was so many explosions going off that you could barely see, the frames dropped just a tiny bit, but honestly it’s nothing that you couldn’t live with.
If you’re looking for something to fill that old school shooter vibe with simple run and guns tactics then you wouldn’t be wrong in picking Hard Reset Redux. It’s available on Windows, PS4 and Xbox One.
-Will
