Pigs Fly
There's not much to say about Hard Reset, it's a simple game that deserves a simple review. Considering this is a PC only game with a launch price of only $30.00 it makes it possible to give praise. Although I feel like this could have been a killer XBLA title for only $15.00 and it would have wiped the floor.
Hard Reset honors the roots of which FPS games originated from by offering fast action, zero reloads, lots of monsters and environmental explosions.... yes barrels and the like. There is also pedigree from the Painkiller series so that is to be expected. You're basically dropped in and start with two guns, a more traditional automatic firearm and a plasma weapon. You then upgrade each of those weapons throughout the game at your discretion turning them into what is in essence additional weapons that range across the spectrum.
The story is well... there really isn't a story. You drop in guns blazing and things heat up gradually throughout the game adding some challenge. The back drop and setting in Hard Reset is that of the cyber-punk genre. City streets, littered with futuristic transport to trash cans. The city is dark but filled with neon lights that offer up quite nice scenery for fans of cyber-punk fiction.
The game is somewhat short at about 4-5 hours I'd guess but for $30 that's not too painful. If the cyber-punk back drop packed together with old school speed shooting while heavy on the trigger wrapped up in a graphically pretty package is up your alley then you can't go wrong here as it does what it advertises.
