Okay, if you own Hard Reset, or you own Shadow Warrior, and thus get the crazy 85% discount, ignore everything in the review, go to the "Buy now" button, and pick up the game. At the silly cheap price it's being offered at, they're offering you a gift of a very, very good game, which has been refurnished in their newer engine, with some much needed gameplay tweaks, and some optimisations and additions, for less than the price of a coffee. You would be a complete lunatic not to pick it up for the price offered, or flat broke, but it's -easily- worth the pittance they're asking for the update, and makes the Metro Redux package offer look a bit absurd in comparison.


Hard Reset was a -great- game when it came out, it was unashamedly old school, it didn't even have a crouch button. But it's laserlike focus on good gunplay (it had a shotgun that made me happy in ways that should be illegal) and excellent visual design easily marked it as one of my picks back at the time. It's aged well too, mostly because the engine it rested on was a very well optimised one for the PC platform, you could pretty much run it on a toaster and get good looking results.

Which may beg the question - Why the "redux" update? A few reasons. One - Cybersword. You get a melee option in case you were lacking enough tools as it is. Two, they've integrated the DLC in much more cleanly, so it now presents a much tidier experience. Three, they've updated the engine to give even -more- scalability and at the top end, an even shinier presentation. They've also made some adjustments like deciding the whole stamina system could die in a fire, and therefore allowing you to dodge and run around at will, this is entirely for the good by the way, the game needed that adjustment.

As before, this is as pure a shooter as it's possible to get, you go charging from place to place shooting everything that isn't you, the graphics are great, the sound is rich, and the enemies are unforgiving. Granted, this isn't DOOM, but it's a very good "AA" tier take on the topic, and it very definitely holds its' own as a game which for half the price, will easily give you a lot of entertainment for your buck.

In effect, for new buyers this is the "Definitive" presentation of Hard Reset, made ready for the console crowd (and to them I really do recommend they grab it, it's a great experience), and for people on Steam, this is definitely the way to go, because they'll get the version of the game "as the creators intended", a sort of Director's cut if you will. With all the rough edges sanded off and all the best parts made even better.


A good way to look at this is as the "Director's cut" of Hard Reset, it's been given the treatment that the developers felt it deserved, and for current owners, they're getting the finalised version at the cost of a cup of coffee, so there's no reason to feel slighted. For new buyers, this is the version to get, and as a result, I've very little hesitation giving it a solid pair of thumbs up. This is a very, very good "AA" first person shooter, and deserves your time, and your trigger finger.

Verdict : Highly recommended

[H1]Hard Reset gets a revisit and for current owners, an absolute no brainer of an update, for new buyers? Read on.[/H1] Okay, if you own Hard Reset, or you own Shadow Warrior, and thus get the crazy 85% discount, ignore everything in the review, go to the "Buy now" button, and pick up the game. At the silly cheap price it's being offered at, they're offering you a gift of a very, very good game, which has been refurnished in their newer engine, with some much needed gameplay tweaks, and some optimisations and additions, for less than the price of a coffee. You would be a complete lunatic not to pick it up for the price offered, or flat broke, but it's -easily- worth the pittance they're asking for the update, and makes the Metro Redux package offer look a bit absurd in comparison. [H1]A cyberpunk shooter of excellent pedigree, now with added polish![/H1] Hard Reset was a -great- game when it came out, it was unashamedly old school, it didn't even have a crouch button. But it's laserlike focus on good gunplay (it had a shotgun that made me happy in ways that should be illegal) and excellent visual design easily marked it as one of my picks back at the time. It's aged well too, mostly because the engine it rested on was a very well optimised one for the PC platform, you could pretty much run it on a toaster and get good looking results. Which may beg the question - Why the "redux" update? A few reasons. One - Cybersword. You get a melee option in case you were lacking enough tools as it is. Two, they've integrated the DLC in much more cleanly, so it now presents a much tidier experience. Three, they've updated the engine to give even -more- scalability and at the top end, an even shinier presentation. They've also made some adjustments like deciding the whole stamina system could die in a fire, and therefore allowing you to dodge and run around at will, this is entirely for the good by the way, the game needed that adjustment. As before, this is as pure a shooter as it's possible to get, you go charging from place to place shooting everything that isn't you, the graphics are great, the sound is rich, and the enemies are unforgiving. Granted, this isn't DOOM, but it's a very good "AA" tier take on the topic, and it very definitely holds its' own as a game which for half the price, will easily give you a lot of entertainment for your buck. In effect, for new buyers this is the "Definitive" presentation of Hard Reset, made ready for the console crowd (and to them I really do recommend they grab it, it's a great experience), and for people on Steam, this is definitely the way to go, because they'll get the version of the game "as the creators intended", a sort of Director's cut if you will. With all the rough edges sanded off and all the best parts made even better. [H1]Closing thoughts[/H1] A good way to look at this is as the "Director's cut" of Hard Reset, it's been given the treatment that the developers felt it deserved, and for current owners, they're getting the finalised version at the cost of a cup of coffee, so there's no reason to feel slighted. For new buyers, this is the version to get, and as a result, I've very little hesitation giving it a solid pair of thumbs up. This is a very, very good "AA" first person shooter, and deserves your time, and your trigger finger. Verdict : [b]Highly recommended[/b]