Hard Reset: Hard Reset Preview Company: Flying Wild Hog hard Reset is a fast-paced, classic shooter, from what I can see in this short demo. Hard Reset encourages you to use the environment to your advantage as well. This is nothing like the freedom to destroy everything that you'd get in say, Battlefield. Rather, it's encouraging you to do less running and gunning, and more looking at your environment for things to use against your enemies. There are little electronic kiosks you can destroy which will set off arcing electric bursts. You can blow the engines up in parked vehicles. And, of course, if you see a metal cylinder with explosive warning stickers on it, you know what to do. Hard Reset's story is light, and the emphasis seems to be placed on the anti-hero you play named Fletcher. Never assume he left his drink at the bar because he wasn't thirsty: he'll be back to finish it after he takes out half a city block to destroy the enemy machines. Either way, in this demo we don't get to see much depth, mainly a very angry guy taking things out on the machines. Actually, the story so far seems to be a bit of The Matrix and a bit of Surrogates (Bruce Willis film), but we'll see if things deepen in the full game. Fletcher works for a big corporation and does security patrols to guard against the machine threat. Actually, it's not truly clear what's going in this short demo. Are you protecting people's uploaded digital personalities? Are you protecting real people from machines gone mad? Whatever the case, you've got a gritty anti-hero on your hands, and he's no fan of the bots. The cut scenes in Hard Reset are mostly in a painted concept art style for right now, but will likely be polished up in the full game. Either way, it's not bad now, and I kind of dig the rough quality. The in-game graphics are dark, with occasional blooms of light filtered through a polluted atmosphere. It's that dirty, futuristic feel that reminds you of the not so bright future depicted in films like Blade Runner. The backdrop isn't the main focus, of course. The big draw are the huge, flashy weapons and the ever-present machines you need to use them on. Several upgrades will gain you the ability to produce large area explosions of electricity that light up everything near them. Another weapon will give you a room-wide stun effect. Essential when you're being overrun by lots of quick moving little bots. If the word on the internet is true that the staff of Flying Wild Hog are really comprised of people from the teams of The Witcher 2 and Bulletstorm, then we clearly are in for some surprises here with Hard Reset. There's plenty of room to flesh out the rough and tumble futuristic world that Fletcher inhabits and there's plenty of room for some awesome, room-clearing weapons. This looks to be shaping up to be a shooter that you can lose yourself in, like the good old classics. -Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville Related Links: Flying Wild Hog's Official Site Game Vortex's Review of Surrogates Game Vortex's Review of Blade Runner