Retro Review - Hard Edge
Without a doubt the PlayStation 1 is the video game console that I love the most and this is due to the great amount of excellent games that you have in your catalog (although many of my favorite games are from SNES), however, in the dear console of Sony you can find hidden jewels that are even as good or even better than many known games. One of those games that I think is on par with excellent action titles that we can find on the old but beloved PlayStation 1 is the one I'm going to talk to you about below.
This game situates us several years in the future, exactly in the year 2046 and they quickly show us a cinematic where they tell us the current situation, it turns out that a signal of help has been received from the Togusa Building, since the scientists and part of the personnel who work in it, were kidnapped by a group of terrorists, this building is the headquarters of the company Machinery Gear Inc, which is responsible for building all the necessary equipment in the use of aerospace sector, however, this company hides something else, because they are also responsible for creating military weapons very technologically advanced.
Due to such a situation, they have sent an elite group to rescue the hostages, however, the terrorists have taken the building as a fortress in such a way that entering it is a very difficult task, in the attempt to enter the building only two policemen have achieved it, two of our protagonists: Alex Barrat and Michelle Stevenson, now the life of the hostages and at the same time, of the city, due to the great amount of weapons that these terrorists have at their disposal, they are going to depend on them two and two other characters that we will know during this mission.
Graphically it's pretty good, it's a totally 3D game with the already classic pre-rendered scenarios, in such a way that you get a lot of advantage visually in all the details, from those games that nowadays can be played without any problem with respect to the graphic section.
Artistically being a game set in the future, so we are going to find a suitable decoration to such a situation, so that with just a small glance at what the game does not present on screen, we can easily realize that the game is located at some point in the future and this is reflected in all the technology that adorns much of the scenarios. Throughout the game we will be located in one place, because unlike some games that have different locations where our characters can go, the plot and what happens throughout this game is going to happen in one place, which is the building, so you might think that as far as variety of scenarios Hard Edge could be quite limited, however, despite this, this title has a good variety of scenarios, because in the building where all the events of the game will take place, has many rooms and places to go, and in turn, these places are very well decorated.
The character design are very good, have a fairly good level of detail, with a good use of colors in the characters, the design is very similar to an anime, therefore, in terms of the design of most characters that has this game available, will not have a realistic design, however, this compensates with good definition in their models. Regarding the enemies their designs are also very well and varied, in this game we will find enemies of all kinds, from normal characters, robots and strange creatures.
In the sound section is decent, but nothing spectacular, Hard Edge has the kind of melodies that are quite normal and are only there to give a little more atmosphere and create a type of atmosphere suitable for the situation, but has no melody that we will remember for life, in general words, Hard Edge in its sound section is not very elaborate, but compensates for not being very repetitive, does its job. At the same time, the sound effects like punches and shots sound good, but I repeat it again, nothing spectacular either, you could say that the sound aspect of this game is quite normal.
Hard Edge is an action game from beginning to end, from the beginning of the mission we will be defeating any enemy that gets in our way, for this first we will have two characters: Alex Barrat, he is one of the two policemen who entered the building, one of his special skills is the use of firearms, but he can also use hit combos, we also have to: Michelle Stevenson, the other policewoman who along with Alex, were able to enter the building, she is an expert in the use of the sword, so she is able to eliminate her enemies with different types of combos. Then as we advance in the game we will meet the other two playable characters: Burns Byford, is a big guy who is an expert in boxing, so he will only use his fists, this makes him the strongest character, but as is customary in this type of games, is the slowest and to finish we have to: Rachel Howard, is the fastest of all 4 characters, but at the same time is the weakest, she is expert in the use of tonfa weapons.
One good thing about this game is that throughout the mission we can exchange characters whenever we want, so there will be enemies that we can defeat more easily depending on the character we choose, but this is important because there will be missions and also puzzles that only certain characters can perform. A negative point of this game in terms of gameplay is the control of the characters, as they have the typical mobility of games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, ie, movements of "tank" and this in an action game is a little uncomfortable, a game mode that is currently discontinued.
Hard Edge is one of those little gems that are hidden in the old catalog but wanted PlayStation 1, a game that is not perfect, but is good enough to be on par with big and well-known games, a title quite entertaining and recommended.
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