Quality over quantity, I guess.

User Rating: 7 | Hard Reset PC
To say that this game is short is an understatement.

This game occupies 3056 MB of space. Yeah, go figure.
That's why they decided to not waste a DVD on it.

THE POSITIVES

1. This is a PC exclusive (a rare breed these days) with the fully optimized graphic options. The controls are smooth and responsive. I also found myself being swept over with feeling again and again that I was playing a PC exclusive. It is worth paying money to have that feeling - that's what the consoles are turning us into.

2. Your character is not a mute like in most shooters.

3. I will say that the new engine delivers. The distant vistas, the textures, the physics, the explosions, the graphics in general are great, DirectX 9.0c and all. The details are meticulous especially up close, you can see the tiniest scratches and dents on the objects.

4. True, there is no health regeneration.

5. The game runs smoothly, no FPS spikes, the dozen or so near-simultaneous explosions are an eye-candy.

6. Upgrades for the 10 weapons as well as the gear is always welcome. However, just like in Witcher 2, as soon as you finish upgrading one "tech tree" or one upgradable branch the game ends.

7. Finally, this game has style. Even though the streets and the slums are empty except for the rampant robots, the peculiar sci-fi world where humanity has learned to download its consciousness into the computer is pretty cool to ponder about.


The minuses:

1. No crouching.

2. No melee (I doubt it's useful against the machines anyway but quite often they do get close enough to ram you)

3. You cannot see your legs and you do not cast a shadow.

4. BUT there is SHIELD regeneration - something the previewers failed to mention. So the concept of the old school no-health-regeneration kinda goes out the window.

5. No reloading.

6. The story is kinda blah.

7. The amount of enemy types is very limited.

8. The jump is realistic. And I by that I mean it is practically nonexistent. You cannot jump over the rails and some other objects even when it seems like you can to save time.

9. The game is extremely short. (4.5 hours)


The debatable table:

1. Initially, there is little to no tactics involved. Once you are met by a group of enemies you will tend to just retreat/move in circles and shoot them up. Since there is no reload option, there really is no incentive for you to stop shooting or taking time for aiming. You will also quickly utilize the environment for more efficient destruction. Tesla coils from the consoles, the explosions from the barrels, the gas balloons, etc., it's all there.

2. The gameplay is a cross of Doom 3, Serious Sam, Pain Killer and perhaps Unreal Tournament. Oh wait, all of those games have the same gameplay, that's right you move fast and you blow things away with the hundreds of rounds of ammo. So do not expect this game to make you ration your ammo or even health for that matter since your shield will regenerate.

3. The game is extremely linear [duh, it's a shooter) although there are plenty of secret areas that can be accessed if you blow up one of the adjacent oil barrels. Do not expect these secret areas to hold any secrets pertaining to the game, you will just find extra ammo most of the time.


In the end, I found myself being sucked into this game nonetheless somehow. True, it is short, but on the other hand, you do not have to commit too much of your time into beating it. It is also worth noting that small companies that make PC exclusives NEED to be supported (if their games are good that is, Shadow Harvest, ahem ahem...$ 40.00 wasted, ahem ahem)