I adore Hard Wired Island. It's a clever, unified whole in a way most focus-tested, homogenized fluff doesn't dare to be - and which projects with massive teams simply can't be. And more than that, it is cyberpunk. Not just another rote retelling of Gibson or Stephenson, not just wearing the husk of cyberpunk while tacitly endorsing everything it pretends to be against. It's punk, with suitably contemporary politics and everything! Now, it might make some folks wary, to hear that the game dares to deal with political issues that aren't old enough to have fought in the Gulf War. That might make some folks hesitate - hell, it might even make them uncomfortable! But that's punk, baby. Despite that, it doesn't wallow in its politics - it just displays them openly, wearing them on its sleeve, in your face. You know, like patches on a jacket? That punk thing, again? Modern punk, irony-poisoned and internet-savvy punk, but punk nonetheless.
TLDR: It's very good and you should probably buy it.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |