Hardnoid

In Brief

Hardnoid is one of the worst breakout/arkanoid clones I've ever played.

Installation Issues:

Hardnoid downloads to a 66.0 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper the set-up file and a read me). The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed if you wish. The installed game is approximately 65.9 MB in size.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Hardnoid

Five shortcuts are installed to the desktop, four of which can be safely deleted . If you want the games shortcut to be installed to the desktop, make sure the appropriate checkbox is checked. Even if this is left unchecked you will still get the four internet shortcuts installed to the desktop; (i.e. Falco Space - Online Game!, FalconLine Online Games Website, FalcoGo WebGL Games! and Free Games Downloads!). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure the appropriate checkbox is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window).

Introduction:

Hardnoid is a challenging Arkanoid, where our goal is to protect not only one but all the four sides of the playing field with the help of the teeth or/and the hands of our character, which depends on the difficulty level of the game. The playing field is a square mouth of one of the sick creatures who have caught a virus, which we’ll strike with a pill. The difficulty of the game is in the controls as controllable objects are moving in pairs in reverse in relation to each other.

The plot - The game takes place in a distant galaxy on a square planet. Once a meteorite with some dangerous microbes has fallen on the planet. The microbes have infected the locals with a variety of diseases, so they went to the doctor named Boxhead. In a short time the doctor has created pills which should have helped to cure the diseases. But it turned out that there was one proviso – in order to work out it is strictly forbidden to remove the pill from the mouth, otherwise it will kill you.

Reference accessed HERE. 2019

Controls:

Navigate main menu = ↓ or ↑ + Enter
Navigate level selection = (↓ ↑ ← →) + Enter
Back/Pause = Esc
Full Screen toggle = F1
Restart = R
Bat movement = ← & →
Mouse = use for password

The Game:

Arkanoids are among my all time favorite arcade games. I've bought hundreds of them since the first one was released on those large console cabinets. I must have put hundreds of pounds and Deutschmarks (cost 10p or 50 Pfennigs per game) into those slot machines back in the mid 1970's when breakout first appeared (Atari 1976).

This is the worst Arkanoid clone I've ever played. The concept was great, but the game is full of bugs for example, the bat does not travel the full length of the perimeter, so occasionally you lose a life until all are gone, then you have to restart. The other bug is even worse, the ball ends up going from left to right with no way to make it change it's course, so you have to restart the game 'AGAIN' Also, the game is devoid of bonus drops such as speed ups, slow downs, bombs, rocket launchers, guns spare lives etc.

I love breakouts, and as said above, the concept was great, with boss levels and different layouts, for example two bats and four bat modes (hardcore mode), but that isn't enough to save this game considering the lack of power ups and the bugs that are present in the game.

I bought this via Steam when it was released Feb 2017 two years ago, but never got around to playing it via my Steam version until today (I wanted to compare the giveaway version with my Steam version, there doesn't appear to be any differences between the two apart from the Steam version has an achievement called you win. Only 1.1% of the community who have purchased this game have attained that achievement. Thankfully it was one of those cheap £0.79/$0.99/€0.99 and usually rubbish games, so I can't complain. What I can't believe is that the game is still being sold via Steam. You can see two videos of the game where you see the game broken HERE & HERE

Conclusion:

As said in the review above, this is the worst arkanoid/breakout clone I've ever played partly due to the two bugs I mentioned, i.e. the ball can be lost because you can't move the bat to the edge of the playing field plus the ball gets stuck and you have to lose a life to continue until the bug forces you to start from the beginning. It also uses the ancient password scheme, so if you do manage to complete a section of the game where you are given a password code, you can then start the game from that point instead of starting from the beginning. Despite having played this game for hours simply to check out the code process; becasue of the bugs I never got far enough into the game to get a password. It's been available via Steam for over two years and unbelievably has been given mainly positive reviews despite some posting about the bugs, but the developer has never bothered updating the game to fix the bugs since it left Greenlight. (I voted for it simply because breakouts have been my favorite arcade genre for years). There are some positive things to say about the game, for example the four modes of play (bosses, single bat, two bat and hardcore four bat modes), but the execution of the game is poorly executed i.e. there are no power ups such a speed ups, guns extra lives etc also the ball speed is far too slow to make the game challenging. Thankfully you can find hundreds of much better executed free arkanoids via browser sites such as mini-clip or downloadable copies via free game sites such as MyPlayCity, FreeGamePick, Gametop and Caiman. See the end of this review for some links to various free breakouts.

Addendum to the conclusion:

Despite my negative review, if you are into a pure breakout with no power ups (as in the first ever breakout) you may like this game despite the two bugs mentioned above. The four modes of play so add some variety and increase the difficulty slightly, but because the ball speed is relatively slow for a breakout, the challenge isn't great.

Other Reviews and Videos of Hardnoid:

You can see other comments of Hardnoid HERE

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (Russian/русский), HERE & HERE.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game later, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via Steam HERE, but considering the two bugs, I wouldn't bother.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or getting Hardnoid to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try white-listing the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developer Sharkgames (I hope you can fix the bugs) and the distributor Falcoware Games for giving away Hardnoid and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Hardnoid doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums). The free game over at epic games is Thimbleweed Park until later today (6pm UK time) worth £14.99/$19.99/€19.99. Indie Gala also have a new showcase section with 18 free games listed at the moment including adventure, RPG, Simulation, strategy and casual games i.e. AntiSquad, Dreaming Sarah, False Birth, GOR - Gorilla Office Rampage, Home is where Chip is, Age of Fear: The Free World, Die Legende von Saya: Befehl aus der Dunkelheit - (The Legend of Saya: Command from the Dark), What Never Was, The Last Humans: Awakening, Childhood, Dunwell, Safe Not Safe, Hi Hotel, Bugs Must Die, Cuadradito y Circulito, Hellino, Hovership Havoc and Wake Up , or you can find them all HERE. Finally, there are some excellent bargains on sale via Steam HERE (71 pages with 25 per page).

You'll find some excellent breakouts for free via several browser sites such as mini-clip or downloadable copies via the following sites Gametop (arcade section), FreeGamePickl, MyPlayCity (shooting section) and < and a href="http://caiman.us/scripts%2Ffw%2Ff792.html" rel="nofollow">Caiman (169 versions available). I've not downloaded anything from Caimans for several years since Rudy, the original owner of Caimans passed away. It was taken over by his son, who changed the format slightly so that money could be earned to maintain the site. Not sure if adverts have been added or toolbar installations added, but the site is still worth checking out. A lot of the breakouts are basic, but there are some real pearls to be discovered for example Hoowaball, DXBall, Beatball, Jardanians, Clash Ball, Poing, Jarkanoid 2, Wizball Breakout, Jarkanoid 3, Powball (this was recently been updated and released on Steam as Powball Renaissance {£1.99/$2.99/€ 2.39}). I also posted a thread over in the Game discussion forums 11 years ago called Arkanoids and Breakouts: A list of decent freeware (and not so free) that lists loads of decent and free breakout/arkanoids. Though many of the links are no longer active, you can still find most of the games if you Google them. I could post loads more links to free breakouts from MyPlayCity, Gametop and FreeGamePick, all of which are still officially commercial games for example Actionball 2, Actionball Deluxe, Aquaball, Hyperballoid 2: Time Rider, Chaks Temple, Treasures of the Deep, Chicken Attack Deluxe, Ancient Ball: Curse of the Pharaoh, Egyptian Ball, Geometry Ball, plus loads more.