Hard Edge

Hard Edge (ハードエッジ, Hādo Ejji), released in North America as T.R.A.G.: Tactical Rescue Assault Group - Mission of Mercy, is a video game for the Sony PlayStation. It is an action-adventure game developed and published by SunSoft.

This article is about a video game. For the painting style, see Hard-edge painting.

Hard Edge
Developer(s)	Sunsoft
Publisher(s)	Sunsoft
Director(s)	Masayuki Takatsuji
Producer(s)	Yoshiaki Iwata
Programmer(s)	Hirokatsu Fujii
Composer(s)	Atsushi Takada
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release	JP: December 3, 1998 NA: March 31, 1999 EU: May 20, 1999
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Plot

The T.R.A.G. team infiltrate the Togusa building, which has been taken over by terrorists, and they attempt to take it back, as well as rescuing Prof. Kevin Howard, an important scientist who is a hostage of the terrorists.

Gameplay

The gameplay is somewhat similar to that of Resident Evil, with 3D characters moving across pre-rendered backgrounds most of the time.

Characters

There are 4 playable characters, each with a unique ability and also a different fighting style:

• Alex, is a member of T.R.A.G. who is able to use night vision goggles and fights using his pistol.
• Michelle is Alex's comrade, who fights with a knife.
• Rachel Howard is Professor Howard's daughter, who fights with tonfa batons. Her small size allows her to get in tight places.
• Burns Byford is a local detective who was searching for one of the terrorists, Gasshu. He fights with his fists. His strength allows him to move heavy objects that the other characters cannot.

Each character can be switched with another one almost anytime; in fact, if the characters are split into 2 teams, the player is able to explore 2 areas separately as well. It's notable that there aren't new weapons to be picked during the main game; instead those are obtained only as unlockables after the game's completion.

Release

The game was released in Japan on December 3, 1998 for the PlayStation game console.[1] In Japan, it was later re-released under the PlayStation the Best label in 2000, as well as the value 1500 label in 2001.[1] The game was released emulated on the PlayStation Network as a PS one Classic in Japan on March 29, 2007.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score GameRankings 58.80%[2] Review scores Publication Score Game Informer 7.5/10[3] GameSpot 5.9/10[4] OPM (US) 3/5[5] PSM 3/5 neXt Level 70%[6] play: Playstation 8/10[7] Video Games 69%[8] Mega Fun 84/100[9] M! Games 68/100[10] Game On! 1/5 Joypad 5/10[11]

The game received an average score of 58.80% at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of 5 reviews.[2]

Gamespot gave it a score of 5.9 out of 10.[4]

Game Informer gave it a 7.5.[3]

neXt Level 5/99 70%[6][6]

play: Playstation 4/99 8/10[7]

Video Games 5/99 69%[8][8]

Mega Fun 5/99 84/100[9]

PSM Magazine 3/5

M! Games 68/100.[10]

French magazine Game On gave it 1/5 score.[12]

See also

• Deep Freeze

References

1. "ハードエッジ [PS] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
2. "Hard Edge for PlayStation". GameRankings. Archived from the original on March 21, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
3. "Game Informer Magazine - Review". 2000-05-27. Archived from the original on 2000-05-27. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
4. Mielke, James (1999-05-25). "T.R.A.G. Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
5. "Review: T.R.A.G.". Official PlayStation Magazine. June 1999.
6. T. Partetze, Von (May 1999). "Test PlayStation: Hard Edge". neXt Level (in German). p. 70.
7. "Test Screen: Hard Edge". play Playstation (in German). April 1999. pp. 132–133.
8. "Test: Hard Edge". Video Games (in German). May 1999. p. 99.
9. "Test: Hard Edge". Mega Fun (in German). May 1999.
10. Stuchlik, Thomas (1999-04-30). "Hard Edge - im Test (PS)". MANIAC.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-17.
11. "Zapp: Cotton Original". Joypad (in French). No. 87. France. June 1999. pp. 160–161.
12. "Critiques: Hard Edge". Game On (in French). No. 2. France. July–August 1999. p. 108.