Hard Times (Arcade)

Late 19th century in America, there's mafia uprising. The mafias appreciate liquor, sharp suit, and Thompson gun (that later modified as Tommy gun). Also they giving United States hard times. Which is also the title of Playmark's game made in 1994.  

I don't think these gentlemen are The Untouchable. They looks like the mob, instead. Say. Is that Loch Lomond's Whiskeys over there? Captain Haddock's favorite. As there's no story in attract mode. So i remain clueless. But that doesn't mean i'm not motivated enough to play this game.

 

It seems i'm played as bounty hunter as i have to stare at this wanted poster for a moment. $10 for this man? That's really cheap. Oh, i know. They use dot as thousand separator instead of comma. It should be written $10,000. The setting is America, not some Europe country or Indonesia.  

 

So Hard Times is another Cabal-clone but with Mafia era setting instead of military war. You probably know how the control. First button to shoot. Second button to roll, hoping you can dodge the harms that come from the enemies. Third button to throw grenade that deal elevated damage within small area. Destroy the enemies until foe indicator said "enough" to progress. Left and right direction to move your character along with his crosshair. Up and down direction to move the crosshair up or down. Hold shoot button to make your character stand still while you can move his crosshair. Standard stuffs. Hey, is that cat over there? Playmark deserves to be granted with gold star for this.

 

After clearing the stage, the chap blow his gun and put it inside his suit and smirk with leery expression. By the way, the female on billboard over there will be naked if you shoots her. And if you shoot the male ones, he will do bodybuilding pose in underwear. That's kind of unnerving to me.

 

But on next stage, i shoot a harmless lady over there and then she dies in naked. I have to because she store lots of grenade and it's my duty to strip them out of her. The "strip her cloth" part is just unfortunate side-effect .

But that was just penultimate discomfort feature of this game. This is the ultimate ones: the cat is the dispenser of weapon power-up icon, so i'm forced to shoot him/her. Because of this, my cat-lover license will be revoked soon enough. Also i have to cancel that gold star rating for you, Playmark.

 

As the same case of its peer, Hard Times doesn't do something spectacular beyond featuring destructible scenery and shooting things. But, this car parking stage seems lack of destructible object which is quite unfortunate. This reminds me of mine stage in Cabal's sequel: Blood Bros. Actually,  i recall from the first stage: the main layout's stage has similarity with the ones in Blood Bros. I knew it because i have been playing Blood Bros dozens time. So, Hard Times is Blood Bros only with different coating, then? I hope that's not entirely true. In the mean time, i keep shooting these Mafioso.

 

Hmm. This one looks like the town in Blood Bros. Instead of Indian midget that gives you strongest firearm when shot, we got midget drunkard here which is better for player's moral thinking. That hat has same role as can in Blood Bros which provide you with score-up icon if you juggle it with your gun.

 

Then i shot Dick Tracy's wacky cousin. I'm quite fine with that as he start the gunfight, first. It was legit self-defense.

 

But then i got killed by the boss and its cohorts. It's quite true here that: Karma is bad if you're. Even though, Hard Times's stages has the same main layout with Blood Bros's ones, i died quite a lot. Because i'm not getting used to it. Either the shooting mechanism is less accurate or most of the lesser enemies are more damage soaker, if i compare them with the ones in Blood Bros. Or could be both. Take aside of that, Playmark is quite creative with the boss fight: Cargo plane with dozen cannons with towing cars to help it move reverse. Also it's accompanied by modified baggage carrier cars. So, the boss fight isn't entirely copied from Blood Bros and has quite distinctive different to it. And i quite appreciate that.

 

After that plane goes kaboom. I have to see the wanted poster again. Isn't that same guy with the previous one only with larger bounty and more indictment? Okay. Probably this guy is the twin brother of early wanted man. Bounty killer is like more violent form of bounty hunter which is what i'm doing till this point. Weird.

Lady Liberty see something astounding yet satisfying: a vigilante singlehandedly kills the mafias that corrupting NY for too long, including the silly jumping ones over there. You should be in comedy theatre instead of becoming ruthless mobs. About half century later, The Lady Liberty will witness huge battle between adorable shipversus cute aliens. She witness everything.

This canal stage introduces me with that hybrid between Rambo and Predator. He only appears in water and occasionally shoot at me. But more often than not he got shot first before i do.    

 

This is strange. No one dare to face me. Guess, i will destroy some doodads, then.

 

There we go! Once i level the place, they are angry enough to confront me. I know that chaps with rubber raft is "adaptation" from Blood Bros's Indians in canoe. Somehow i don't think the mobs will resort using rubber raft as part of their warfare. For starter, it can be easily pierced with bullets.

 

I know this stage is adaptation from Blood Bros's train tracks stage. So what's equivalent of the locomotive, then?

 

A convoy of hooch-transporting truck that's escorted by corrupt polices. Yeah, close enough. Even though i'm very familiar with the train battle, i died more often here . Because locomotive's head provide less protection for the goons than truck's front. Fair enough.    

So, there are triplet mafia? Okay, Dalton brothers are quadruplets. So i won't be surprised if i encounter the same wanted man with increasing indictment by one, again. After this.

 

More mafias and corrupt polices to obliterate. That fancy dancing line of yours won't save you from being shot, officers.

This is quite the same bar's stage with Blood Bros. Also that sandwich board guy is the equivalent of barrel guy in Blood Bros. I gotta admit the sturdiness of that sandwich board as i can destroy that backwall but the guy is perfectly safe as long as he's hidden behind it.

 

Do you know about the horse-riding cowboys in Blood Bros? Well, these motorcyclist police are the equivalent of them. Except, when you have shot the mafia that rides them you can still shoot them further for evil police harassment and for raking score. I'm in Chinatown entrance, by the way.

 

Delve further into Chinatown, i'm greeted with this magnificent scenery. There's supposed to be glamorous and cheerful festival here. But, you know what happen to the place where i visit and with lots of mafia involved? It always turns into violent shooting carnival in the name of justice.   

 

I didn't expect that this stage is based on giant snake's cave stage in Blood Bros. Really. I don't think that's manned dragon thing over there. But i don't recall a real dragon's body consists of many scaly spheres. Robotic toy dragon, then. But again, is the wanted man is inside that thing?

 

Figures. I hope this guy isn't inside fish robot or sort like that. Because previous ones just doesn't make sense.

 

The balloon enemy here is tricky to defeat as it only show its lower portion so you have to shoot its cannon (which is small target) to damage it. While on previous stages it appears whole and you can shoot the balloon part which is bigger target. As if Playmark become harshly unfair quite sudden. Another thing that i want to say: WC that only covered with curtain instead of sensible door. That's quite suspicious. 

Turns out it's really toilet. Seriously? Who can comfortably take a dump in the room that is only concealed with curtain?

 

You can tell that the police is corrupt by the looks of his motorcycle. It's marked with skull and bones. There's also military truck that presumably carry personnel to deal with me. But it goes kapoot quite easily so i can't confirm that.

 

Is this factory's water reservoir? Whatever this place is, it's full of Rambo-Predator enemy. By the way i'm not shooting left here, it's just me in the middle of my rolling.

 

I love that milkman-truck enemy because it appears innocent until the back of its revealed a bloodthirsty hitman with light machine gun then send bullet barrage towards you. In this screenshot, there's also ambulance car on left side (it only appear its front end) that does nothing but is invincible. Its role is simply to test the player to obey Geneva Convention.

 

Hey! They're like fire-breathing birds in Blood Bros. Except, they looks like blokes in jumpsuit with wings that resemble Da Vinci's creation. They're must be (Marvel's) Vulture's predecessors. No wonder they're in for crime. There's no 3 spidey in this era, not even single one. But don't fear, good citizen! There's bloodthirsty righteous vigilante here.

When the giant bird is the only one flying (and alive), she will start throwing eggs that lethal chick spawned and try to burn you. While in Hard Times's case, the last vulture will throws toy box that spawn cute yet dangerous duck toys. Hard Times won this time ;P

This is getting beyond absurd, there are 5th brother in crime? Hold on! What if the wanted man is myself? You can see that i'm quite resemble him in both title and gameplay. I know exactly that i don't do gambling at all. New theory: as i keep killing the scumbags everywhere, the corrupt authorities keep stating me as dangerous criminal more than ever. They should state me as "cat shooter" in the beginning. I will hunt myself for that crime. That's figurative speech, though.

 

Next stage takes place in Fort Knox! Why am i storming The most famous American gold bullion depository? I believe i'm still good guy, though. Protip: never go an direct assault on fortified premise that's guarded by lots of automatic cannon, while you're armed with handguns! That's really stupid idea.

After the cannons have been taken care off. This enormous moving fort comes to confront me. I like its paintwork. So radical, i got to say. You can only harm the tank by shooting the mob-spawning doors, and its cannons. Just like battle train in Blood Bros.  

 

And the same case with Blood Bros, there's big bad guy after the giant war machine. But, this guy isn't bandit. He's police as he's constantly flashes his badge while shooting at me. So my new theory is quite proven. He's 8 meters tall and quite intimidating. But with rigorous shooting and dodging, i can defeat him relatively easy.    

Now he lost his upper uniform and probably his badge too. He makes up with quick-drawing his machine gun occasionally. The key to defeat him safely: Don't stand still too long in front of him, keep rolling, and keep shooting. Also ransack any power-up you can get. Sorry, kitty. Love you. As there's no difference between headshot and bodyshot to this guy, i shoot at his groin instead. Because i'm lazy enough to raise the crosshair higher. This nasty treatment is the same i do in Blood Bros.  

 

Somehow with the evil deputy down, the wall and main gate behind him crumbles into pieces and revealing the gold bars aren't in vault yet. Very lack of security there.

 

Unlike Blood Bros, Hard times features live action scene along the epilogue narration. Now that the corrupted polices and bunch of mobs are gone (to hell), the Untouchables can start working on the mafias along with the godfathers. Even though with their huge good prestige, the duos aren't told to get medal from president or whatever reward that hero deserve to have. But at least they can rest easily in peaceful condition.

Playmark cues the continuation of these vigilantes next action. But we all know that Cabal-clone games are extinct forever, it goes the same with the sequel. Such a pity.

Hard Times (1994) is definitely Blood Bros with Mafia era reskins and few twists. But is it better than Tad's gunslinger game? Yes and no. Mostly no in gameplay aspect. As i mentioned before, i felt that the crosshair shoot is less accurate and most lesser enemies takes more damage to dispatch. Or maybe they have smaller hit spot like in the balloon case. On the plus side, the sprites is chunkier and have more dynamic animation. The trucks are visually better than wagons in Blood Bros. The foe indicator is in chain of bullets shape, which is better than dull bars. Take aside of unnecessary nudities (maybe they're for dirty humor), the graphics is quite better than the ones on Blood Bros. On the presentation aspect: slaying corrupt police is terrific and satisfying in my opinion, but shooting cat is very no good. While shooting big rat (which likes Master Splinter that hasn't mutated and trained 4 mutant turtles yet) is quite okay. It's pest animal, anyway. Both animal are certainly smaller target than pigs in Blood Bros. It could provide you with either frustration or challenge, depend on your judgment. The music....i'll be honest. Due to imperfect emulation, there's no music at all. Same goes to sound effects. More storytelling will be good for this game. Hard Times is shorter than Blood Bros because the final stage only 1 stage, which is good, i think.  

I'm sorry if you have to read my cringy snarky comparisons of Hard Times and Blood Bros all the time. But it can't be helped. I must. In order to tell you accurately about the game. But for these comparisons, you can tell that Playmark really like Blood Bros. Speaking of which, It's kind of weird that Playmark that is Italian game developer, makes game that feature (America-Italian) mafia as enemy. It's the same case with German game developer, makes game that feature Nazi as enemy. Oh, right. BloodRayne. Forget about my opinion there!

To sum it up, i can't encourage you to try Hard Times. Unless you're really like killing mafias and corrupt polices. And if you fancy Blood Bros or play it too often. You can play Hard Times solely as challenge. Especially if you're cat lover like me.