YMMV / Hard Edge

• Complete Monster:
  • Miguel is the leader of a terrorist organization out to acquire a disc that would launch the Garland System Satellite upon the Earth. Hired by Professor Vault, he would later betray the latter by trapping him inside a computer, seeking to use the satellite to rule the world. Invading the Togusa building and allowing his men to murder everyone there, Miguel allows Gasshu to deploy a bomb set to destroy the entire building, murders Professor Howard in a hostage trade for the disc, and sets the satellite to blow up the entire town while he makes an escape.
  • Professor Maverick Vault himself is a prideful scientist who masterminded the terrorist attack in Togusa Building after his ego was bruised, when he was taken out of the Garland Satellite Project due to his bravado killing others. Out of spite, Vault hired Miguel to attack the building and hijack the satellite, but when Miguel betrayed him, Vault decided to instead take control of the satellite himself by trying to trick the special forces to free him before taking Michelle hostage, and if he succeeded, Vault would rain destruction upon the world in a display of power to sate his pride.
• Game-Breaker: Not that the game has any real need for one, but among the cast Rachel is by far the best party member. She's fast, has an easily-chained combo, and she has the only dedicated counterattack in the game. This counterattack is easy to pull off and melts boss health bars, making Rachel all around the best character in the game. With even some amount of competence in setting the counter up, Rachel will breeze through every encounter.
• Goddamned Boss: The final boss battle with Miguel's One-Winged Angel form can be a tedious slog of a boss battle with Alex as it has no less than three massive life bars, and the only way it can be hurt is when the barrier around its weakpoint is down, which only happens between a cycle of very long, annoying, and easy-to-avoid attacks. The other melee-oriented characters can get past his barrier by simply beating the tar out of its weakpoint, but it's attacks will often knock away the player from fighting it up close.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: One issue Hard Edge shares with Deep Fear, another Resident Evil-adjacent game, is that even if enemies do have the chance to overwhelm you, you're given resources so frequently that you're never under any real danger of dying. Rationing is pointless and even disincentivized, because there's a cap to how many of each resource you're able to hold at once, so you'll continually top your party off just to make room for more items. Bullets aren't a concern for Alex, either, since the terrorists drop them frequently despite not using guns themselves. That Alex's gimmick is having a gun also means that this a rare Beat 'em Up Action Game where the player has a legitimately viable and well-stocked ranged attack option and is thus under no obligation to get into a physical scrap with a majority of the enemies ^note Some bosses have bullet immunity., which further cuts down on the difficulty. And this is before factoring in the actual Game-Breaker, Rachel, who trivializes every fight in the game if the player is even somewhat consistent with her counter. All in all, this makes Hard Edge rather easy, rendering the gameplay somewhat forgettable to many.
• Narm:
  • The game's English voice-acting, which has often been compared to Resident Evil's in terms of bad voice-acting and cheesy dialogue that takes the seriousness out of certain scenes. In particular, Michelle's suddenly aged-up voice in the Western release, Brennum sounding like high-pitched cackling loon, and Miguel who sounds like a whinier Mandark.
  • There are humanoid mutant enemies in that game that are outfitted with blue sweatpants and sneakers.
• So Bad, It's Good: For some, the game's corny voice-acting and dialogue lends itself to some unintentional hilarity, especially from Burns due to his hammy performance.
• So Okay, It's Average: The game's reception has been middling at best, with some scathing reviews at worst, and along with a few positive ones that are far and few between. Some has praised the game's unique take on Resident Evil's gameplay featuring multiple characters with their own distinct playstyles and being able to switch between them on the fly and having some interesting puzzles, while others criticized the game's forgettable story, bad voice-acting, and repetitive combat.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Hard Edge has often been accused of being a shameless rip-off of Resident Evil, despite the differences between gameplay and setting. This opinion became even more prominent after Retsupurae's Wrongpurae of the game.