''Hardline'' is a

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

FMV-based

rail shooter Rail shooter, also known as on-rails shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video game. Beginning with arcade games such as the 1985 '' Space Harrier'', the gameplay locks the player character into a set path, only allowing for limited or no di ...

developed by Cryo and

Virgin Interactive Entertainment Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

in 1996.

Plot

In the near future (assumed to be

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

in the year 1998 according to the game's story), a strange

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

known as ''The Sect'' rises to power. Its members are called "sectoids" and believe in an entity of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

called ''the Deck''. The sectoids are presented as a quasi-

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

organisation, determined to destroy the present

status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

of society moving against

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s and civilians. Their number is constantly rising and by the start of the game, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

are inadequate to stop them. The

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...

is the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

pilot named Ted Irvin (David Gregg) who at the start of the game flies to rescue victims who were engaged by sectoids in a warehouse. Once there, he sees he arrived too late and his helicopter is destroyed by an explosion. After a skirmish he falls unconscious and is abducted by the Rebels. Irvin is brought to their base and talks to the Rebel leader, Morgan (Joseph Rezwin). Seen that he is not of the Sect, they ask him to join them and is offered a shelter to sleep. When he wakes up, he sees the base being overrun by sectoids. Fighting his way out, he meets a Rebel girl, Catherine (Rochelle Redfield) but they are both caught by Sect forces outside. In the process, he sees that Morgan has joined the sect and they are preparing to sacrifice Irvin to the Deck. However he discovers he has telekinetic powers which help him escape the Sect base. He finds that Catherine has also escaped and together they steal a truck and she drives to the Rebel hideout, where they are reunited with Lars (

David Gasman David Gasman is an American television, film and voice actor. He has appeared in many cartoons and video games, such as the ''Rayman'' series, ''Code Lyoko'', and List of Dragon Ball films, ''Dragon Ball'' films. He appeared in the films ''Jeffer ...

), a man he had already met in the Rebel base. Once more, the building is overrun by sectoids. He escapes and sees the building destroyed. While he falls down exhausted in the rain, he sees Yssel (Patrick Julien), a Sect leader, asking him to join them. When he recovers, he returns to the base and finds a strange kid with white

eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

pupil The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black becau ...

s telling him to seek his past for answers. Soon afterwards he is joined by Lars and Catherine who escaped the disaster. Together they go to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

where Irvin hopes to find answers concerning his powers and the meaning of some strange visions he has, seen in the course of the game as cutscenes.

Reception

Game Revolution Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male ...

'' gave the game a 4.5 out of 5, and praised it for good video sequences and excellent action.

References

{{Authority control 1996 video games Classic Mac OS games Cryo Interactive games DOS games North America-exclusive video games Rail shooters Single-player video games Video games about cults Video games developed in France Video games set in 1998 Video games set in the United States Windows games