Haven: Call of the King

"Well. at least it was a good idea, maybe next time"

Haven is a game that will eventually appear on all platforms, but for now is only available on Playstation 2. This was a highly anticipated title, since it was supposed to incorporate all gaming genres, or at least a good part of them, into a seamless universe with no load times. The big problem with that idea is that no one genre can be too difficult, since you will have people playing that kind of game for the first time. IGN, rather erroneously, reported that the game allows for this by making it easier if you aren't doing well in any area, as I've seen no evidence of this, and they were the only ones to suggest such a thing. The offshoot of all of this is that it manages to do no genre very well, not that any of the game is that bad, but it all is rather average. Primarily a platformer, it is hardest in those areas, and most frustrating. Make no mistake, either, as this is no action/adventure or RPG, as there is no leveling up or accumulating of weapons, though there is item fetching.

GRAPHICS: 7/10 A lot of reviewers have dissed the graphics in this game, but I find some of them quite decent. I haven't found anything even slightly distasteful, but then again, there isn't anything extremely mind boggling either.

MUSIC/SOUND: 8/10 The music may be the best thing in the game, as it is all very rich orchestral offerings, and the sound effects are decent enough not to be irritating.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 6/10 The camera is very good and the control buttons are accurate and the double jump works very well, but that yo yo as a weapon is the worst idea I have ever seen. It is totally uncontrollable. Even when standing directly in front of an object or enemy it never hits it. If you are really good at it though, and you won't be, you can curve the yo yo around to hit whatever you are trying to hit. It is true that if you get too close to fire pots and break them you will take damage, and you practically have to be on top of them to break them, but I believe the game developers meant for you to use your shield here. The worst of it is that the yo yo is all you usually have to work with, as power ups are only momentary at best.

GAME PLAY: 6/10 Everything other than the platforming levels are either too short or too long, usually unnecessary, usually too easy, and add nothing to the story, if there even is one. You never know why you are doing what you are doing, nor why you are collecting what you are collecting. There are about 12 actual levels where you have to get 5 keys to open a locked pot, and the keys are not easy to find. You do get unlimited men, and the invisible save spots are not too far apart, and you do not lose the keys you already found when you die, but too much of the game requires constant repetition to get through, and gets real boring or frustrating real fast. There are also pots that can only be opened by a dragonfly who will follow your shield, and this also becomes totally frustrating to do, as you can't jump and keep the shield up, so getting the dragonfly where you need him can take forever.

VALUE: 5/10 While this is a big game, with 40 fairly decent sized levels, there is very little incentive to continue. The game sells for an attractive $29.99, but it probably still should only be a rental. You really have to be fanatical about it to finish the game, but if you do, it is a rather lengthy quest, and a good value.

FINAL COMMENTS: I find that the more I like or even the more I dislike a game the more I find to write about it. As you can see by the length of this review, I'm rather uncommitted, and you will be to. If any of the individual sections of the game were a game themselves, they'd be dismissed as totally average and totally unnecessary, so should we think more of this game because it tries to put them all into one package, I think not.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/02, Updated 12/24/02