Haze

"Not the best, but sure as shootin' not the worst."

Before I begin, I just wanted to apologize if this review isn't as professional-sounding as it could be, since this is my first time reviewing a game ever. I wanted to write a full review of Haze, but there are too many things that I either can't or have yet to do, so I'm just going to have to go with a personal impression review. Also, this review contains slight spoilers, but there's nothing that hasn't been spoiled already by the game's own ad campaign, so anyone who knows anything about this game already knows everything I'm going to mention. I'll explain what I'm talking about more in depth later in the review.

Overview:
Haze takes place in the future, where privatized military companies are only a government's phone call away. On the top of the PMC ladder is Mantel, who's soldiers are world renown for there strength and ferocity. In truth, Mantel's advantage is a performance enhancing drug known as Nectar. Nectar is basically a super soldier serum that makes Mantel's troopers able to take on any foe with ease. The game takes place in an unnamed South American country, where Mantel was sent to combat a local resistance group known as the Promised Hand.

Graphics and Sound:
I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this section, due to the fact that I played this game on a very tiny, SD television with mono sound, so I couldn't tell you how the well done the graphics and sound are because I haven't experienced them at their best. I can, however tell you how it looked/sounded from my limited perspective. The graphics looked just fine from what I saw. Its not the best looking shooter ever, and there's nothing overly amazing, but the game does look good and it manages to maintain a smooth frame rate, which is always a plus in my book. For those who care for such things, the game's native resolution is 576p, but it can be upscaled to 720p by the PS3.

The sound was good as well, and there were some special sound effects to be heard. However, one big gripe I have with the sound is the voice acting. Its not that the voice actors are Resident Evil-y bad, but some of the VAs sound like they're trying too hard. Also, some of the dialog in the game ranges from God-awful, to hilariously cheesy (and I do mean hilarious as in I had to stop playing cause I was laughing so hard). One final gripe with the game's audio is how all the NPCs love to shout a lot during battles, especially the rebels. Even if there's not a trooper around, they'll still yell things like "TODAY MANTEL WILL FALL!" over and over again. At least the troopers can be funny sometimes when they yell crap.

Story:
This is where I will explain to you what I was talking about when I said Haze's ad campaign spoiled some of the game's story for you. Some movie trailers (especially those for comedy movies) tend to give away the movie's most memorable moments, and then when you go to see the movie, you are left with just scenes that tie together all those memorable scenes which you have already seen. The ad campaign basically told you the major turning point in the game's story (the fact that you switch sides in the war), even before you really knew what the story was going to be. This cheapened the effect of the actual event, in my opinion. When you start playing the game, you want to form some sort of a comradery with your virtual teammates, but its hard to do so since you know that you will be killing them off later in the game.

However, to its credit, Haze does do a really good job of making sure you know why you had to switch sides. You begin to see the Mantel and Nectar for what they really are, and it really makes you want to start fighting against them. Once you do switch sides, the game proceeds to give you further, and even more convincing reasons for why Mantel needs to be stopped.

This also led to my second problem with the story. For the start of the game, when you have the viewpoint from Mantel's side, things are presented as very black and white. You and your trooper buddies are the good guys, and the rebels are the bad guys. Whenever you find out that the troopers aren't really the good guys, it doesn't take you long to figure out that the rebels are the good ones. Then things go black and white again, just reversed. The game keeps telling you how good the rebels are, and how bad Mantel is, and even though the story is well played out, it lacks complexity. You don't find out until very late in the game that things like right and wrong aren't as easily determined as they should be.

Unfortunately, Haze waits until almost the very last minute to shake things up, which only serves to complicate the ending of the game. Its hard for me to go into any more detail without divulging any important information. However, even though its not a very deep or complex story, its still an enjoyable one, and like I stated earlier, it does do a good job of making sure you know what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Gameplay:
The heart of any game is its gameplay. In my humble opinion, things like graphics, sound, and story would mean absolutely nothing if the game wasn't fun to play. So is Haze fun to play, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Haze plays really well. The action is fast-paced and combat heavy, and the weapons feel accurate and powerful. Weapons selection wise, each faction has its own variation of assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles. Also, each side also has its own unique weapons, such as the trooper's rocket launcher, and the rebel's flame thrower. However, as is the case with most first-person shooters, if the enemy has a gun that you like, all you need to do is shoot him and take it.

But the highlight of the gameplay is that each side gets its own special abilities. The Mantel troopers get Nectar, which allows them to run faster, see farther when sniping, hit harder when melee-ing, take more shots without dying, and it also makes every enemy light up like a Christmas tree, making them easy to spot. The downside to playing as a trooper, however is that you can overdose on your Nectar, which bad things will start happening to you then. For a short time you won't be able to distinguish between your friends and foes, and your character will start shooting off his gun without you telling him to, automatically reloading whenever he's wasted a full clip. Also, if you try to switch weapons while ODed, your character may pull out a hand grenade and pull the pin on you. You can't make him throw the dang thing like you normally would; instead you have to rapidly shake the Sixaxis controller to convince him to drop it.

The rebels are more tricky sons of guns, and they can dodge and roll out of harm's way, and they can melee a trooper and use the time where he's reeling from the hit to take his weapon right from his hands an use it on him. Whenever they kill a trooper, the can take his extra nectar and attach it to a grenade, created a nectar bomb which will OD any trooper caught in the blast, turning them against their friends. You can also coat a knife with Nectar, which will also OD a trooper when you stab him. You can bury both regular and Nectar grenades in the ground and they'll function as land mines, blowing up any trooper who happens to walk near them. Also the rebels are more resourceful that the troopers, and they can take ammo from the troopers weapons and use it in their own guns. They can even do some pretty unrealistic things with ammo, such as gain extra rifle rounds by grabbing ammo from a shotgun.

However my favorite rebel ability, and maybe even my favorite ability period, would be playing dead. Due to their abusing nectar, Mantel troopers can't see dead bodies laying on the ground. So when a rebel appears to get shot, and lays on the ground, he becomes effectively invisible to the troopers. This ability has saved my butt several times through the course of the game, and even serves to created some effective combat strategies. An example of this would be running up to a trooper, stabbing him with a Nectar-coated knife causing him to OD, and pretending to die. Once he can no longer see you, the ODed trooper will start firing on anyone else close to him, which will be his own team, wile you lay there and laugh.

Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't without its problems. The AI can act brainless at times, and you will see things such as enemies that stand still in front of you until you shoot at them, or teammates that run in front of your fire. I've even been run over by a car driven by an AI teammate that I was trying to protect. Oh yeah, the game also has an escort mission. I hate escort missions. As you play in harder difficulty modes however, the AI actually seems to improve slightly. They'll move around a lot more, and are certainly better at shooting you.

Speaking of bad driving, the game also features some driving only stages, which not only make you drive vehicles that handle like they're sliding on a frozen lake, but they make you drive though mine fields, and over bridges that cross bottomless pits that are barely the width of your car. Since you're the only one in the game with the mental capacity to drive these vehicles, your AI teammates will take up the task of mounting the rear gun, but you can't rely on them to keep you safe at all. That leaves you to drive around, dodging explosions and bullets with a vehicle that could skid right off a cliff if you take turn too quickly.

My final gripe with the gameplay is the level design. I have gotten lost on more than one occasion, and had to spend time backtracking or walking in circles just trying to find an oddly placed door. But all the problems seem to pail in comparison with the fun that the game has to offer. Clocking in at about 8-10 hours depending on skill and difficulty, the campaign mode is less than epic, however I found it to be just long enough to keep things moving along nicely without getting tedious.

Multiplayer:
Haze also has several multiplayer modes to try out. It has off or online 4-man campaign co-op mode (the offline version done by connection two PS3s, with two players sharing a screen on each PS3), which I have yet to try. It also has off or online Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes (both off and online versions include bots), as well as the online only Assault mode, which has objectives for each side to complete.

I have only been able to experience the online multiplayer once, because I have limited bandwith at my house, and I need to go over to a friend's place in order to take my PS3 online (I know, first the crappy TV, and now dial-up internet. I need to get some better equipment and a better internet connection before I do another review). What little I did get to experience however was underwhelming. The ability to select which side (trooper or rebel) you want to fight as and being able to use each teams abilities in multiplayer was interesting, but thanks to the quick match feature that neglects to inform you of what kind of match you are entering, several people (myself as well at first) thought that Team Deathmatch was just regular Deathmatch and shot up their team mates. Also, the level design, just like in the single player campaign, left much to be desired, as I found myself wandering around the maps for a minute or two before finding someone to shoot at.

Final thoughts:
Before I'm through, I would like to mention how the single player campaign has no loading screens, save for one when you first start the campaign, and also whenever you die you will go through another quick load. But it is a nice treat that whenever you complete a mission and head back to base or wherever, you don't have to worry about the game stopping to load the next level. You just hop on the chopper, and away you go.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Haze. Its not perfect, revolutionary, or even a Halo killer (not that it ever was supposed to be), but the game also isn't just another generic shooter. The character, story, and gameplay elements all come together to distinguish Haze from other similar games out there, at least single player wise. On the multiplayer side, I am still withholding judgment until I can play more some more of it, and really only time will be able to tell how strong the multiplayer community will get. But as for now, Haze definitely worth checking out, and I would recommend picking it up, at least as a rental.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/08

Game Release: Haze (US, 05/20/08)