Haze

"This game can leave the player Hazed in a jiffy..."

Haze. A Playstation 3 Exclusive made by the TimeSplitter's gurus and spin-offs like Second Sight in 2004. Free Radical teamed with Ubisoft for this solid shooter. I believe this is the WORST game Free Radical have produced. And I just hope they can live up with projects like TimeSplitters 4 and future projects. After completing this game I felt I should do a review.

Graphics:

Well, for me it wasn't love at first sight to be fair. But in saying this, it wasn't the thing that would put you off playing it forever and shoving it the cupboard to collect dust. I will say the game looks okay. The graphics seem the pushed PlayStation 2 power rather then an PlayStation 3. The best thing is them nectar grenade clouds but even that's saying something. The blood you could make even better with mixing some red dye and washing up liquid. You'd also have a lot more fun. Fire effects aren't really much, again just your average PS2 graphics here. All the frame rates are fine but not spectacular, thanks to the near 5GB installation Haze needs. I'm sorry HDTV readers, I do not know anything about the resolutions since I do not own any HDTV's.

With all this aside, there's not much else wrong with graphics, very few glitches, which are hardly noticeable really.

Gameplay:

With so many titles on PlayStation 3, what makes Haze buyable? Firstly there isn't much but don't put this off just yet. The only original-able here is Nectar which is the Mantel drugs. There's other things like playing dead, rolling, melee and steal the foe's weapon etc. but on the main things, most of this has been done before in recent months.

Let's see what else is on offer, well controls were a beauty and one of the main good points because they are completely customisable, Free Radical have done this often with the TimeSpillter games.

Anywho, if you wish for a game that has two very different aspects to the game and like very little stealth action,o this could be a classic fr you. But the AI has some darn annoying sayings, firstly it's not just that, they are fixed to about five sayings,. and the first is just about as annoying as the last. Such as, “I've got a mag of bullets with your name on it” and “Yo if you've got a problem, I'm gonna solve it.” etc. Pretty annoying huh? In saying this, its actually better to have your freaking sound OFF for the whole game, because they just keep chatting and chatting on and not even bullets stop them because the Promised Hand want you to heal them if you accidentally shoot them. Mantel soldiers are just as annoying.

Let's talk about all the hype about this shooter… Nectar.

Nectar is literally the whole point about the game. Without this, I would likely rate this game 2/10. But in saying this, Nectar has different uses for both teams and can be annoying as hell or pretty awesome. Well the first usage of the Nectar was fairly boring for me because… your enemy's shine up bright yellow, giving the whole tactics of the game away. And it's simply pressing the L2 button before the bar fills too much and gives you a overdose or if you don't have any. The easiest way to get Nectar as a Mantel solider is get behind a team-mate and hit Square until your full of Nectar again. You can sweep though this with not even boring what-so-ever even on the Hard mode of difficulty. But, and a big but, when you switch sides as the Promised Hand things change because you do not use Nectar anymore in the way you did. You are using it to your advantage again, but in the form of Nectar Grenades, which effectively blind your opposition. If the Mantel's are injected with Nectar Smoke from a Grenade, they will go nuts and their armour flashes orange and red and they shoot at thin air, and possibly their own team mates… Heh Heh Heh. In this prospective, you'll be using more Nectar Grenades then standard ones. But only 2 Nectar Grenades can be possessed at one time.

In multiplayer, it's all basic, there is no party mode like Residence: FoM. Also there isn't many weapons, modes, or maps. Frame rate isn't a problem much like single player but the games are so limited.

EDIT: THERE ARE NOW FREE PATCHES ON THE PLAYSTATION STORE. I AM UNSURE ON THESE BECAUSE I DO NOT OWN THE GAME ANYMORE. (26.9.2008)

This game really needs you to have a good imagination and enjoy the storyline of both Single and Multiplayer.

My final point today:

The story.

The story is likely to be the strongest point here. You are Shane Carpenter. In the first stages of the game, you are “employed” by the ridiculous called Mantel. Your objectives are to eliminate Promised Hand soldiers and a heavy contract called “SkinCoat” who is in the area. After SkinCoat is captured, he tells Shane “Are you on the right side?” which is rather confusing at first but makes sense later. After this event, your ship crashes and you are trying to contact HQ, but they can't hear you, and after this, the screen goes blurry and Shane has a breakdown which scared the living crap out of me. This is the point where the “Good Fight” ends for Shane Carpenter. Then he joins the team where he was made to be hate before, The Promised Hand.

I wish not to spoil anymore of the game but the story is fairly solid, an seems better then the ones I have previously played. It's a shame those cut-scenes aren't skippable…

Summary:

Pros:

*Fun shooting once it all picks up.
*4 player co-op is good with friends
*Controls are a beast
*Very little lags
*I cant stress this enough: The story is damn good for a FPS game.
*Nice frame rates
*Nectar is fun

Cons:

*The mantel side is easy, gets boring quick.
* Gameplay can be slow
* The techniques used aren't the best.



A buy or a rent you ask?

It has replay values with 4 difficulty modes, that's forgiven, multiplayer is limitless but can get old with only 5 games. It depends, do a rent for safe sides. Buy if you really like. Fun? Yes and No, Different? Only Nectar is the new idea.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/08, Updated 09/26/08

Game Release: Haze (EU, 05/23/08)