We were wondering if this much hyped first person shooter was ever going to show up. Beset by delays and the subject of many a speculative forum post, it’s a relief to say Haze is finally here.
There’s a hell of a lot riding on this title. Sony desperately needs a decent blaster to knock the wind out of the Xbox 360’s sails and Haze has frequently been held up as a reason to hold off buying Microsoft’s substantially cheaper offering.
Then there's developers Free Radical who made a mint with the critically acclaimed and chart topping Timesplitters series. Fans are itching to see what they’ll make of Sony’s next gen console.
The wait’s now over so it’s time to find out if Haze’s heady cocktail of drugs and guns can knock Call of Duty 4 and the like off the top spot.
They say:
Gamespot: “A seven hour campaign and uneventful multiplayer modes just don't cut it in light of the far better modern shooters available on the market.”
Eurogamer: “The combat's weak, the storyline's excruciating, it's technically deficient - Haze really is this year's most significant gaming disappointment.”
IGN: “While Free Radical does have a solid pedigree, Haze does not live up to the company's reputation thanks to a horrible plot, weak gameplay mechanics and visuals that are truly underwhelming.”
We say:
A massive amount of early hype usually means one thing – the game’s total pants. And that’s exactly what we've got here. Sadly Haze’s developers must have got lost in some kind of, err, fog midway through programming this title.
Disappointment sets in as soon as you start playing. The storyline is tripe and the dialogue that introduces it isn’t much better. We were reminded of some really awful soaps – Crossroads, Albion Market, Eldorado… take your pick.
As poor as the cut scenes are, they’re nothing compared to the in game dialogue uttered by your compadres. Drifting from your standard meat head tripe to downright offensive rubbish, you’ll be tempted to turn the gun on yourself just to get away from these morons.
Thankfully – and this is a plot twist that's been in every trailer so we’re not spoiling anything here – you switch sides fairly early on, meaning you get the chance to blast away at these idiots. It’s the only relief we had playing this shockingly bad shooter.
Nectar plays a huge part in Haze – not the High Street reward points variety but it’s about as interesting. You neck a vial of the little ol’ drug then tap the shoulder button and you’ll be fitter, faster and stronger.
It definitely comes in handy when you’re in a tight corner, but take too much and you’ll go stir crazy. We found this happening all too often. You’ll be unable to control your shots for a short period and when you recover from being high as a proverbial kite you’ll find you've offed most of your team mates. Remember kids, drugs don’t work.
It’s not as if you get to down much Nectar either. The minute you switch sides – about an hour into the game – your special powers are gone. You can launch a vial at your enemies in the hope that they’ll obliterate themselves, but losing one of the game’s supposed selling points seemed pretty strange to us.
The graphics don’t help matters either. Much has been made in the press of Haze’s apparent lack of true HD visuals and it certainly shows. You’ll think you’re playing a PS2 at times with its fuzzy textures and dreadful blur effects.
Even your enemies are consistently stupid, making Haze much easier than most first person shooters. In standard play the game boils down to the usual corridor style blasting action that’s been done umpteen times better on pretty much every console in the last decade.
That’s not to say that Haze doesn’t have its moments. At times you’ll find yourself in the middle of a stunningly exciting set piece and believe it was worth shelling out all that cash. You’ll have waded through an hour of bile to see it though. And as for the vehicular based levels, well, they’re just shockingly bad.
The co-op options that allow you and three chums to play though the game either via one console or online is one big plus. Having a few friends along for the ride rather than idiotic morons certainly raises the standards a point.
But these few plus points simply aren’t enough. The hype simply wasn’t worth it and Haze deserves to find itself confined to the bargain bins sooner rather than later.
Try these instead:
Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3
Halo 3 - Xbox 360
The Orange Box - PS3, Xbox 360, PC
FORMAT REVIEWED
PS3
OTHER FORMATS
None
POSTED...
Mon 26 May at 10:18pm
