Well, it's finally here; and by "it" I mean 'HAZE'. The highly anticipated (until recently) PS3 exclusive which was expected to bring the PS3 out of the woodwork and into the limelight, unfortunately this did not happen, in-fact very little happened...read-on.
MANTEL:
HAZE is the story of Shane Carpenter, a presumably full grown man with the voice of a 12 year old girl. Set in the not so distant future Shane is a soldier for a corporation named Mantel which manufactures the performance enhancing drug 'nectar'. Mantel's sole enemy is a group of rebel forces called 'The Promise Hand' headed by a character named 'Skincoat'. In a way that only american propagandists can, Mantel has convinced it's forces that the leader of the rebel army has performed horrible deeds including but not limited to:
1) Genocide
2) Skinning people and wearing their hide as clothes (That's not cotton!!!!)
3) Generally being all around evil
And we all know Americans (especially americans with guns) don't take too kindly to that sort of thing. The result is an army of immature, poorly acted, jarheads who's sole method of communication is the word "Oooosh!" and a chest bump... Although one of them may have slipped in " I'm the killer MC, you know me, I'm cappin' their asses, 1,2,3." I can confidently say if Free Radical had removed all of the voice acting and instead sold us on the fact that the entirety of the mantel forces (and basically everyone else in the game) were deaf and mute and communicated via a highly evolved form of sign language that this game would have been phenomenonally better, but I digress.
While on nectar Mantel's soldiers can shoot straighter, run faster, see far....... Okay, I think I need to stop right there since that kind of talk is exactly what got me on the hype train. Although the use of nectar does change gameplay somewhat it left you feeling like someone peed in your sterroids and you may not be getting the full effect. Aside from applying a golden glow to your enemies and making you run a bit faster (thanks for the sprint button FR) there's really no point in using the stuff. In-fact some might argue that it can make things worse, of course I'm talking about the 3-4 seconds when everything blurs and a soothing robotic voice says "Administering". However the single most frustrating thing about the golden yellow goo is the scripted overdose(s). In one level no matter what i did, how far I stayed away from the "nectar bomb's" gasseous death trap I still overdosed...then died. well obviously i didn't die EVERY time but it sure took away what little immersion was there to begin with. And I can't not mention the numerous "Nectar Disruptions" which usually seem to happen at the most inopportune time, when you're surrounded by enemies for example.
THE PROMISE HAND:
Early in the game you switch sides and start fighting for the Promise hand due to what I'm going to call "a spiritual awakening" better known as being inside a helicopter that has just been shot down and living to tell about it. You learn that skincoats real name is Merino and that his awesome vest is in fact 100% cotton. I have to say I was a little disappointed to learn this, the thought of a game charcter wearing human skin is just sick enough for me to get behind. Although I can't get "It puts $60 on the counter, it puts $60 on the counter!!!" out of my head. Anyway, since mantel has Nectar Free Radical thought it was necessary to give your L2 button a little special service while fighting for the rebels too. They do this in the form of 'Playing Dead'. That's correct, doing absolutely nothing is now the new super immersion tool which I'm sure every developer will be using in the very near future, in-fact I just downloaded the patch for COD4. Although playing dead can be useful if you're about to die and need some time to regain health so you don't have to go back to the last checkpoint, it doesn't always work (damn turrets) and it's not always worth using. And for those with an especially soft conscience you may even feel a little bad about yourself while playing dead, who wouldn't when they hear a Mantel soldier say "This guy isn't fighting fair, he's here then he disappears!" Shame on you. The only other "advantage" of fighting for the Promise hand is the ability to "steal" your enemie's weapons via a melee attack and a screen button prompt. However, you will only use this once, and it just happens to be right after you learn how to do it. Throughout the rest of the game there is absolutely no need unless you find yourself emptying clip after clip into thin air and running out of ammo every 5 minutes.
GAMEPLAY:
Overall the gameplay is far from bad and feels like most FPS. I wasn't too happy with the default button layout but a quick trip to the options menu fixed that in a jiffy. In-fact the option to switch your button layout is one of the more detailed menus I've come in contact with. Giving you free reign to make X: frag grenade and L3 fire primary weapon, not saying i did but I do like the option.
VEHICLES:
Throughout the game you will need to drive a variety of, wait no, one of three vehicles to complete your objective. I think I can safely say this is one of the best gameplay elements; although the controls we're a little frantic it was a generally enjoyable experience. Although even these portions of the game are not without their flaws. Namely the portion where you and a comrade are driving along a beach in a quad bike and are suddenly ambushed by a mantel "Marine cruiser" thing. It felt kind of like putting a pit bull and a baby turtle in a ring and telling them to fight. Thank god the driving AI is absolute shit and ran into everything, eventually flipping over their vehicle and killing everyone or i may have been worried. That aside, the driving is fun and actually a refreshing break from the FPS action.
VISUALS:
What can I say about the visuals...? For as long as this game has been in production I have to say I had much higher expectations for the graphics. They're not poor but thery're certainly not anything to write home about; and certainly not what Sony wants associated with "ground-breaking". All in all the visuals are decent and really not that bad to look at, but with screen tearing and the like running rampant throughout almost every level it definitely feels like a corner was cut somewhere.
SOUND:
The voice acting is shit.
The guns sound like guns.
The voice acting is shit.
Yeah, that's about it.
ALL IN ALL:
All in all HAZE is a decent first person shooter that may simply be a victim of it's own over-hype. If you have 6 hours you don't know what to do with and are a fan of some of Free Radical's previous FPS then by all means pick it up and enjoy. Just don't expect this game to change your life.
Oh.... and Don't Panic.
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "When shopping for new video games you can often trust the name publisher or developer on the box to be an indication of the quality of the game. Names like Nintendo, Square Enix, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Capcom, Xbox Game Studios and Sega are world famous because they helped shape the industry by releasing some of the most defining video games of all time. Though sometimes even these great gaming houses stumble and put out a stinker."
Splatterhouse remake . Loved the og’s at the arcade growing up . Hell the best thing about the remake was the og,s were included . And left alive by Square . That game had so much potential , but the gameplay was worse horrendous .
once Great studios getting destroyed is actually common. happened with ND and Last of Us2, Bioware and Mass Effect Andromeda/Anthem, Bungle and Destiny .
I'm pretty much certain that any Sonic game that comes out will be terrible, I've not enjoyed one since the original side-scrolling days of the MegaDrive.
For this Topic it says Good Studios that make bad games. Sonic Team hasn't been good in years.
Guns, drugs, and unnecessary war. Fun for the whole family.
Although this game is garbage in many aspects I have heard that the multiplayer was pretty fun and may be the saving grace for this. It is a shame you were not able to try it out.
That includes online.
Yeah, I really have be wowed to jump into the online multiplayer. But I'll try to get a mod to edit the title to "HAZE Campaign Review" thanks for your input.