Retrospective: Haze was overhyped and underrated

Almost everyone knows Haze. It was that nectar induced drug addict game that was heavily pushed back in 2006-07. Prior to the release of this game, everyone wanted it. They really wanted it. Everyone was fed tiny little snippets of the game, all of which kept everyone salivating for more.

[table]

heh, it was a fun game I admit and I agree it was underappreciated. Victim of its own hype.

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

The game was amazing but just need more itme to bump it up to 720p and more detail textures..
All this would of helped it alot but it failed technically and length wise it felt fake and last gen..

Another game such a LAir was amazing but these nerd reviewers sucked each other off and decided the controls weren't good enough..BS
It was great!!!

[GrandTheftZamboni]

Looks like they ran out of resources half way through. There is no way they didn't notice repetitiveness of the dialogues, but they didn't do anything about it, which wouldn't cost them much. If they fixed that, and polished the graphics, Haze would be lot better. I like the game as is, anyhow. It might hit 1 million in sales, especially now that it can be found for 10-20 bucks.

[Danja]

it wasn't a bad game , def not the worst game of this gen as many would have you believe , the SP aspect was rather mediocre though , but funny thing is Haze is the 1st FPS to ever had the no loading screen option once the game starts....

the MP is still good I haven't played in awhile but I had alot of fun the 1st couple of months ....

[Sarcasm]

The actual gameplay was decent. The controls felt good though.

But what killed it is the presentation. The same repeated dialogues were annoying "We fight for Merino, and we fight for the promise hand!" over and over and over.

The cheezy voice acting of the mantel troopers etc.

[thebudgetgamer]

:)

[Blaze929]

only hype that came to this game was from obnoxious sony fanboys that were just ranting about how it was a PS3 exclusive.

[Seraphim]

actually the overhyped portion came just as much from gaming journalists as it did fanboys. And it's also evident in the review scores that grossly underrated Haze. All the journalists were hyping Haze to the Nth degree and the product didn't meet their expectations...

[itagaki]

This game was worth $10 when I bought it. I wouldn't pay $10 for it now.

Get the drift? The game sucks, plain and simple. No, it wasn't the hype that killed it for me. It was the boring game play and the un-interresting world/story.

[brodels]

i don't really think it was overhyped, it had some buzz being an exclusive ps3 shooter initially but that died down, and the release was sort of quiet i think

[rockleex]

It was hyped by its own developers. They kept talking about all these new innovative ideas and gameplay.

They also made it seem like the story will actually be really sci-fi and weird and awesome... like Bioshock.

If they didn't hype it like that, it would have gotten decent scores. Also, people expected a lot because these were the same developers that made the amazing Timsplitters games. ^_^

[Nineball2112]

I downloaded the demo. It wasn't all THAT bad. I just wasn't about to pay $60 for it. :-)

[smokeybeef]

Too true. Although you can pick it up for $10 in a few places now, so there's no reason to ignore it.

I believe the multiplayer is still quite active too, although I haven't played it in a month or two.

[Polluted]

@Smokey: the MP is deceptive because the empty spots are generally filled in with bots. Still, for $15 brand new (that's what I pad 3 months ago), it's a worthwhile buy even just for SP.

The funny thing is the amount of messages you'll get over PSN when people see you're playing Haze.

Random friend: "Haze?!?!?!"

Reply: "Yup. It's not bad."

Random friend: "But, but, why?!? Lol."

You'll get about 3 of those per hour if you have more than 75 people on your list.

[dorron]

I bought it second hand. While not a great game, it actually was a nice game to play...but just wasn't the AAA title everybody was expecting.

[ape007]

I played the demo long time ago

it was like a 6 to 7 game tbh

huge disappointment guys,time splitters rock and haze sucked

[sulack]

Disliked every moment of playing haze

[AssassinHD]

How many moments did you spend playing it then? You have to be careful with your answer because if you say not many, then one could argue that you did not give it a fair shake, and if you say you beat the game, then one must question why you would continue to play a game you disliked.

[redsquad]

It was a workman-like FPS.
Apart from the pretentious dialogue and cut scenes that you COULDN'T SKIP (and the fact that, personally, I wanted to play as a Mantle trooper for far longer), I enjoyed it for what it was.

I certainly didn't feel the need to jump on the "HAZE is crap in every conceivable way" bandwagon. I've played far worse both in this generation and previous ones.

As it's so cheap now, I'd actually recommend it as a fun diversion.

[zapata2119]

I got it at launch and i still play the multiplayer from time to time I do hope that they make a Haze 2 maybe with the cry engine??? i can dream can't i lol

[Bazookajoe_83]

Too many games lack coop :-(

[grantps3]

the game wasnt anything worse than timeshift other mediocore FPS, but like it says....the hype destroyed it

[EvilCackle]

Overhyped and underrated? So it was crappier and better than you'd expect?

[rockleex]

Overrated means it wasn't as good as people said.

Underrated means it was BETTER than what people said.

[anubis12]

yeah i agree it totally blew...get shot in the back and you just cant control anything and you shoot around like a retard the dumbest concept ever

[food86]

I owned the game and enjoyed playing the single player split screen. It was also to easy even in its hardest settings. (the nectar had something to do with that lol) This game is not a must buy day 1 or worth owning but it is worth a play through. But this game is not as horrid as people make it out to be. I could say the same thing about conflict denied ops! or timeshift. at that moment there was nothing better out there other than halo or call of duty. so basing haze or comparing it to halo of course it had a lot to live up to......

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I had alot of fun with Haze.It was by no means a GOTY contender but it held me over till MGS4 came out.

[kingme71]

The problem with gaming media and journalism everything has to be black or white. Either Haze has to be great or total garbage. In reality Haze was somewhere in between. I played through it to the end and it was largely a forgettable game. It has its faults that many have talked about, but they weren't game crushing faults. The nectar idea was a neat concept, but many FPS's nowadays rely on one new concept to the fault of everything else (like Fracture).

The fact it was a PS3 exclusive didn't help the hype buzz. If it has been multiplatform it wouldn't have gotten the same hype and would have sold more.

[Highatus]

Unfortunately i bought this game at launch. Not to say i didn't really enjoy it, But it should have been a rent instead.

There are concepts in the game that could have made it alot better than what it was, The nectar to the feigning death just felt way to uneven in terms of being balanced. Though the nectar bombs were pretty funny to see them OD and start shooting each other.

In my eyes not a terrible game that most have made it out to be, but not an entirely great game either. I was hoping for a suped up Timesplitters and what i got was a suped up Eat Lead.

**Edit** The comedy is there in Eat Lead, but my god where did the get the gameplay?

[food86]

okay can anyone tell me of a better game in terms of fps that was better than haze during the time haze came out? For me the only outstanding was halo for its multiplayer and resistance for its single campaign. but other than those two what other fps were really steps beyond haze? please compare in the same timeline and not shooters of now like kz2, geow2, or cod4. what game out there was actually better as an fps?

[Vip3r]

It has a certain "chunkiness" to it but still failed. Storyline was cheesy imo.

[Aclay]

It's ironic really... there's many people that enjoyed HAZE for what it was, and I felt the exact same way about Lair. Lair got horrible reviews, but I picked it up the exact same day it came out.

Lair was a VERY short game, and the Sixaxis controls took me a while to get used too, but I did enjoy it while it lasted and I don't think that it deserved some of the really low review scores that it got.

I think HAZE got so hyped up because Free Radical was the developers, and as many know, they were the same dev. team that brought the successful TimeSplitters series.... I guess I can see why HAZE got so hyped just for that reason alone, but ultimately Free Radical fell short.

[felidae]

Time Splitters wasn't good at all .. even Goldeneye 64 is better!

[heyheyhey]

it was ok... i had fun in co-op, but considering it was being made by FRD (my favorite FPS dev)... it seriously underwhelmed me

[Gun_Senshi]

Well Haze is exactly like Halo 3. Just different consoles, colour scheme, and story. But it plays very very similar and has very similar feel and everything.

[heyheyhey]

no.. the two games control COMPLETELY differently (HAZE has a more TS/Goldeneye feel), the arsenal is different, the gameplay is completely different... the only similarities are the subpar graphics and the vehicle sections

[felidae]

whaaaaaaat?

fanboy!!!

[Spike47]

I knew Haze wasn't going to special but it still kept the hype which hurt the game.

[PotNoodle]

I agree, wasn't an amazing game. But wasn't terrible like the reviews made it out to be, i played online for a good two weeks.

[Eiffel]

The game was never intended to be exclusive if we all do our history.

Should have kept it multiplatform.

[Slinger420]

I was one of the unfortunate souls that donated 60$ to Gamestop for that garbage FPS

[Bathyj]

Yeah, the game wasn't even bad, it just wasn't awesome. Thats a felony nowadays I guess.

[Pugovitz]

Wow, what a timely article...

[felidae]

i wasn't hyped for the game but nonetheless ... Haze svcked major ass, that's for sure.

overhyped and overrated!

even Too Human was way better than this game.

[PirateThom]

If you like twitch shooters and you can pick it up cheap, I'm sure anyone who likes Halo/Resistance or whatever could find a lot of good in Haze, even if it's just to pass time between the next big games.

[felidae]

please, don't compare Haze to Halo

please .. don't!

[PirateThom]

I didn't... read what I wrote.

[Figboy]

the controls were silky smooth (like most Free Radical games, honestly), but the downsides were overlly hammy story, and moderately decent visuals.

towards the end, the gameplay REALLY picked up, but it's fate was set the moment it stopped being multi-platform, and the gaming media began to tout it as "the next killer PS3 exclusive," then it's expectations were set too high.

NONE of Free Radical's earlier games (Timesplitters, Second Sight) were ever hyped to the level that Haze was. to suddenly expect GOLD from them was ridiculous.

i know that they had a rather significant hand in creating Goldeney 64 and Perfect Dark 64, but i never expected Haze to be a revolutionary FPS title, just a good time. and it was.

i ended up trading it in, because i realized that i probably wouldn't play it much more after beating it that first time, but i don't regret the experience.

as a first next gen effort from the company, i was really looking forward to seeing what they would have done with Timesplitters 4.

it's a shame that the media has let the "Console War" completely decimate their perspective on what makes a genuinely GOOD game, and what makes a MEDIOCRE game.

here's a list of some of the most medicore, horrible FPS games i've played this generation:

Frontlines
Turok
Legendary
Turning Point
Blacksite
Bomberman: Act Zero

THOSE are genuinely sh*t tastic FPS games.

[spike]

That game sucked

[PSGamingInc]

Why are we talking about this debacle now? Twist it around all you want, the bottom line is Haze flatout stinks. It looks terrible, plays terrible has a terrible story, terrible characters and some of the cheesiest dialogue I have ever heard. Let the debacle known as Haze die and never, I mean NEVER bring it up again.

[mickross123]

I enjoyed haze