Free Radical comments on Haze delay

Free Radical, developers of Haze, write on their blog:

Soooo, Haze is delayed. But you already know that, don't you. Well, the simple fact of the matter is, any delay on a game is a good thing - it's more time to optimize and polish and tweak and generally improve the whole damn thing to the Nth degree. Now, I know that some of you patient folks out there will be bitterly disappointed. Some of you may even want to come to my house and smash a colostomy bag over my head, and I think most people would understand that sentiment, but believe when I say that the delay is the best possible thing for the game. Hell, the reason why you guys are so pumped about it is because you have high expectations, and we need just a little more time to make sure that we meet them. So in conclusion, rest easy - we're still slugging away on this badboy.

In other news, this week has seen several drafts and redrafts of the TimeSplitters 4 story outline being pulled around to see what sticks. As of today we might - MIGHT - have settled on something. Time will tell.

For the record, this blog is dedicated to the guys on the forums that noticed that I hadn't written one for a while. I didn't think anyone was reading this little thing.

[HBK619]

Why not just delay it until 2020?

That will make the game awesome!!!

Fact of the matter is that they didn't like the reviews they were getting and are now working frantically to change the game as much as possible.

I played the game at Australia's EGames Expo and it was boring, sluggish and simple.

This game needs to improve alot in order to be good, I will still have a look at the online and co-op modes but it is looking quite dangerous.

[shysun]

Who reviewed the game?

[Kaneda]

This delay is just for marketing...They delayed it so you guys can talk about it and hype it up some more...

Hope this game is not like Kane and Lynch..

[thedude17655]

with the article, i don't care if a game is supposed to come out tomorrow, if there is still work to be done to make it better than i say take all the time needed to give me a great product instead of a flawed rushed game because people were too impatient to wait a couple of months to play a quality product.

[snoopgg]

will wait unti its done, rent it and see if I like it. Your review sucked, it was simple, boring, sluggish and really irrelevent at this time, the final game isn't even out to play yet. I hate to rip at you, but what you played wasn't the final build.

[HBK619]

What I played was the final build of the game.

It was to come out 1-2 weeks from when I played it, it was done and dusted, I played the final version, problem was nobody liked it as it was sluggish, boring, bland and way to simple.

To 1.1, there were several reviews coming out from others playing the game, I can't pinpoint where they were but they definitely had them.

[Skerj]

I hope they meet everyone's expectations in the gameplay aspect, the environments looked generic from what I've seen but they did have some pretty cool concepts behind it. It better not get delayed to the window of GTA4 or MGS4 because then it'll be lost in the madness.

[Jinxstar]

True I also feel kinda bad. With the amount of good new IP's out there, Especially in the FPS genre, I believe its hard to make them totally original anymore. With Games like Bioshock, COD4 and UT3 out there, Just to name a few, I would not know what to do. As long as they make up for it with A. Length B. Controls and C. Gameplay I think environments can suffer a bit. I mean a vast Majority of games now are Sci Fi So breaking into a "Lets kill aliens' Genre is tough now. The fact that they are actually killing humans and going for something a little less "Out of this world" I appreciate. (Not a big Sci Fi fan) Seriously though I think it doesn't matter how good it is. it will be a hard sell cause its a new IP.

Honestly what i would do if I were a game designer these days is make a crappy mobile game and call it Haze then make the PS3 game and call it Haze 2. New IP's suffer a lot it seems. Especially on the PS3. Gears 2, Bioshock 2, Heavenly Sword2 and and Drakes Fortune 2 will all do vastly better then the original cause casual gamers see somehow its a proven franchise. So make a mobile game then release haze with a "2" after it and I think they would win ;-)

Anyway enough rant. Game on

[Ri0tSquad]

To be honest I don't think they could do SO much more to the game but it did look kind of boring.

[Jinxstar]

I agree I may be one of the few but I think delays are always good... As much as I wish I had GTA4 right now. It will make it that much more fun. I just hope games don't lose flavor with delays.

My only question is. The people that make these games are great gamers most likely. They all play games and enjoy them. Can't they tell when they are making something that doesn't stack up before reviews? I mean Kane and Lynch for example. Was it the Pub's preasuring them or was it the dev's being lazy? I dunno. If I was making something I would want to be proud of it you know? Oh well.

The more delayed Haze gets the more likely I am to buy it. :)

[games4fun]

they are pretty much screwed if they release near killzone or resistance or mgs4 there is no way they will sell well
i was going to buy this game earlier when there wasn't too much fps but cmon they will really have to step it up to get anyone to buy this

[Caliber]

yeah, it would have been very good for them if they'd managed to get it out in January, due to the lack of games. Maybe even February.

However, this game seems to have some pretty original gameplay mechanics, like the whole nectar thing, being able to play dead, punch someone in their face and steal their weapon and so on.. I'm not giving up on it quite yet =)

[Ju]

I liked that jungle preview we have seen. They showed a pretty lush environment. If they can keep that up on a level like say Uncharted, I think it will have its place. It could fit besides the other three. KZ is dark, fictional, extra-terrestrian, MGS is a ultra realistic stealth shooter, Resistance is its own historical fictional play. But Haze fits in there with realistic lush worlds. But sure, the visuals have to match - I don't expect it to reach the level of the other three, though. Besides that, its an ordinary shooter, but so is UT3 - run and gun, but a still a lot of fun:)

[games4fun]

is awesome because of the mods for that reason alone i bought if you have it download the action cam mod it is more fun than the fps view imo

[niall77]

I could care less about Haze when theres MGS4, GTA4 and resistance2 to be played

[solidt12]

Of course, but Resistance 2 comes out at the end of the year so I need something to play til then. I have been playing Unreal and COD4 so I am still good, but next month would be cool if HAZE could get out. i Guess Unreal and COD4 can hold me off and DMC4 will be a good break from multiplayer shooters.

[Ju]

R2 took the thunder out of everything, IMO. But, true. Its an end of 2008 game. The whole year is in front of us. I think it depends more, if KZ2 releases close to that date. But early March would still be OK, I guess. When's MGS4 due ? Second quarter, right? Haze->MGS4->KZ2->R2, in that order (time wise), a perfect year. (hey, that looks like a nice foreplay with a climax around Christmas 2008:)

[niall77]

yummie sweet cookie

[TheXgamerLive]

So as not to go up against some major hitters coming out.

[TUFFnNYC]

Yea the main reason it got delayed is to make it way better then what they had hoped. Of course we gave this game high expectatons because we were already bombarded with expecatations that set the bar with MGS4, GTA5 and Killzone 2. So, they felt they needed to do a little make over. In my opinion, i think they need to release it soon because people are starting to forget this game.

[Eamon]

I don't really know much about Haze.

What makes it a good game?

[Caliber]

What I know about it so far:

You play as one of two factions (Mantel & Rebels), and the gameplay differs a lot between the two factions.
Mantel uses a drug called "Nectar". It makes them stronger, faster, more accurate shooters, they detect mines and people easier and other stuff.
But Rebels can use Nectar against mantle, by for example making a "Nectar bomb", which causes Mantel soldiers to be unable to tell who is a friend and who is a foe. And when taking a lot of damage, Rebels can play dead.
If a rebel gets in melee range, he can punch a mantle soldier and take his weapon. Rebels can also "reconstruct" bullets to make them fit differents weapons or something like that..
4 player co-op I think.

[captainpwn]

Drugs
4 player co op

[Ju]

Hard to say. Even the drugs alone don't make this game anything out of the ordinary. Its risky because its a new IP. The big hitter all are building on their heritage. The story is fictional, but not to far from ordinary (IMO). The 4 player co-op sounds good and is quite unique so far (until R2 hits, of course). The fictional part is close enough to connect to the present, but still so far it gives the game some "upgrades" in weapons and gears (something I like, BTW). I like Graw2 over CoD4 because of that aspect. You have possibilities in environment and weaponry which you don't have if it is reality based. In that respect I though it might have a competition in Timeshift. But that game disappointed in its over all presentation, IMO. There are others coming, which are close, but are also closer to non-fiction: Army of Two, Battlefield, some some others. I like it for its fictional approach and hopefully a good presentation. But, its hard to say, without seeing/playing. The handling and the visuals must be up to Uncharted level, then it will have a chance, IMO. We'll see if they can reach that.

[Skerj]

Supposedly the story and the gameplay dynamics. The Mantel Corp has a PMC full of soldiers doped up on a reality bending (you can't see dead bodies etc.) super serum called Nectar. You play as one such soldier for half of the game and through some story altering events switch to the rebel side to bring down the Mantel corp using their own Nectar as a weapon against them as they can easily OD and die from it.

The multiplayer aspects were said to offer something fresh using that system seeing as how you're Mantel you're endowed with superhuman abilities at the cost of overdosing. As a rebel you can play dead and auto heal, extract Nectar to use in throwing knives and grenades, and steal weapons.

The wiki tells a lot of this stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Free Radical has an awesome track record and the concept seems really cool, we were all just worried about the execution.

[Rythrine]

That's good enough reason for me. DMC4 and (maybe) Turok will fill the void till March :)

[wil4hire]

Either that, or its the game that no one really wants. Its art design is far too close to halo. I dont care if there is some gay ass story about fruit juice that makes you angry.

I have UT3/COD4/Resistance. Why on earth would I want this game? It looks just like another version of a shooter. There really doesn't appear to be any redeeming value to it.

Usually I never do the whole FPS route outside of Hl2:Counterstrike (pc fps) Unless it looks interesting. Its how I dived into prey, one of the best concepts out there. Im sure portal took a few ideas from it :)

When a person looks at Haze, there really is nothing that stands out. As time goes on, and we get our Uncharteds/Ut3's graphics are getting better and better. Haze I think would have been great last year before a few of those titles. It looks dated already.

Lets hope they can show some videos, or something to make me want this game. I was never a big cod fan until 4. So it is quite possible to turn someone on to your game.

[hokis4ever]

YOU may not care about the game, but many other people out there do...

[Cusco]

Most gamers conscious about their spending habits on games, will undoubtedly only want to buy one or two FPS games for the PS3. The x360 is a different story, it seems shooters are a staple for that platform and regardless of how derivative the game play is, consumers will just gobble up one shooter after the next. PS3 is about games like Ratchet, Uncharted, Heavenly Sword etc. Already, we know that Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 will be hot and have a lot more hype than HAZE. Personally, I'll buy 1 FPS for the PS3, and chances are it will be Resistance 2 or KillZone 2 (assuming they don't flop). So delaying HAZE is good if they can get it "AAA", otherwise it may as well be another TimeShift (which was decent, but not worthy of a purchase).
Ciao

[Ju]

Yeah, sure, but we are talking about a whole year here. I bought 18 games in 2007. Maybe I won't buy that many in 2008, but even if I go with these four shooters, that leaves room for about 10 others, like Burnout Paradise, DMC4 (action, not a shooter, right). It will put Army of Two, Battlefield, Turok on my rental list, though.

[Fluffy2Duffy]

It's OoOkkayyyy for a delay BUT still PISSOFF!!!

[whoelse]

Still no release date :(

[jaaz]

It would have been nice for him to tell us it was delayed until ???

[mintaro]

sigh* woulda been good if they gave us a release date....

[THAMMER1]

I wonder WTF is going on. Epic got UT3 out and I D@MN sure that game is more demanding of the console than HAZE could ever be. WTF is up here?

[Ju]

UT3 has great visuals. The water is its strongest point. But it also does not reach e.g. UC (fluid dynamics, interactive environment). What makes you say, Haze won't have that? Did you see the pressure wave caused by the grenade thrown into the pond in that one jungle level ? That is fluid dynamics. The jungle is way more dense then anything UT3 has to shown so far. UT3 levels are relatively small. It does not stream levels, I haven't seen any volumetric particles (like smoke, or explosions), etc. While I like UT3 a lot, I think it is what it is. And it is not the top edge what's possible so far.

[THAMMER1]

I'm saying that this game is not on UT3 level when it comes to graphics but it keeps getting delayed. I'm not jabbing at the graphics of haze. Just pointing out a that the delays are questionable.

You made a bunch of $#!T up just to respond to me. Please do not do that in the future. At the very least you should not have put words in my mouth.

RESPECT

[Ju]

And I am asking "how do you know". I have played (am playing) UT3, obviously I can only comment on Haze what I've seen in videos so far. So, again, dare to comment why its not ? And can you elaborate "how not on UT3s level" and "not jabbing on Haze's graphics" go together ?

What I'm trying to say is, it IMO it is on UT3s level, but Haze actually has a story. Which in comparison takes longer to implement then multiplayer maps. Also, we know nothing about how deep Hazes levels are. But usually story driven levels are bigger then e.g. UT's maps. More so, that UT3 is based on an exiting engine, which, sure, needed some optimizations, while Haze is custom build. And if they justify that delay with just polishing the game, that's fine with me.

And, please, stop yelling at me. Thx.

[marcdz1]

There's no other game that is better than Socom. This game alone will sale mad consoles and move PS3 into the new and improved shooter genre.

[HarryEtTubMan]

You're right Socom is a very big shooter too and I'VE BEEN reading the Socom's developers blog and they are really working hard on it. Its going to be a hit too. Its a only PSN title for download. Will be huge.

[shysun]

Just get it right guys! :)

[xplosneer]

I think they need to make the Nectar a little if not a lot more affecting on gameplay...because what I've seen says "Oh well it's just a minor aspect that won't change if you live or die if you're good at FPS's."

And the enviroments need a little tweaking, a little more umph, but they weren't really bad yet.

Whatever, disagree because it's an opinion.

[Caliber]

can never have too much umph

[ISA_Scum]

You know, if they've been "slaving away at it", where the hell are new screenshots or gameplay videos of an obviously improved engine. Where is some new story or gameplay mechanics information? Where is a release date from the devs or at least a release window. Notice how quick they were to jump right back Timesplitters 4?

Bunch of lies, they don't care for Haze. If they're concept creating and story drafting TS4 then they're not "slaving away" at Haze. I'm really growing to hate these guys and Ubisoft lately.

[GITPWNED]

Wait B3yond.

[The_Engineer]

your popularity here is about as ugly as that thing in your avatar..

[ScottEFresh]

Whats that GITPWNED? I couldn't hear you...Unreal Tournament 3 is up too loud.

Anyways...I can't wait for this game and have total confidence that FRD will turn out a killer app!

[GITPWNED]

I'm too busy playing Gears, a better game.

[kunark]

i am getting haze and i dont mind for the delays still pretty tied up with ut3. besides by time they release it ps3 will have close to 10mil units bigger install base means more games to be sold!!!

[zonetrooper5]

I could get UT3 on my PC if I wanted but I won't, not getting it on my 360 or PS3 either as the game is generally not that great plys CSS pwns. =)

Well I don't think I'll be getting Haze, I'm getting Timesplitters 4 though.

[QuackPot]

I've seen enough gameplay videos to see it has potential to be a very solid shooter.

It's good they're not rushing a flawed product onto the market like Ubi did with Assassins Creed.

So take your time Free Radical and get it right and fulfil our expectations by delivering a product to be proud of.

Likely released no later than June as Haze won't stand a chance against the games in Q3-4.

[ErcsYou]

i dont know about you but im buying Haze on day one. Why? because i love playing brand spankin new games..

If the online MP has a team deathmatch and plays anything like resistance/COD4/UT3 then Haze will then i will play Haze for months .... if not ill conqueror the single player in a day or two and move on to the next game..R6V2???

...Ercs

[go0se]

Now that I have been thinking about this delay more and more. I woudnt be suprised that the main reason they keep delaying is because they want this game to be implemented with home. This game could very effectively portray the achievement system thats Home is supposed to have.

[DaCandyman]

To continue work or not. I am starting to believe that this is a Sony plot. And that is to flood 2008 with nothing but high profile games. Haze, MGS4, Grand Tourismo Pro followed by GTA4, KZ2, LBP, Resistence 2, GT5... Am I leaving out anything??? Heck starting Jan 22. with Burnout Paradise no one owning a PS3 will be bored with games. 10 Games, 12 months. SCEA, SCEE, SCEJ need to make sure that they spread out evenly.

[Caliber]

Tekken 6 and FF13. And White Knight for lovers of jrpg. And maybe The Agency..? Little is known of Heavy Rain, but people got high hopes. Motorstorm 2 and a new Jak & Dexter are rumored..

yup, shaping up to be a good year =)

[Dmack79]

I'm gettin Haze.

[sonyfanonly]

wow xbots are just mad because they dont get haze please stfu and go wait 6 more years for another overhyped halo game

[SullyDrake]

Not only will we have more UT3 custom content to fill the gap, but DMC4 and Turok come out in 2 weeks. What's that about HAZE? Yeah, I forgot about it too for a moment there.

There's plenty of games to keep us busy, and Turok could end up being a better FPS anyways.

[heavyarms]

I was going to buy this game but not anymore. I will just rent it or borrow it from a friend. Delay Delay delay i dont care what the explaination is the delaying of games is out of hand and its just not right. Just post something when the game is coming out. Freaking Bullsh1t about this game getting delayed yet again. How long has it been since it was announce, seriously, shoved this game in your crack for all i care now.

[Mr Marbles]

good ole delaystation

[Grassroots]

LMAO, is that all you got delaystation? haha

[name]

Didn't splinter cell conviction get delayed till 2009 by ubisoft as well?

[Hagaf22]

i preordered this game when it was announced but ever since then its just delay after delay, i personally feel that one delay is ok, maybe 2 but with all these im really losing interest in this game, so im looking to cancel that preorder and put it towards something i can expect to get on time or close to on time...

[kunark]

well the reason for the delays is thay want the game to be very soild and a great shooter. or would you have liked it release with tons of buggs glitches and so on...? just bare with it i personally beleave it will be worth the wait