Yes, we've all heard of it before, "Haze sucks coz the storyline, gameplay, acting, and etc sucks!" However, try giving this game a shot by renting it out first and see for yourself what you think of this game, and not relying on someone else's opinion (including mine).
As as anyone keeping tabs on this game (or at least know its existence) should already know, this is the much-hyped...and delayed, exclusive PS3 first-person shooter game from Free Radical (the makers of the famed Time Splitters). The plot (NO SPOILERS HERE)of the game centers on a Mantel trooper named Sgt. Shane Carpenter, who goes on a "capture-the-enemy-" mission along with his squad members. During the course of his squad's objectives, Shane starts to question something and all hell breaks loose from there.
Now let me now go down to the meat-and-potatoes of this review:
GRAPHICS
Admittedly, the graphics of this game are a little outdated, circa 2005-2006. To give you an idea, imagine the vegetation graphics of Metal Gear Solid 3 and make them 10X shinier, and you pretty much got the graphics of this game. The grasses and trees look colorful as hell, a la "Crysis-style", but if you look closer, the objects are actually very flat and pixelated (yes I understand graphics tend to be pixelated when you go up-close, but this game seems to be more so than normal). Now that said, I'm not saying that the graphics flat-out "sucks" as the other reviews might have you believe. The rocks, trees, buildings, characters, and vehicles are all nicely rendered, as displayed by my 42" LG 1080P HDTV. Not only that, this game displays some nice graphical effects, such as dirt thrown up by a grenade explosion.
SOUND/VOICES
This is quite arguably the weakest department of this game. The gunfire sound effects and explosions, though great in their own right, are decent at best. In other words, the sound effects are just plain average. The voice acting, in my honest opinion, seems to be more of a hit-and-miss. If you've played the demo, then you'll know what I'm talking about. The main character, Shane, just sound plain way too "whimpy" for a Mantel sergeant(though I suspect that this was done intentionally in order to make Shane in-sync with his character). His Mantel squad members are overly-acted, stereotypical "meat heads" who seem to be straight out of a high school-themed comedy movie. Later on, however, you'll meet some rebels (no spoilers here)with great voice acting. The sound department isn't exactly a total mess, as the great orchestral soundtrack makes up for what it lacks in the sound effects.
STORYLINE
The story is your typical, standard "evil-corporation-trying-to-control-everything" that seems to be more in vogue with the action movie storylines of the 1980's (I'm an 80's baby, dammit!). The story does start out uninteresting with the first two levels (the demo is on the very first) but when Shane starts "to think" only then the storyline starts to kick off. I must warn you though that the overall storyline has a "not-too-ambiguous" political message, so much so that it makes you wonder if the developers were slyly (though a little too obvious) taking stab at the United States' policy on the Global War on Terror. People who have strong political opinions might get "turned-off" with its storyline and see it as a "liberal propaganda". Not-too-subliminal political messages aside, the storyline alone is worth enough to play the game in its entirety to its ending.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is average when compared to other FPS games in that it's linear, progression-wise. The game, however, throws some interesting concept. For example, when you're playing as a Mantel trooper, you get to inject yourself Nectar with results to enhanced visual senses. Overdose too much, well, and you go crazy. When you get to play "for the other side", you get to use this to your advantage, such as "playing dead" as Mantel troopers act stupid due to its use. There are some vehicle-based sections of the game which help break out the monotony of plainly shooting your enemies.
ONLINE MULTI-PLAYER
The online portion of this game is rather surprisingly fast, fun, and addictive. Don't believe my word? You gotta at least rent this game and see for yourself.
In closing,I'll admit that the game got the "Killzone 1 syndrome" in which it got overly hyped out that when it came down to reviews, it was basically shot down. The game overall is very fun, though not exactly your "ground-breaking" exclusive game.