Remember Rare? Yeah, well, that company essentially gave birth to Free Radical, the same company behind TimeSplitters. With a pedigree like that, that would make this the PS3's killer app, wouldn't it?? No, but I wasn't one of those on the hype train, so I'm not one of those "OMG, et iseint eh healo kila!" people that gave this game the reputation it's gotten. Is it a fantastic game? No, but is it as bad as those disappointed gamers exaggerate it to be? Definitely not. And between Rare and Free Radical, Free Radical did a much better job of making a game with a short single-player and bot matches with multiplayer than Rare did with the horrible Perfect Dark Zero.
Let's explain something real quick, okay? The reputation. When people learned of this game, they hyped it up and had high expectations that this would be a Halo killer. I was not one of those people. The people that did hype this game up got a hold of it and realized it wasn't Halo, to which the normal amount of massive exaggeration took place. Saying this had fugly graphics, the worst gameplay, and it was nothing more than shooting with nothing else to it. Well, that's all wrong.
But now I'll talk about the single-player campaign. It's short. How short? Damn short. How damn short is 'damn short'? Dammit, it's 5 and a half hours, that how damn short damn short is (say that five times fast). Basically, this is how it goes. You're Shane Carpenter, some dude with a light un-Sarge-like voice for his Sargeness who worked for the Mantel Corporation, a technological beast of a company that uses the drug named Nectar that enhances the strength and speed of the user. Hell, it even highlights the bad dudes in a red kind of outline so you can easily shoot those bastards. What bastards? The rebels, aka the Promise Hand aka The Mexicans. Yeah, all of the rebels you find are pretty much Mexicans, no lie. Even more ironic is the cause of the war between Mantel and the Promise Hand: The Promise Hand doesn't like Mantel's use of drugs. Of ALL the reasons out there, you pick the most ironic one possible? Mexicans disapproving of drugs? Last I checked, they were getting fucked up by drug cartels down there.
Anyway, the Nectar's the thing that made this game special. Only problem is that you switch over to The Promise Hand about half way through and that Nectar's gone. Fortunately, you have Nectar Knives (what I call them anyway), which will make the Mantel troopers overdose on Nectar, causing them to go all psycho and shoot everyone in sight and sometimes cook a grenade in their hand until they 'splody, 'splody. You also have Nectar grenades, which do the same thing, but inflict more damage and don't need you to get as close.
But it's short, as I said, and the characters are unlikable by the horrible script and confusing storylines that you have no idea either what's going on and your buddies are too high to explain anything. Then you go all Promise Hand and, by this time, you'll all like "EXPLAIN THIS SHIT TO ME", but, no, you don't get it explained. Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Crytek UK (as Free Radical is now called). Besides, there's nothing in the campaign worth mentioning, but if you get the game, you should run through it to get used to the game's slightly different controls. Reloading is Triangle and switching weapons is Circle? So, we're moving one button to the right for these actions? Sure. It's weird, but easy to get used to and the sensitivity isn't half as bad as their former company's attempt at a current-gen game. Rare as a company needs to die, but that's a bit off topic.
I bought this game for one reason and one reason only: bot matches. The same reason I got Perfect Dark Zero. Unfortunately, you can only pick between Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch in bot matches, but it sure is fun. You have slightly more maps than Perfect Dark did, but you can't pick Small, Medium, and Large, but you can't do that in Unreal Tournament or Quake III either so that isn't a complaint. Yeah, there isn't much to say here except that if you like bot matches, you should get this game for that sole purchase. It's only $10 at GameStop, so there's not much to lose in terms of money).
Just for shits and giggles, I'll throw in a (dis)honorable mention to the multiplayer.
IT SUCKS. Nobody plays it anymore and the other modes, most notably Assault, is boring and the other players can somehow see you when you're hiding, yet they're Promise Hand without the Nectar's ability to see you. And they get a headshot from across the map. I call hacking, but it isn't worth playing the multiplayer anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Presentation-wise, the game's okay. The graphics aren't top of the line by any means, but they do the job. There isn't much in environmental variety, but Uncharted: Drake's Fortune didn't have much either. Basically, it's not a good thing, but it doesn't take off major points from the score, just a few (.##)'s. However, the soundtrack is forgettable and the voice acting is HORRENDOUS. How can somebody not pull off being high to a good extent? How?! I mean, sure, they're high, but all they say is "Yeah!" with a chest bump, but even that seems mediocre. The Mexicans sound stereotypical, too. Figures. The gun sounds are just like the graphics. They get the job done without anything special to them.
And that's about it. Haze, while not as bad as everyone says, does have its issues in presentation, occasionally dropping in framerate and has some screen tearing at points. The voice acting is an ear-vomit inducing mess, but the gameplay is solid enough during the single-player to justify it's cheap price. The sensitivity is definitely easy to get used to, making bot matches fun to pull of during the middle of the night when your friends are off. If you're a fan of bot matches, this warrants a cheap purchase, but stay away from multiplayer and plug your ears while playing the campaign. That is all.
Score: 7.25
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.
I'll have to disagree with parts of what you said, but on the whole I agree with your conclusion of the game.
I got caught up in the hype, not because I expected it to be a Halo-killer (tbh I don't waste my time waiting for exclusives just to say this one is better than that one on the other platform), but I thought the story in particular had potential, as did the gameplay. But like you said, the story is just a big black hole that doesn't make a single bit of sense, and as half the characters are addicted to the nectar and whatnot it just makes you lose attention and want to get on to the gameplay. And even at that, the gameplay was pretty poor too. As far as I can remember (it was a few years ago I played it) there were only 2 or 3 weapons for each side you played as, right? I dunno, I just felt the game as a whole was pretty poor, and mainly, unfun.
A few other annoying things about it I felt was the "tougher" difficulties, which were the same as a lot of shooters these days. Not tougher and harder, just more frustrating and annoying as they were set out to make you pretty much just camp in one spot and kill off each wave of overpowered enemies with unlimited ammo. Loading times were atrocious too, I think I ended up counting it a number of times and it was about 25 seconds after each time you died?
Multiplayer is indeed awful. I got the game on release and I only was able to connect to one game in 4 days, and that lasted 30-60 seconds, and I was disconnected.
On the cheap as it is now, maybe it's not too bad, but I still feel that's it's a horrible and unenjoyable experience altogether.
I'll only say this.. I disagree.
End of story.
Sound: 6.3
Go listen to 8bit videogame BGM and SE. You know bollocks mate.
I like Haze actually and I was one of those that got caught up in the hype. The graphics were a let down though, because at that time I was still looking to play a game that would showcase the PS3's power. The only reaon I would say the campaign was alright is because it did have 4 player co-op, which to this day is kinda rare on the PS3--exclusive wise. The online vs matches is where the game shined in my opinion. The maps were also great, like the Air craft carrier map, The Swamp and Shanty town. I definitely had fun with Haze and more maps, weapons and dlc would've definitely been welcomed.
Bot matches are a definate plus. That was such a great feature last gen for 007 Nightfire and this gen on Black Ops.
I played the demo over and over again. Absolutely loved it.
But I never really bought the game. Might have been a loss.