Review

A lacklustre FPS that promised so much but has delivered little. Frustrating to play, and although some high points nearly lift it from the mire, ultimately it's weighed down by poorly implemented game mechanics and repetitive loading screens.

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Haze

PS3 HANDS ON

Political correctness? Yeah right.

Haze

PS3 HANDS ON by Dan Cheer 23 May 2008, 5:28 pm

It's fair to say that not all games have an easy developmental phase. Some, like Spore, languish in a kind of no-mans-land between design and release, presumably held down by the complexity of cross-platform design, and a healthy dose of developer perfectionism. Others, like Duke Nukem Forever, have become a kind of running joke in the industry, spoken in carefully hushed tones with the same reverence actors preserve for the word "Macbeth".

Haze hasn't had an easy run of it either. Originally announced at E3 in 2006 (some of you may remember that as the last year E3 actually mattered) Haze was supposed to be under development for the Xbox 360 and PC as well as PlayStation 3, and was all set for release around halfway though 2007. This of course was pushed back to the end of 2007, then May 2008, and shortly afterwards the Xbox 360 and PC platforms were dropped from the line-up. This whole affair couldn't have been managed worse if New Zealand Immigration had been in charge, and even poor Korn managed to get in on the act, going to all the trouble of writing and recording a song for the game a full seven months before they needed to.

Game info

Description: Set in the year 2048 in a world where Governments have outsourced military operations to Private Military Corporations (PMC), you play a newly enlisted soldier seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause. As the leading PMC, Mantel Global Industries offers a high-tech arsenal of ... (more info)

Description: (hide)

Set in the year 2048 in a world where Governments have outsourced military operations to Private Military Corporations (PMC), you play a newly enlisted soldier seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause.

As the leading PMC, Mantel Global Industries offers a high-tech arsenal of vehicles, deadly weaponry, and on top of that a performance enhancing bio-medical support known as Nectar. As a result, Mantel troopers are the most feared by terrorists, dictators, and the corporation’s political enemies.

Your conflict begins in a war-torn country where you have been sent to fight a vicious rebel faction, the Promise Hand. At first glance, all is well, but things quickly begin to look a little strange…

Features:

Impeccable FPS credentials: from the developers of the critically-acclaimed TimeSplitters series and the publishers of Far Cry and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Free Radical and Ubisoft have proven their ability to create innovative platform-defining FPS titles.

Become a Mantel Trooper and fight the merciless guerrillas of the Promise Hand with the most advanced gear, the fastest vehicles, the deadliest weapons - and Nectar, Mantel’s battlefield-optimized performance-enhancing medication.

Boost your fighting abilities with Nectar, empowering Mantel troopers with fighting abilities such as Nectar Focus, Nectar Foresight, Nectar Perception and Melee Blast. Using these skills, troopers are able to detect and avoid imminent danger as well as deliver powerful attacks in close quarters.

Mature and compelling storyline. A tightly integrated storyline makes Haze an immersive narrative experience as well as a cutting-edge shooter.

Cutting edge gaming technology featuring the Disparity Rendering System shaping the players’ views of the world on and off Nectar. Haze also features an entirely streamed experience with no loading times between levels.

State of the art multiplayer modes. Fire up your console for online battles and choose from a variety of online modes including furious 4 player co-op action!