PS3 Game review: Haze

OVERALL:  5.5/10
Game Play:  5/10
Graphics quality:  6/10
Addiction value:  3/10
Funness:  7/10

If you are a fan of first person shooters, it’s a game that has decent entertainment value and the playability is decently simplistic.  The premise of the game is much like squeezing Half-life and Halo together (minus the crazy monsters and different story line).  The date is 2048 and a war has emerged which a private military (company called Mantel Global) becomes a global peacekeeper.    With a drug developed by the Mantel Global called “Nectar”, the soliders can see better, be stronger and take less damage from opposing weapons. 

However, the game is so similiar to other games on the market that I ended up comparing Haze to other first person shooters and benchmarking the functionality (duck, jump, etc).  I found myself running around with the zoom set on when there were fight scenes and it was much easier just to snipe the enemies than run around and shoot them like other first person shooters.  As well, on reload, you can conitnue to be in a zoom position (which is odd for me).  Throwing grenades was a slight challenge as holding the grenade longer or running and throwing didn’t affect the distance.  Driving vehicles was a greater challenge as the camera angles were just wonky to work with.  I ended up having to change the camera angle and turning in tandem.  When playing in Single player co-op, you must be a driver (which differed from Halo where you could be in the turret if you wished).  The game never used the full controller leaving the left arrow keys mostly useless.  I never seemed to really run out of “Nectar” which allowed enemies to glow and thus easier to snipe.  Jumping was rendered useless as if it was not a small log or pebble, you’d have to walk around it anyway.  Running is not an option in the game.

The AI in the game is terrible.  The rendered scenes in the game are mostly ugly and seemed reused from other games and the weapon selection is far from spectacular considering this game takes place in the future, you’d think that we’d be able to develop more promonent weaponary by then.  What’s worse is that the cut scenes aren’t skippable.  If you ever wanted to play the game again without all of the boring chit-chat from solider to solider, then you’ll have to sit through the movie clips again.

The dialogue also reminds me sitting in a base full of American army folk.  There were so many teenage, brainless banter in the game that eventually you get sick of hearing the same things over and over again.  Often times I found it funny but not because of the dialogue itself but the unintentional humourous aspects in the storyline.  Slang lines like, “Yea, Boyeeeeeee” or “Boosh!” (very witty stuff!). 

The short span of each save points which made the game ridiculously easy and the poor character development (it’s a double edge sword as it’s also a good point for those who aren’t fimiliar with FPS).  I didn’t enjoy how the compass was designed (and that there was no map).  It seemed almost as though little thought was put into creating this game which is a shame as I’ve loved Free Radical’s productions in the past (Golden Eye 007 for example).  It just never seemed that the game was ever completed or maybe it was rushed though?  I’m not sure but whomever’s call it was to release such a poorly put together game needs to re-evaulate in the future.  This game does make the view of such a great gaming company turn into corporate hogs only trying to make a buck from it’s exclusive production. 

It wasn’t all bad though, the one really nice feature about the game is the ability to play online co-op through the story mode or battle mode (LAN or external network through IP address).  It’d have been nice if there was a storymode split screen (like Halo’s revolutionary creation back when).  There were many save points as well which allowed you not needing to start over after a big match.  The gun play was very smooth as well. 

You’re better off purchasing a different title than spend $60 on a game that’s mediocre at best.