Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2008-05-23
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Amazon.co.uk Review

One of the reasons Rare are such a controversial developer nowadays (apart from the whole Nintendo selling them to Microsoft thing) is the fact that a lot of people associated with GoldenEye and Perfect Dark left the company a long time ago. Many of them ended up at Free Radical Design, where they created the love-it-or-loathe-it TimeSpliters series and the underappreciated Second Sight. Haze ditches the stylised look of their older games though, with a game set in a future world dominated by mega global corporation Mantel - where you're cast as one of their soldiers fighting rebels in South America.

Like all fictional global corporations Mantel is up to no good and it turns out their drug NECTAR is doing more than just making you a super soldier with increased speed, strength and accuracy. Highlighting enemies under cover from you, as well as grenades and bobby traps is all very good but the downside is it also turns you (and your teammates) psychotic if you use it too much. Worse it seems to sanitise the world around you, making corpses invisible and even obscuring the true nature of the landscape around you…

Rebel soldiers are able to take advantage of the reality bending powers of NECTAR, such as playing dead to regain their health or using a special "weapons steal" move to make up for their lack of hardware (both of which moves work great in multiplayer). With arguably the most interesting storyline in any current first person shooter and a custom made graphics engine Haze's future looks crystal clear.

Manufacturer's Description

Play both sides of the same war and experience two unique game systems, exclusively for the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system this holiday season.

Set in the year 2048 in a world where governments have outsourced military operations to private military corporations (PMCs), you play as Shane Carpenter, a newly enlisted soldier seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause. As the leading PMC, Mantel Global Industries offers an array of cutting-edge military equipment, including a high-tech arsenal of vehicles, deadly weaponry, and the performance-enhancing drug Nectar.

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

Uncover the truth, switch sides, and break away from MantelâEuro(TM)s manipulative grip when you join your former enemies, the Promise Hand.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This is one of the reaons I bought a PS3 (I already own a 360.) But having played the demo, I am truly unimpressed. The graphics are poor to say the least and the gameplay provides no innovation whatsoever. And before you say "Oh yeah!?? What about Necatr?" Quite frankly, it's a gimic, not a game saving feature. Let's just hope that the demo is merely a taster of the true identity of this game..........

PSN DEMO: First impressions
I've played through the PSN demo a bunch of times since it was released early this week, and so finally got a chance to experience a) Nectar and b) online co-op story mode.

The mission they give you is effectively a tutorial on the game system, and after a few minutes I was happily slaughtering South American rebels - it's an FPS in a Crysis/Halo sought of vein. Cool equipment and vehicles in abundance - I'm sure you know the deal.

Annoyingly, I had to completely redefine the control set, as all the presets were i.m.h.o. silly - why break a convention that has worked for years? Once I did this though, the game started to really take off.

The MANTIS troopers have a gun-locked zoom built into their visors, so any weapon can be used for sniping. I found making the zoom a momentary switch instead of a toggle switch much faster and fluid. (The fast transition between view modes also looks dope).

Nectar dosages (amongst other things) give you sight of living things beyond the shadows, which in this jungle mission was essential for spotting where the robin hood-like enemy were at all. All the cut-scenes were in-engine, with a small degree of player movement still allowed - this was very immersive and I would like to see more of this in the future.

The level was very organic looking, and the character's facial details were on the money. It's too bad the jungle scenery wasn't more interactive and the enemy deaths weren't more rag-dolly. They've licensed the Ageia physics engine, let's see some more of it!

The other really stand-out aspect of this demo was the hot-join online co-op campaign. The only other title I've seen do this is Gears of War, and it's as big deal. It means that you can play through the solo story mode whilst being a game server, and other people can join in/leave at any time, meaning that you'll may have real humans in your squad in addition to the NPCs.

I recommend downloading the demo ASAP to get a taste. I suspect this will be a hit, despite all the hype.

Another Haze Demo Review
I can only think the previous reviewer has taken too much Nectar! This game (the Demo) looks like it will be up there with the current best of the PS3 (COD4, Uncharted etc). The graphics are very good but maybe not quite as polished as COD4 and Uncharted (the water for example) - but all the same very good and next gen. I think the problem with the Demo version is that the environment is tropical forest - I always find the execessively green environments a little drab, mundane and lacking in interest. If the environments vary throughtout the full game then I think we're in for a real treat! I played Haze directly after playing COD4, and have to say that Haze didn't feel like a let down graphics wise at all - they're detailed, smooth and slick, and not a hint of framerate drop.

The online aspects of the game look to be comprehensive, with co-op campaign modes and the usual deathmatch etc(the latter not in the demo). The online in the demo looks to be very robust with no connectivity problems.

The game is typical first person shooter - so if you like FPS you gonna like this. Personally I love FPS and find driving games a little boring (I've already given up on Burnout and play COD4 for most of my gaming hours).

I've got to say this game has got the potential to be the Halo for the PS3 - bring on the full game!