Haze
PS3
MA 15+
Ubisoft


Haze is a messy game. Coming from the minds that brought us 'Time Splitters' (a refreshingly humourous and anything but serious FPS on the PS2) this is a huge disappointment. Unlike 'Time Splitters', 'Haze' attempts more realism and grittiness in a future-scenario that has elements of 'Halo' and other well known First Person Shooter franchises.

'Haze' and all of the preliminary press that it received in the lead up to its eventual launch illustrates the new style of development and delivery of digital entertainment products. It had considerable delays, and these much-reported setbacks all contributed to a certain amount of hype, and anticipation that amounted to a form of anti-hype.

To be brutally honest, 'Haze's fate was determined long before its full release. The preliminary demo that was released on the Playstation Network (PSN) was a huge disappointment, which is tantamount to suicide in the new scenario of Next-Gen attention spans.

Amongst such brutal competition such as 'Bioshock', 'Gears Of War', 'Halo', 'Half Life' etc., 'Haze' was always going to have a very difficult job in offering something new and fresh in such a crowded genre.

The game concerns a young solder who is enlisted in the multinational evil corporation Mantel's army who are fighting an apparent rebel resistance in some vaguely jungle-like fictional region. Mantel soldiers all wear a standard issue mesh suit that administers a special combat drug that alters its wearer's abilities and perception. Your character will be faced with choices (i.e NextGen speak for 'follow a preset path that can never be strayed from') and situations in which he needs to reconsider his moral fibre (i.e shoot everything).

The gameplay mechanics of warriors having performance enhancing drugs administered on the battlefield can be quite interesting and bring a certain dynamic that hasn't truly been explored fully in a game environment (although the forthcoming 'Fallout 3' has been censored heavily prior to Australian release due to similar drug-taking techniques within the game mechanics). You are able to administer a hit of Nectar to fight fatigue and depression on the battlefield, as well as heightening your sensory and physical abilities (i.e making enemies more apparent and improving your weapons aim, and possibly heightening the effectiveness of your cheesy taunts). The concept of Nectar is really the essence of the premise of the whole game in that it's manufacture and purpose are integral in the plot-line.

Graphically 'Haze' is nothing more than mediocre, with some occasionally impressive character modeling, largely unimaginative and merely functional textures, and rigid and toy-like vehicles. Dialogue between characters is a mixture of moronic and complete tongue in cheek schlock. The vehicles handle terribly sluggishly and are really just a token addition to break up the standard fare of battle on foot. Jilted and flawed artificial intelligence mars an occasionally entertaining yet formulaic experience.Hold your breath for the PS3 port of 'Bioshock', or perhaps Lucasarts' 'Fracture'.

Tim Koch