The Haze demo went up on the European PlayStation Store today and I had a chance to play through it a few times. At first, the game feels a lot like Crysis. You’re in the middle of a very nice looking jungle in an enhanced suit taking out enemies. You go through a series of small of objectives (clear the area, move to point A, clear the area, move to point B, clear the area, move to point C, clear the area…). It gets a bit repetitive, but that’s how shooters are these days.
The graphics are fairly nice and the demo runs at a constant framerate with no noticeable slowdown no matter how many enemies you’re taking out. The one problem I have graphically is interacting with the environment. You’re in a huge lush forest and brushing by leaves and branches does nothing. In games like Crysis and Halo 3, when you’re in a jungle, these things move when you hit them. It’s a bit disappointing to see this type of thing neglected by developers still.
Haze has a solid control set which is typical of most FPS games. You use R1 to shoot, L1 to throw grenades, and most of your standard controls apply. The big addition is L2 to use Nectar. If you haven’t heard much about the game, Nectar is some special JuJu that makes you faster, stronger, more accurate… the best soldier you can be. You carry 6 vials of Nectar and can inject yourself at any time to improve your abilities by holding L2. You have to be careful not to hold it too long and inject too much Nectar or you get pretty messed up (inability to control yourself, shooting continuously all over the place and killing teammates, etc.). While hopped up on the juice, enemies appear glowing on the battlefield and your aim is greatly improved. If you need to snipe anyone, Nectar makes it easier. Hitting someone with a melee attack (R2) on Nectar is a ton of fun as well as enemies go flying about 20 feet away.
The demo is fairly short and is pretty easy. I played through a couple times on Normal and it took me about 20 minutes each time. I haven’t tested out the 4 player co-op aspects of the demo yet, but having real people instead of AI is usually a plus (although the AI is very good in this game).
Even after playing the demo, I’m still worried this will fall into the cracks of “just another FPS”. Nectar is fun and 4 player co-op is nice, but there’s really not much here to differentiate from the flood of other great shooters on the market. At this point, I’m probably going to classify Haze as a rental.
7 Comments
Write a Comment»Gotta say this is shame to hear, had some high hopes for Haze, but perhaps the demo just doesnt do it justice?
You made a great judgment based on the demo, well written. It is pretty sad that developers aren’t taking advantage in glossing the environment in FPS. It’d be way more interactive. BTW The demo didn’t involve these “throwing knives with nectar” that I heard of?
I Thought the demo wasn’t living up to the hype that the guys at Free Radical wanted it to be… Im disappointed…
well you have to remember that when you are a Mantel soldier, your perception is always an illusion, enemies disappear when you kill them, everything looks very neutral, its only you and the enemy everything else is irrelevant in the visor of a Mantel Soldier.
When you join the Promise HAnd, things get realistic, dead bodies dont go anywhere, it gives you a much more eerie atmosphere, you are no longer in the shoes of a super soldier, you are just a human fighting against superior technology.
The demo does not give it justice, after all its only a DEMO, the real thing will be a nice package, no load times, vehicles, and I hear the multiplayer is where this baby shines.
When you said “I hear the multi player is where this baby shines” did you mean coop or online because i heard that there was not a major focus on online and more of focus on the story mode, and the coop play. I saw this video at gametrailer.com (i think) and they really down graded the graphics for online play (that does not include coop, coop still looks good)
@Eric
I meant Off line and online, IGN said the multiplayer worked really well with no lag, I dont remember them mentioning downgraded graphics, but at the same time I never did look forward to this game because of visuals, Im more interested in gameplay. Just the fact that I can play in my living room with 3 of my friends is good enough for me, but like I said- I think the online mode will be sweet too, I dont expect COD4 perfection but it should still be enjoyable. It has vehicle support, and the whole NECTAR drug should prove something original in this crowded genre.
@Cell, I concur with you man, the purpose of the Nectar was something totally different, maybe it will carry the game and make it a little more interesting than “just another FPS”.