Not That Radical

Free Radical, the creators of the amazing Timesplitters series, went into administration after this release. Haze was pitched to be the PS3s answer to Halo. The next big thing turned out to be all kinds of stupid. From the dumb AI to the bro-centric jock plot to the hour-long install time, this game just didn’t live up to its unfathomable expectation.

Haze is a lot of fun, kind of. The split-screen mode gives you access to 17 VS 1 team deathmatches and really irons out the ‘You VS the World’ feel. Unfortunately the single player game is horrible and lacks every ounce of charm the Timesplitters trilogy had. It feels as if all of the Free Radical development team were on long-term sick leave during Haze’s development. Haze is just crap.

The story mode features the protagonist, Shane Carpenter, as a member of Mantel Corps. After slaughtering innocent people you realise that the Corps isn’t where you want to be so you decide to join the rebel resistance and bring the pain to your former employer as well as all of your old friends.

All of Mantel use a performance enhancing drug called Nectar, which when administered means that your enemies glow, making them easier to see at long distances and in other buildings. However the drug has its negative effects, including an overdose leading you to massacre your allies.

The amount of time in the campaign you get to use nectar is minimal, and makes it feel like a gimmick added in at the end of development to try and explain the shoddy story and sell copies.

The NPCs in the game all seem to be generic military meatheads that kill for a bit of fun. They have their bro code and all seem to just be dicks. Shane Carpenter isn’t like that though and to anyone not in the game he sticks out like a sore thumb. It makes you wonder why he ever signed up to the Mantel Corps in the first place if he’s so against their values and missions.

The factions are terribly unbalanced and it’s a shame that you spend most of the game as a rebel. The rebel mechanic is the ability to play dead until your foe leaves the area, but the majority of the time they’ll shoot your corpse anyway because the AI isn’t clever enough to stop firing mid-magazine.

Where Haze shines is its multiplayer. You can either play through the story cooperatively or play a choice of three game modes – Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch or Assault (A CTF Variant). Haze lacks the innovation that it promised but sometimes everybody needs a bit of simplicity in their FPS.

The AI is laughable at best, abysmal at worst. You’ll have them all come into a room like lemmings ready to be shot down in quick succession of each other, and not learning from this mistake either. I spent a lot of one game sniping from a tower and they would climb the ladder one by one just to get knocked back down again and again until I won.

The vehicles in this game are a big draw, as you can have up to four people in certain vehicles, making for some rather enjoyable 4 player split screen co-op. This game is fun if you don’t take it seriously, but oh boy does it take itself seriously.  If you can see past this you’ll understand that it’s not the next Halo or Timesplitters but just a generic FPS with some fun stapled on.

Overall, I wouldn’t buy Haze unless it was mega-cheap. I got my copy for £1 and I suggest you aim for the same price as you will be disappointed spending any more of your hard earned cash on this failure.

 6/10

Conclusion

‘A bit of fun if you and some friends are in the right mood. A laughable and forgettable experience otherwise’.