Publisher:
Ubisoft
Developer:
Free Radical Design
Release date:
May 19 2008
Reviewed on:
PS3

Haze is a mediocre embarrassment that should never have made it to release in its current state. If nothing else, it proves that quality control is an ill-understood word at Ubisoft. It is odd to say that much could have been learned from EA, who wisely pulled Army of Two after already sending out review copies. Ubisoft failed to be a responsible company and it is consumers who are left to pay.

Haze fails in so many ways it is difficult to account for them all. The failures start with what you see from the out set, a terrible attempt at story. A drawn out and cinematically boring conversation amongst you and your fellow soldiers. The only thing this scene sets up is the understanding that the entire plot of the game is wielded like a sledge hammer to thumb tacks. Imagine the developer sitting next to you and repeatedly screaming the themes, WAR IS BAD, hey WAR IS BAD, HEY , HEY!!!! Sorry I should have put up a spoiler warning there, but I guess that is a non-issue as the actual back of the Haze box explains the only plot twist of the game. From the outset knowing that you are the evil army full of bros means you are waiting from the beginning to move to the “good” side of the conflict.

Not to let story have all the fun, let me mention the cutting edge graphics available only on the original Xbox…errr PlayStation 3. Yes it is no lie that many of the visuals in Haze emulate the best that the original Xbox had to offer. Being built for PlayStation 3 only means that this is not a suffering due to porting. This is simply bad work. Many “dark” areas in the game are simply black, even maxing out the brightness setting in the game does not change this appearance. Considering the muddy state of the textures it was probably better off just keeping these things black. If this is a feature and not a glitch, then I guess the same is true for cabling running along some walls that will simply jump and spaz for no real reason. Is it commendable that Free Radical developed their own graphics engine? NO! I would rather see the over used Vaseline shine of the Unreal 3 engine than the smear of crap applied to almost every inch of Haze.

Haze is certainly in tune with itself as control and handling follow the flow of the other aspects. As a yellow suited soldier of the future you are slow and helpless as a kitten. Using the nectar drug that enhances you simply brings you up to a level of adequacy. While hyped up on the nectar you are encouraged to use a one hit kill melee attack that will never connect due to your own sloth-like movement. Controls go from wet poo (hard to handle, clean up, and smell bad) to dry poo (it is poo, but you can get it up easy) when playing on the side of the rebels as you can move and look at a fair speed and accuracy is no longer tied to the nectar injections. Even with the improved play from wet to dry, you are still playing with poo.

Haze offers several modes of multiplayer, which all function. I find it difficult to give Haze any credit here as any game is made better by human interaction. In case you do find some fun in it Haze manages to destroy it by playing some awful hip-hop at random intervals during the death matches. It certainly will not be replacing any of the great and okay multiplayer experiences on the PlayStation 3.

No one plans to make a bad game. Sometimes it is an unclear vision and a rush to market that does a game in, and I think that this is the case with Haze. Another year in the oven could have done wonders on this title. As it is now the only positive that could come from Haze is the hope that some lesson is learned.

Grade: F