Haze (2008)

After a steady diet of brilliant alternatives, Haze's innovations and compelling story aren't enough. [July 2008, p.80]

Haze has the makings of a great game, but due to various issues the formula seems to have gone askew.

It's not a terrible game at all. It's simply that it's such an ordinary and unremarkable shooter, and we were expecting so much, that we can't help but bitch about all the areas we wish were better.

Haze is far from a complete disaster but, given the high level of hype surrounding its release and the pedigree of developer Free Radical, it still stands as one of the biggest disappointments of this generation.

At least the single-player campaign--that you can play through co-operatively with three friends--is mercifully short at around eight to 10 hours. [Aug 2008, p.76]

Haze is a huge mistake, an unfinished game with a variety of flaws, both from technical and design standpoint.

It's all very ho-hum, even down to the visuals which are neither pleasing nor revolting. This is a game which when you play it, you'll wish you were playing a different game that it reminds you of which is more fun, and then you end up just wanting to play that other game.

I liked the story of the game. Furthermore I love Free Radical for TimeSplitters so I'm gonna support them forever.

I know this is an old game but, this game wasn't as bad as people led it to be, yes it was over hyped and yes it didn't live up to it, but was it THAT that bad, **** was a pretty decent game.

2022 review: This game didn't age well. If you're buying it for co-op, don't. You barely get 20fps in co op which makes it frustrating to play. The idea of the story may be interesting, but the execution is terrible, and the acting is cringe inducing. 'US military-industrial complex is incompetent and evil' games are unfortunately rare, but this isn't done well. Go play Spec Ops: The Line.

There is nothing remarkably interesting or fun about this game. It looks okay for 2008 but it doesn't play very well at all. This is from that weird time in FPS history before CoD took everyone by storm and we basically had the universal button layout for FPS games. The buttons all feel wrong. The swap, reload, melee buttons all feel all out of order. This was also the era where sprinting wasn't always a thing in FPS games (thanks Halo). So it plays so slowly. This game's one gimmick was the use of the drug that made you stronger, better, faster etc. But on the easiest difficulty it felt pointless and useless. When your one thing that makes you standout is redundant that isn't going to fair well for you. Plus you only use that for about half the game before your character switches side. You only have the option to use it in a short time of an already short campaign. The cut scenes are all in first person view which I guess was a decision to make it feel more immersive but I ended up having the opposite reaction to it. It would completely take me out of the element and I was painfully aware I was playing a video game again. Plus the voice acting is not very good. The NPCs recite their lines ad nauseam through the last several levels which gets incredibly annoying. Also I don't know what it was about this era before trophies but there was like no upgrades, collectibles, or secrets to find so the campaign doesn't have any replayability at all. I suppose if I was able to play the multiplayer I might have had a better experience with this game but overall it was just a bad, forgettable PS3 exclusive. Edit: I fixed some typos. I originally played this in April 2020 after Rogue Warrior.

Haze is the perfect example of how it should be developed Fps. A dull plot, just a discrete graphics and gameplay unoriginal and unfunny represent 4 defects not indifferent. If the free-radical should engage more Haze could become the new Killzone, but unfortunately it did not happen. A title to be left on the shelf without much thought.