It’s a safe bet that most gamers have heard about Haze.  If you haven’t followed it with eager anticipation over its potential to be the first, great, FPS (first person shooter) for the PS3, then surely you are familiar with it due to all the delays it has received.  Sadly, all those delays seem to have been in vain when you get your hands on the final product.  Touted to be the next great FPS, Haze is truly a lackluster experience that will most likely leave you scratching your head as to what all the hype was about. 

Gameplay

Haze follows the short lived Mantel career of Shane Carpenter. There is not very much background as the game begins. You just kind of find yourself preparing to be deployed with some brief dialog explaining that this is Carpenter’s first mission and you get the impression that he is not as enthusiastic as his squad mates.  During Haze, you will be able to play on both sides of the confrontation, and this is really where Free Radical’s game design shows a little bit of promise. 

Your first sortie is as a Mantel Sergeant, where you will have access to Nectar, which is a substance that makes you feel almost super human while using it.  Don’t be surprised if you find yourself becoming addicted to using Nectar as its use is implemented very well into the gameplay.  There will be occasions where you don’t have access to Nectar and in turn find yourself panicking (you the gamer, not Shane Carpenter). 

On the other side of this conflict you will find The Promise Hand.  While not as powerful as the Mantel soldiers, they are smarter.  Soldiers of The Promise Hand utilize their enemies Nectar dependence to their advantage; creating weapons like Nectar grenades, making traps and utilizing a “play dead” feature.  Surprisingly the very different play styles are balanced very well. 

Haze is, in a word, generic.  There is nothing about the gameplay that sets it apart from any other game in its genre.  The combat is fairly repetitive and there is a serious lack of weapons and enemies to fight against.  The enemy AI is very average and occasionally will border on incompetent.  There are some vehicles to be used but unless you are playing with another person you are stuck driving at all times and are unable to utilize any weaponry.  Haze really feels like a game that could have used another few delays and more focus on the actual gameplay. 

If there is a bright spot in Haze, it is the multiplayer.  Haze features both online co-op with up to four friends, and traditional team based multiplayer.  Although the campaign is just flat out bad, being able to play with friends at least salvages your ears from the two to three phrases that your AI teammates spew out every ten seconds.  The multiplayer is really the only reason to check out Haze. 

Although the game modes are fairly limited there is some value in what is there.  Maps are a good size without being too big and the balancing from the campaign transitions well to the multiplayer.  It’s not the best multiplayer out there, but it is the one thing that will help you justify the $60 price tag to yourself. 

Graphics 

Visually, Haze is possibly the most disappointing game of this console generation.  Character models are passable but the environments look like they belong on the PS2 or maybe even at times on the original PlayStation.   Just about every environment you stroll through during the game looks washed out and is a complete eyesore.  Graphics don’t typically make or break a game but Haze could be an exception.   

Sound 

Much like the graphics, Haze is an aural letdown, as it features some horrific dialogue and voice acting.  Nothing is more annoying than listening to squad mates throw out jokes and insults that are not only terrible but also do not make any sense.  This is only topped by the stereotypical “southern” and “South American” accents that the Mantel and Promise Hand soldiers exhibit.  There are a lot of ways to make characters unlikable without sacrificing your ears.  Beyond that, Haze features some solid gameplay music and a normal conversation sprinkled in here and there. 

PlasmaFactor 

Haze’s PlasmaFactor is its poor and sloppy design.  All the elements for a great game are there, but too many questionable design flaws are apparent to keep this game from seeing its full potential.  A promising story is plagued with lack of character development and dialogue.  The Mantel soldiers look fine but the environments are an eyesore.  The gameplay, while balanced, is repetitive and lacks any kind of variety.  Haze is a lot of promise wrapped up in an overwhelming amount of disappointment.  It is hard to believe that a game that had so many delays can be this flawed. 

While the multiplayer does give Haze some legs, it’s not of the caliber of other titles.  The campaign is a hub for some good ideas with some poor and sloppy implementation.  The environments are dreadful, the corny jokes and poor dialogue are annoying and the actual gameplay is very average.  Despite some success in the balancing between Mantel Global Industries and The Promise Hand, Haze is a below average shooter that will offer more boredom than actual fun. 

Conclusion 

Haze is a mixed bag of moments of enjoyment, annoyance, frustration and disgust.  An awful campaign combined with a solid multiplayer equates to a very average experience overall, Haze has the feel of one of those cult games that is inexplicably popular-- but the average gamer will find this to be a generic shooter that is forgotten in a month or less.