HAZE SPECIAL
Haze is genuinely looking very exciting, and the sooner we all get our hands on it, and a stock of Nectar, the better.
Free Radical, the eccentric British development studio that broke away from Rare to create the brilliant Timesplitters games, is back with a new FPS, and though it means another entry in one of the busiest of gaming genres, a new release from such an irresistibly off-key dev team has to be worth a look.
Set in 2048, Haze depicts a corporate and highly privatised world both Tony Blair and Maggie Thatcher would have been delighted to have conceived. One huge company, Mantel, not only produces almost everything from the clothes you wear to the satellites orbiting earth, but also owns and runs hospitals, schools, and most importantly, their own private army, that effectively replaces bodies like the UN.
Typically, the unconventional Free Radical have positioned Mantel as the good guys, at the start of the game at least, though it is immediately obvious that Haze functions in part as both a witty, and serious commentary on the horror of war and modern globalisation.
But before getting round to their own brand of social activism, let's take a look at the action that fills the latest shooter from the developers that grew out of the original GoldenEye team. Predictably there's plenty of the generous trigger squeezing, powerful explosives and fast-paced gameplay that made Timesplitters so fantastic and exhilarating, but there also seems to be a little more depth to proceedings.
An in-house game engine has been created to carry the 15-hour single-player campaign, which if played through in one sitting would not include one loading screen. It is instantly apparent that on the PlayStation 3 Haze is a very attractive game. It twinkles with detail and depth, and a vaguely flamboyant graphical finish polishes off what are otherwise exceptional and gritty attempts at photorealism.
Along with all the shooting comes some vehicle combat sections, which while not dissimilar to Halo's offerings, appear more focussed and speedy, rather than tactical and ad-hoc. There also appears to be a vast multiplayer component, and along with 24-player deathmatch type of affairs, there are several narrative missions especially for teams of human players, which though not essential to the main game's plot, add a bit of 'deleted-scenes' style depth to the whole package. The single-player game is also available to up to four players online, over LAN, and through split screen, and is based on a drop-in, drop-out system, meaning you won't always need to have four friends available to proceed.
However, the most noteworthy new mechanic is the Nectar administrator strapped to each soldier's back. Nectar, manufactured by Mantel of course, is a powerful stimulant best described as an illegally potent energy drink. At any time during combat you can pump the yellow fuel into your warrior's system, improving various abilities considerably.
