Haze's decent premise is impeded by messy storytelling and annoying characters, and leaves you craving for more Nectar
Contains: Strong Violence, Language and Drugs Use
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Haze is a futuristic First-Person shooter which revolves around the use of a performance enhancing drug called Nectar. The game received considerable amounts of hype prior to release, but upon release, Haze has turned out to be a big, universal disappointment.
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STORY - 1/5
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A multinational corporation with bio-medical expertise developed a drug called Nectar, a nutritional supplement that enables soldiers to fight harder and smarter, but also induces a hallucinogenic effect, where soldiers are no longer cognizant of the real battlefield around them, instead viewing an idyllic, painless environment.
Mantel troopers who utilize the drug, are constantly fighting off the rebels, and you play Shane Carpenter a 25 year old Mantel soldier. After Carpenter witnesses the effect Nectar is having on his fellow soldiers, and after a twist in the storyline, Shane then turns rogue and teams up with The Promise Hand (The rebels) to take on Mantel, and lead an uprising to defeat them.
Its a great premise, but nothing works out nearly as well as you'd hope. It turns out to be a mix of a complicated story combined with messy story-telling, which lacks excitement, and won't interest you in the slightest once the story gets going.
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CHARACTERS - 1/5
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When you start off the game in the boots of a mantel soldier, it won't be long before you realise how immature and annoying your so-called team-mates are. Most of them are loud, use bad-mouthed language frequently and are in need of a smack in the face. Their behaviour is likely down to the fact that they are constantly high on Nectar, where they seem to have an endless supply of the yellow liquid surging through their veins providing them with loads of confidence, but even so, you'll be glad when you change sides in the fight.
However, your relief from changing sides, and now being granted the order to take them out, is short-lived. The rebel soldiers, while more mature and quiet, are boring and lifeless. Your leader who gives you orders and talks you through plot details at certain stages of the game, is unlikeable thanks to his boring and unconvincing personality, meaning that every character you encounter is either an abusive, drug-fuelled addict or a lame, lifeless rebel.
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GAMEPLAY - 2/5
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For the first few levels of the game, you get to enjoy using Nectar, an addictive performance enhancing drug that provides you with heightened reflexes, faster sprint speed, overall stronger physique, reduces recoil when firing guns, drowns out death (bodies disappear), and a tremendous boost in reflex time. All of these new abilities will emerge when you administer Nectar into your body, and what makes it more enjoyable, is that enemies appear as a gold glow, giving you even more advantages when in combat. It only lasts for a limited time, but you have the power to inject several shots of it into your bloodstream, and it recharges after a short time anyway. If you overdoes on the drug, then you'll momentarily lose control of your actions, and you'll shoot randomly and attack friendlies without hardly any direction to prevent it. Its rare that you should overdose, and will most likely occur over a lack of concentration, but it can also be triggered by enemies shooting at the Nectar administrator on your back. Nectar creates many thrilling battles, which are far too infrequent during Haze, and seemingly only occur when your a mantel soldier.
Unfortunately, once you change sides in the fight, the action loses momentum considerably, thanks to the loss of Nectar. You gain different abilities which show potential during gunplay, but lack the immense effect Nectar had on you, and Haze becomes a boring run-of-the-mill shooter. Some of the weapons are fun to shoot, these range from shotguns, assault rifles and sniper rifles, but the most interesting is when your fighting against the mantel soldiers. Its a seemingly normal grenade, but once you've killed a mantel trooper, you have the opportunity to utilise Nectar to your advantage, and create a nectar grenade. These grenades once thrown, automatically produce a toxin which overdoses any mantel troopers in the proximity, causing them to attack uncontrollably, and complete your "Kill the enemies" objectives for you, with laughably satisfying results. As well as grenades, you also have the chance to inject your blade into Nectar, covering the knife in the yellowish substance, which can then be used to stab the enemy and create an overdose. Or for more exciting moments, throw the knife at an enemy from distance triggering the same reaction.
The difference between an exciting and tense battle, and a horribly generic and boring one, is far too inconsistent, so depending on what part you play, you'll either find enjoyment arising, or painful boredom commencing.
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GRAPHICS - 2/5
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For a playstation 3 exclusive, the graphics are just downright embarrassing. Some sections look nice, particularly an early on scene where you're fighting the rebels in a lush jungle-like environment, but more often than not, you'll be participating in bland and undetailed areas, that create an atmosphere of boredom upon the gameplay. Its clear that the graphics aren't impressive, but when its mixed in with bugs and glitches, you find yourself even more doubtful for what's to come. The visuals turn the missions into characterless, barren gauntlets to be endured, and where there's ambition, its just far too rough around the edges with generic level design.
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SOUND - 2/5
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The sound department is flawed thanks to the over-acted performances of the voice actors, who make each character unlikeable and painful to listen to when the exclaim the words "Boosh!" when taking out the opposing soldiers.
But there is some good points to take away from the sound, and that's the general sound effects of most of the weapons, which sound cool, and are fun to shoot. Also, when you inject yourself with Nectar, you get the feeling of adrenaline coursing through your veins, and the sound it establishes during combat is welcoming and gratifying.
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CONTROLS - 3/5
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The controls are fair, and are the average configuration that many shooters possess, but are sometimes unresponsive if you want an action done immediately. You can fake death if you take a certain amount of damage as a member of the rebel group, but it often turns out problematic rather than successful, because of the delayed response that occasionally occurs. Since you change sides, the controls change, not much, but it does produce negative results on your reactions if you get the controls muddled up during a firefight.
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ATMOSPHERE - 1/5
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There's barely anything to soak up from Haze's common and mundane atmosphere, and the rare thrilling moments are mainly due to the use of Nectar, not the surrounding environment. There is a section in a village which is surprisingly good, and the weather effects showcase the war at hand, but other than this scenario, there are many potential signs for a healthy set-piece battle, but most of these situations become clouded by tedious shootouts and bland environments which lack any kind of skilful level design to interest you.
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ENEMY AI - 1/5
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All of the enemies you battle against in Haze are plain stupid. There will be countless times when they'll be standing away from your position and looking in a completely different direction to where the action is taking place. When one of the mantel troops has an overdose on Nectar, they won't even attempt to get out of the way when his team mate starts firing in all directions. When you launch a grenade at an AI opponent, they'll either stand still and let the explosion engulf them, or jump in the wrong direction towards the grenade. Either way you look at it, all the groups of enemies in Haze are an unsatisfying, easy group of brain-dead people, who lack any kind of simple logic, and don't prove a fitting challenge to eliminate, since they never try to take cover.
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LENGTH - 2/5
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Haze is full of glitches and bugs, and despite being in development for a very long time with its release date constantly being delayed, its only a 7 hour-long campaign. Despite being so short, you'll often feel like the game is dragging on because of how boring and repetitive it gets at regular intervals.
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REPLAY VALUE - 1/5
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No one should have to suffer another playthrough of Haze, and there's nothing worth replaying anyway, no intelligence documents to collect to add background or information on the messy story, and very few segments of tense action to get hyped up about. The first 2 hours are probably the best, and its a shame that it didn't continue, because its quite clear, that what Haze needed, was more ways to utilise the infamous drug - Nectar.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 5.5/10
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Good Points: Using Nectar is fun while it lasts, Some fun weapons to shoot with, The mantel troopers suits look cool, A few intense scenes.
Bad Points: Messy story despite an interesting premise, Annoying characters with bad voice acting, Many bugs and glitches, Generic and uninteresting mission objectives, Inadequate graphics and level design.