Post by rozzap on May 23, 2007 21:37:12 GMT
I didn't write this preview, I got it off of IGN.com, but this game looks awesome:
We last saw Haze a year ago during E3 2006 when Free Radical's latest title was premiered to the world. The game certainly caught our eye at the show with its fantastic visuals that really showed off the lush jungle setting that the demo was set in, and it certainly didn't hurt that we are all fans of the developer's Time Splitters series. But that was a year ago, and oh how things have changed since then...
Gone are the somewhat generic looking soldiers of yester-year, now replaced with squads of advanced men dressed in bee-themed gear with yellow and black masks, suits and so forth. Also gone are the squad controls with the game more focused around your individual actions now (though you are still part of a squad). Indeed, Haze is a different game than we'd seen before, but it's also tighter, more engaging and, most importantly, looks a good deal more fun.
The story of Haze is based around a conglomerate called Mantel, a pharmaceutical/weapons/you-name-it company that has its fingers in everything from the water we drink to the shoes we wear to perhaps even the air we breathe. Mantel even has its own private army which it uses to help quell the constant civil uprisings commonplace in this not-too-distant future.
One of Mantel's most advanced, and perhaps unstable, technologies comes in the form of Nectar, a serum that its soldiers use to heighten their senses. This ties directly into Haze's gameplay as you're able to tap into the Nectar tank on your back at any time and get a number of sensory boosts. Your aiming will be increased with a bit of lock-on help and enemies will stand out from the environment as glowing figures. Coolest of all though is the foresight that you'll gain that will warn you of incoming dangers. For instance, when a grenade lands near you you'll see a distortion wave emit from its location a second or two before it goes off, giving you just enough time to back away and at least lessen the damage, if not avoid it entirely.
While using Nectar certainly gives you an advantage in battle, it is not to be abused. Overdosing on the substance will cause you to become confused and automatically fire at anyone in front of you, and your vision becomes distorted to the point that friends and enemies alike look the same. This isn't just a downside for you as your teammates can overdose as well, and should they begin firing upon the rest of the squad, interesting gameplay scenarios open up. Do you fire back and try and minimize damage to your entire squad, or get out of the way until they calm down and hope your men do the same?
But it's not just aggressive use of Nectar that can cause you to overdose as rebels have learned to take advantage of it as well and use it against you. Nectar grenades will increase your intake, and a honed shot can puncture your tank and flood your mask with the gaseous drug.
Aside from the setup and Nectar elements, details on the story are rather sketchy. We do know that the story touches on how there really are no "good" or "bad" sides to a war, but rather differing views. We also know that your character has rather interesting visions from time to time where your surroundings will change slightly as the screen changes to black and white. The reasoning for this is hinted in the latest trailer on our video page, which you can check out at uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/784/784480/vids_1.html, though we're still in the dark as to what the visions actually mean.
One cool thing about the game's presentation on a whole is that aside from the initial load screen, you'll never be out of control of your character. You'll never come across a separate load screen, you'll never be ripped out of your view and be forced to watch a pre-canned cutscene or anything of that nature. Indeed, Free Radical is taking a cue from both the streaming tech that we've seen in many games these days as well as Valve's "always in control" work in the Half-Life series and the promised result is a seamless and completely immersive experience.
During our first look at last year's E3, Free Radical had a jungle environment on display, and to show the differences between the builds we started right in the exact same scenario. The game still looks fantastic, but a number of tweaks have been added to make the title a good bit slicker. For instance, your weapon isn't locked directly at the bottom of your view but moves and bobs in a natural motion, especially when fired. It's a subtle thing to be sure, but the natural weight and motion of your weapon makes everything look more realistic and less game-like (in a good way).
The lighting has also been tweaked a good bit with darker sections in dense areas and a bigger variation between light and dark areas. It's a moodier look to be sure, and it helps give some depth and density to the environment as well.
But Haze isn't simply a rip-off of Far Cry as there are a number of different environments you'll visit in the game. We caught a quick glimpse of a factory of some sort where enemy soldiers used hallway corners and scattered construction bits for cover, helping to show off their AI smarts. Another section showed the squad invading what looked like an oil rig that had been retrofitted to act as a military holdup, with metal walkways everywhere and tons of ramps that partially shield your view of the sky.
Just as your surroundings in Haze won't only be foliage and trees, you also won't be walled-in at all times. Some open spots in the game will make room for vehicle use, such as a heavily armored buggy that we saw. Looking extremely agile and deadly at the same time, the buggy has separate spots for a driver and a gunner who can man the turret on top. Likewise, the open doors on either side allow two additional soldiers to hitch a ride while free-wielding their weapons to take out broadside enemies.
The buggy section we saw took place in a rocky canyon where the squad attempted to make its way to a refinery of some sort. Rebels had placed mines all along the path, and as the buggy passed by explosions rang out and sent chunks of rubble flying up into the air and barreling down around the buggy. Markers appear on the screen to note where rocks will land, allowing for the game to keep things flying at you while also giving you the ability to dodge them and not feel cheapened by getting pummeled with incoming objects you can't see.
While Haze looks plenty good on the single-player side of things, it wouldn't be a Free Radical title without some sort of multiplayer. Indeed, online play will be included and gamers will have access to a number of modes including Guerilla and Assault, which we take to equate to Deathmatch and, well, Assault.
We're quite sure there's more to Haze than we know. While we've seen a fair bit of Haze, it's also pretty clear that there's a fair bit left that we haven't yet seen. The storyline is shrouded in mystery, and we have nothing to tie together any of the levels, such as why or how you got there. But all of that is for this year's E3, less than two months away.
We last saw Haze a year ago during E3 2006 when Free Radical's latest title was premiered to the world. The game certainly caught our eye at the show with its fantastic visuals that really showed off the lush jungle setting that the demo was set in, and it certainly didn't hurt that we are all fans of the developer's Time Splitters series. But that was a year ago, and oh how things have changed since then...
Gone are the somewhat generic looking soldiers of yester-year, now replaced with squads of advanced men dressed in bee-themed gear with yellow and black masks, suits and so forth. Also gone are the squad controls with the game more focused around your individual actions now (though you are still part of a squad). Indeed, Haze is a different game than we'd seen before, but it's also tighter, more engaging and, most importantly, looks a good deal more fun.
The story of Haze is based around a conglomerate called Mantel, a pharmaceutical/weapons/you-name-it company that has its fingers in everything from the water we drink to the shoes we wear to perhaps even the air we breathe. Mantel even has its own private army which it uses to help quell the constant civil uprisings commonplace in this not-too-distant future.
One of Mantel's most advanced, and perhaps unstable, technologies comes in the form of Nectar, a serum that its soldiers use to heighten their senses. This ties directly into Haze's gameplay as you're able to tap into the Nectar tank on your back at any time and get a number of sensory boosts. Your aiming will be increased with a bit of lock-on help and enemies will stand out from the environment as glowing figures. Coolest of all though is the foresight that you'll gain that will warn you of incoming dangers. For instance, when a grenade lands near you you'll see a distortion wave emit from its location a second or two before it goes off, giving you just enough time to back away and at least lessen the damage, if not avoid it entirely.
While using Nectar certainly gives you an advantage in battle, it is not to be abused. Overdosing on the substance will cause you to become confused and automatically fire at anyone in front of you, and your vision becomes distorted to the point that friends and enemies alike look the same. This isn't just a downside for you as your teammates can overdose as well, and should they begin firing upon the rest of the squad, interesting gameplay scenarios open up. Do you fire back and try and minimize damage to your entire squad, or get out of the way until they calm down and hope your men do the same?
But it's not just aggressive use of Nectar that can cause you to overdose as rebels have learned to take advantage of it as well and use it against you. Nectar grenades will increase your intake, and a honed shot can puncture your tank and flood your mask with the gaseous drug.
Aside from the setup and Nectar elements, details on the story are rather sketchy. We do know that the story touches on how there really are no "good" or "bad" sides to a war, but rather differing views. We also know that your character has rather interesting visions from time to time where your surroundings will change slightly as the screen changes to black and white. The reasoning for this is hinted in the latest trailer on our video page, which you can check out at uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/784/784480/vids_1.html, though we're still in the dark as to what the visions actually mean.
One cool thing about the game's presentation on a whole is that aside from the initial load screen, you'll never be out of control of your character. You'll never come across a separate load screen, you'll never be ripped out of your view and be forced to watch a pre-canned cutscene or anything of that nature. Indeed, Free Radical is taking a cue from both the streaming tech that we've seen in many games these days as well as Valve's "always in control" work in the Half-Life series and the promised result is a seamless and completely immersive experience.
During our first look at last year's E3, Free Radical had a jungle environment on display, and to show the differences between the builds we started right in the exact same scenario. The game still looks fantastic, but a number of tweaks have been added to make the title a good bit slicker. For instance, your weapon isn't locked directly at the bottom of your view but moves and bobs in a natural motion, especially when fired. It's a subtle thing to be sure, but the natural weight and motion of your weapon makes everything look more realistic and less game-like (in a good way).
The lighting has also been tweaked a good bit with darker sections in dense areas and a bigger variation between light and dark areas. It's a moodier look to be sure, and it helps give some depth and density to the environment as well.
But Haze isn't simply a rip-off of Far Cry as there are a number of different environments you'll visit in the game. We caught a quick glimpse of a factory of some sort where enemy soldiers used hallway corners and scattered construction bits for cover, helping to show off their AI smarts. Another section showed the squad invading what looked like an oil rig that had been retrofitted to act as a military holdup, with metal walkways everywhere and tons of ramps that partially shield your view of the sky.
Just as your surroundings in Haze won't only be foliage and trees, you also won't be walled-in at all times. Some open spots in the game will make room for vehicle use, such as a heavily armored buggy that we saw. Looking extremely agile and deadly at the same time, the buggy has separate spots for a driver and a gunner who can man the turret on top. Likewise, the open doors on either side allow two additional soldiers to hitch a ride while free-wielding their weapons to take out broadside enemies.
The buggy section we saw took place in a rocky canyon where the squad attempted to make its way to a refinery of some sort. Rebels had placed mines all along the path, and as the buggy passed by explosions rang out and sent chunks of rubble flying up into the air and barreling down around the buggy. Markers appear on the screen to note where rocks will land, allowing for the game to keep things flying at you while also giving you the ability to dodge them and not feel cheapened by getting pummeled with incoming objects you can't see.
While Haze looks plenty good on the single-player side of things, it wouldn't be a Free Radical title without some sort of multiplayer. Indeed, online play will be included and gamers will have access to a number of modes including Guerilla and Assault, which we take to equate to Deathmatch and, well, Assault.
We're quite sure there's more to Haze than we know. While we've seen a fair bit of Haze, it's also pretty clear that there's a fair bit left that we haven't yet seen. The storyline is shrouded in mystery, and we have nothing to tie together any of the levels, such as why or how you got there. But all of that is for this year's E3, less than two months away.
but this game looks amazing carnt wait for it ;D
