Crytek hopes Haze is remembered fondly

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 3 November, 2010

It "wasn't as bad as the reviews made out".

Crytek UK, the developer that rose from the ashes of the collapsed Free Radical Design, hopes that when gamers look back on PlayStation 3 exclusive Haze they'll remember it more fondly than they did at launch.

The ill-fated Haze was met with a 4/10 review score from Eurogamer upon its 2008 release.

It was the TimeSplitters creator's last game.

"We were surprised by how poorly it was received," admitted managing director Karl Hilton in an interview with Eurogamer conducted at the GameCity festival in Nottingham last week.

"We felt it had a lot of good elements in, which just didn't seem to get picked up at all. But it's a fickle industry and things move quickly. If you get a few things wrong and people pick up on it... And Haze wasn't a perfect product. Clearly it wasn't. But it wasn't as bad as some of the reviews and feedback made out."

Haze's problems are well documented.

"You really have to wonder how it all ended up this dreadful, especially after all the time and resource Ubisoft and Free Radical expended telling people the opposite," said Kristan Reed for Eurogamer.

"The combat's weak, the storyline's excruciating, it's technically deficient - Haze really is this year's most significant gaming disappointment."

Looking back, Hilton agreed that perhaps expectations were fuelled by the development team's heritage with classics GoldenEye and TimeSplitters.

"It's interesting. Obviously time will tell. Second Sight was another game we did that got pretty average reviews, but these days seems to be remembered very fondly. At the time when we launched that we were disappointed it didn't do better than it did because we felt it had a lot of good elements in it."

But will, once the dust has settled on this generation, Haze be remembered fondly?

"I don't think anyone will claim it was an unrecognised classic, but maybe they'll treat it a little more gently than it got treated when it was released. That would be nice."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Hunam #1 2 years ago

    Yeah it was.

  • Redeye #2 2 years ago

    Two hopes - 'Bob' and 'no'.

  • steve1979 #3 2 years ago

    The difference between Second Sight and Haze. Second Sight was good fun and had some interesting gameplay. Haze had neither of those things.
    Edited by steve1979 at 03/11/10 @ 11:05

  • bad09 #4 2 years ago

    "We were surprised by how poorly it was received,"

    REALLY?

  • kinky_mong #5 2 years ago

    Obviously time will tell. Second Sight was another game we did that got pretty average reviews, but these days seems to be remembered very fondly.

    Not by me it's not! Good potential squandered by being too overpowered through 90% of the game and then throwing in super soldiers at the last moment who are immune to almost everything.

    Would love another Timesplitters game though as long as it lives up to the quality of the second game.
    Edited by kinky_mong at 03/11/10 @ 11:05

  • sfp_noodle #6 2 years ago

    It was playable but just felt very generic and mindless at times. EG gave it 4/10? They'd better go back and change that Mafia 2 score then. No way is that as rubbish as 4/10 implies

  • StolenGlory #7 2 years ago

    It'll be about as fondly remembered as the Black Death was.
    Edited by StolenGlory at 03/11/10 @ 11:14

  • King_Edward #8 2 years ago

    If anything critics were lenient.

  • S.J.Rogers #9 2 years ago

    Even that video was dull...

  • BillPoon #10 2 years ago

    Awful game, rightly slated.

  • GamesConnoisseur #11 2 years ago

    I m very sorry, I now have zero confidence in Crytek UK.

    All because of their inability to make a distinction of what's good, average or downright bad. The only good thing was the trailers that was done well and did generated interest in the game.

    I played Haze and it was dire on many level, how can I remember Haze fondly??!!

  • dfish #12 2 years ago

    free radical made their name with tight fps gunplay and haze lived up to that. The aesthetic was dated and haze had obvious technical shortcomings and a tongue in cheek approach which came off as tacky and in poor taste. A shame since i really liked Rob Yescombe's sense of humour.
    Edited by dfish at 03/11/10 @ 11:34

  • spotter5 #13 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed Haze. Liked the look of the Mantel solders.

  • berelain #14 2 years ago

    Yeah, Haze actually was really, really bad.

    If Crytek UK think otherwise, I fear for their next products. Maybe they should get in some external peeps to take a look before release this time around?

  • Eraser #15 2 years ago

    Second Sight was amazing.
    Yes, controls were fiddly, gameplay wasn't exactly 10/10 either, but the story telling, the atmosphere, the music.... it was all perfect. I still occasionally listen to the Second Sight soundtrack because Graeme Norgate makes brilliant game music that's very nice to listen to outside the game as well.

  • midnight_walker #16 2 years ago

    I honestly didn't think Haze was that bad - derivative and uninspired maybe, but not BAD

  • ZizouFC #17 2 years ago

    It's all a bit hazy... what was this about again?

    /runs

  • bdc #18 2 years ago

    It was a pretty basic game though. It's like they didn't realize that games like Halo, CoD and Crysis existed.

  • beastmaster #19 2 years ago

    It's going to have trouble being remembered at all.

  • McBradders #20 2 years ago

    Well, the dude from Korn thought it was "the shit" so...

  • midnight_walker #21 2 years ago

    It was a pretty basic game though. It's like they didn't realize that games like Halo, CoD and Crysis existed.

    Halo, CoD and Crysis are also pretty basic games...

  • Kaspar #22 2 years ago

    "i really liked Rob Yescombe's sense of humour."

    You must be easily amused, mate. The Haze reviews found him out for what he is - a boastful buffoon whose only real talent seemed to be self-promotion. It's actually quite alarming that he's still there and promoted to Creative Director.

  • vizzini #23 2 years ago

    Karl Hilton: We were surprised by how poorly it was received. We felt it had a lot of good elements in, which just didn't seem to get picked up at all. But it's a fickle industry and things move quickly. If you get a few things wrong and people pick up on it... And Haze wasn't a perfect product. Clearly it wasn't. But it wasn't as bad as some of the reviews and feedback made out.

    I was jaded by FPS games way before Haze released, so I wasn't looking to buy this type of game; but I would agree with the comment above; and there are far worse games getting better review write ups even today, (many of which have class A bugs).

    I played the demo of Haze at the time and it felt like solid 7/10 stuff, but then so did Halo 1's demo on the PC, so maybe there are small margins between getting a good review.

    The only things I really didn't like about the demo could have been revised; I didn't like the colour scheme of the game's characters, yellow or red lizard like helmets + padding, and when combined with the name Haze, I was getting a sandpaper on skin cognitive reaction; and I know these were part of the story/gameplay. But they certainly didn't make it a bad demo for me relative to all the other console FPS.

  • StolenGlory #24 2 years ago

    "I honestly didn't think Haze was that bad - derivative and uninspired maybe, but not BAD".

    Put down the crack pipe.

    It was shit.

    Don't try and marginalise it.

  • evild_edd #25 2 years ago

    Didn't play Haze but I really enjoyed Second Sight! I do very much consider that to have been an underrated title despite a number of shortcomings...

    At the risk of being stoned as a heathen, I always thought Timesplitters 2 was a massively overrated game.

  • RevanNL #26 2 years ago

    He's right, Haze was worse then the reviews made you believe.

  • Kikizosan #27 2 years ago

    "But it's a fickle industry and things move quickly."

    Saying that a bad game is bad is not being fickle.

    I enjoyed Second Sight, though.
    Edited by Kikizosan at 03/11/10 @ 12:50

  • sickpuppysoftware #28 2 years ago

    I quite enjoyed it.
    I had rented it though. Thoroughly average but not broken.

  • Wander #29 2 years ago

    "i really liked Rob Yescombe's sense of humour"

    Here's how funny he is.

    Pure comedy

  • jefranklin18 #30 2 years ago

    Haze was the first FPS I bought on the PS3 and to be honest, I didn't mind it that much. At the time there were relatively few FPS's available so it filled the trigger-finger need. I also enjoyed the injecting of drugs (trying to overdose) and the shooting injectors on the back of the troopers when playing as a rebel.

  • GaryStew1980 #31 2 years ago

    I remember Mafia II got 4/10 and having played both this and Haze Crytek UK should be delighted it got such a high score, because in comparison it was shocking.

  • apoc_reg #32 2 years ago

    I brought it anyway thinking "it cant be that bad".... it was im sorry to say.

  • Pehmu #33 2 years ago

    Haze was a big messy mess. It was bad even though I wasn't expecting anything.

  • Darren #34 2 years ago

    Well my memory might be a bit 'hazy' (ho ho) but I don't recall the experience being anything more than completely bland and mediocre. I finished the game but, hell, it was a chore to do so and I never had any desire whatsoever to revisit it. Should have been much, much, MUCH better given that it was coded by Free Radical Design. A bitter disappointment IMO... Xbox 360 owners don't know how lucky they were that they never got this game...

  • ThemisB #35 2 years ago

    I've been playing a bit of Haze recently. It may not be outright broken, but it is truly abysmal.

  • Trendyninja #36 2 years ago

    I remember seeing this being previewed on some games channel on Bravo. I always like to think I have that "benefit of the doubt" mentality when it comes to seeing a rather ropey looking game. But in this case I could not, it looked shit, played like shit and turned out to be total steaming pile of shit.

    I actually had to do a double take when it was being previewed as I was convinced it was a PS2 game.

  • Golgo #37 2 years ago

    Mega ouch.

  • Zaiz #38 2 years ago

    Second Sight was fantastic, and it has had a ton of influence on the games industry. It had a lot of rudimentary mechanics in it that would later on be evolved and adapted into other games. Mass Effect comes to mind.

  • Soton4084 #39 2 years ago

    It was awful!

  • drumbaby #40 2 years ago

    The demo was so appalling I couldn't bring myself to buy the game.

  • TitusCrow #41 2 years ago

    Yeah I remember Haze, I remember Dikitana too. I think neither game got less or more than they deserved.

  • Tyronne #42 2 years ago

    I seem to recall it being a really poor game, but that is all a haze now.

  • irrelevanthuman #43 2 years ago

    Second sight was good,but I was more of a psi ops man.Haze was very disappointing given its pedigree.

  • FenderMaster #44 2 years ago

    i thoroughly enjoyed the Haze demo, just like the Lost Planet 2 demo, good fun in 4 player co-op...

    i must admit, i never bough either though...

  • JamieR #45 2 years ago

    I am one of the few people who loved haze the game had a fantastic story line which drivs you though the game nicely.

  • M1chl #46 2 years ago

    I f*cking hate them, because first trailers of Haze looked amazing and I was really hyped for this. After few years I play the demo and I can believe my eyes how bad this game is...and yeah, its worst than Halo 3 which I hate too.

  • JensonJet #47 2 years ago

    It was rubbish!

    A nasty pile of stinking...

  • Sunyavadin #48 2 years ago

    If I was them I'd be hoping everyone forgot about Haze, not remembered it...

  • Andee #49 2 years ago

    I genuinely had more fun with Haze than I did with Halo, Gears, Killzone 2 or Modern Warfare.

    Unpolished mediocrity>uber polished mediocrity. For me anyway.

    Haze at least had some 'character', which modern shooters lack.