Haze co-op demo now on PSN

By Robert Purchese Published 8 May, 2008

Explore the delightful Salva region.

A demo of much-delayed shooter Haze has now been added to the PlayStation Store.

It was added on Tuesday, actually, but we forgot to tell you. We're wearing one of those spiky punishment belts to make up for it.

The Haze demo lets you romp around that sun-drenched Salva region, described as "the only place on earth where you can blow a stranger's head off with a jolly smile".

Those smiles can be shared with up to three friends in online co-op, or offline with just one friend in ye olde splitte-screene.

Haze will be released exclusively for PS3 on 23rd May.

Pop over to our Haze gamepage to follow is torrid release date history or just watch one of many videos of the Free Radical-developed shooter in action.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Gaol #1 4 years ago

    I really like this demo. I appear to be in the minority however :o

  • Mashum #2 4 years ago

    I think people who are expecting to see a gajillionmillion dollar Halo 3 sort of game might be a bit dissapointed but I though it was alright. Smooth controls, ***fully congurable sticks and buttons*** (putting reload on the look stick button FTW!) and a hint of sociopolitical commentary.

    Also you can kill all of your teammates and play the game without their 'help' which is nice, especially if you want to play the game at your own pace - it would be great if you could turn them off all together though! I guess it's a bit late to introduce such a dramatic change.

  • Goodfella #3 4 years ago

    Me too.

  • Steroyd #4 4 years ago

    Demo is wierd, Hard difficulty is what normal difficulty should be.

  • menage #5 4 years ago

    Didn't like it much. It wasn't bad or something, just really unremarkable compared to some of the big boys. And frankly I can't be bothered with the slew of games I still have on stack.

  • Mashum #6 4 years ago

    ...it was also a bit of a change to have the drug taking portion of playing videogames virtualised. Cheaper, and now with pot being so terribly criminal much safer as well :)

  • 3william56 #7 4 years ago

    Damn you, used up download quota! :(

  • Fairlane #8 4 years ago

    Bee-camo in jungle setting. Not impressed

  • Artemis_Matsas #9 4 years ago

    The demo is surprisingly good. If the multiplayer is good as well, then i'm sold.

  • bad09 #10 4 years ago

    The graphics were OK, but gameplay I just thought "meh". Don't think I'll be wasting money on this one, I'll save my money for June (MGS4 and Ferrari Challenge)

  • MiY4MOTO #11 4 years ago

    Personally I was really disappointed by this. Visually it was unremarkable, with poor textures & washed out colours. The jungle environment was bland... lacking far behind the big boys. (Not wanting to mention a certain other 4 letter shooter... Ha** ) Uncharted had such lush visuals, why does this kinda feel like Resistance which was an average launch title.

    On the plus side it had by far the best FPS controls on the PS3, some interesting ideas, and some of the nicest smoke effects since CoD. The whole nectar thing is a nice idea that I was looking forward to, but whilst playing it I was just reminded of Far Cry: Instincts, when you do the whole "feral" thing. I have no doubt that the plot will be decent, and the cut-scenes certainly seem to have amazing production values (tho is it just me or do they seem reminiscent of Microcosm's?)

    On the whole, I was left rather underwhelmed by the whole thing. On the back of this demo I'll be canceling my pre-order, I'll wait and pick it up cheap after a while. Which is a shame because Free Radical have a good pedigree, Goldeneye's a classic, the later Timesplitter games were pretty decent and Second Sight was one of my favourite games of the last generation.

    For me it still seems that the PS3 still lacks a decent exclusive FPS.

    /waits & hopes that Killzone 2 delivers the goods
    Edited by 1 at 08/05/08 @ 09:42

  • Mashum #12 4 years ago

    @Mi4amoto "...by far the best FPS controls on the PS3..."

    I think this counts in it's favour quite a bit, even the best graphics can't make a good game if you are struggling with the controls. I think, ideally you shouldn't give them a second thought when you are playing the game - having fully customisable controls really makes a big difference here as well IMHO.
    Edited by 2 at 08/05/08 @ 09:58

  • deepmenace #13 4 years ago

    hmmm, i thought i remember that this game was supposed to have 4 player splitscreen co-op?

    feature cancelled?

  • GitSomE_UK #14 4 years ago

    I quite liked what they did with teh nectar effects.

    As it says on the demo it's from an earlier build and things will change for the final release. 4 player campaign co-op is a nice feature.

    I just hope the changes they intend to make gets the balancing right, make hard actually hard and sort out the minimal recoil on the weapons. IMO the lack of recoil makes the shooting feel a bit flat.

  • Prodigy_BE #15 4 years ago

    I was told that Haze would be a game that really pushed the writing and the story to the limits.

    But then I see your character going into a a shot down Mantell plane, walking up to the only guy still alive, who's hanging out of the cockpit, and saying: "are you hurt?"

    That, my friends, is BAD writing.

    And the gameplay is pretty "Meh" too.

    Nowhere near stuff like this (http://ww w.jeuxvideo.tv/video/killzone-2... so I guess I'll lend this one from a mate, or pick it up half price on ebay.

  • bad09 #16 4 years ago

    @ GitSomE UK

    Definitely, I was also thinking the shooting does feel a little flat in Haze

  • berelain #17 4 years ago

    Meh, the game felt pretty lame to me. Was just a generic run of the mill shooter, with not a great deal to shout about, if you ask me. Sure, the controls were sharp, but then, they should be, really.

    And I was VERY annoyed that the demo didnt support digital sound, or even let me change any sound options. I had to quit the demo, change my PS3 system settings and turn off the digital output on my TV to hear anything at all.

    Not impressed.

  • Widge #18 4 years ago

    Its ok from the demo, no real clues about quality of the entire story from that though. If I was to get an FPS now though, I'd be searching round for a bargain COD4.

  • groovychainsaw #19 4 years ago

    Yeah, seemed a bit generic form the first level, although i can see where they're building towards. Some of the comments from your teammates are pretty funny, they're clearly building your hatred towards these guys early on, although i don't know if american's will 'get it' as the comments seem similar to most US halo players to my mind. But that's why its a pleasure turning on them in the demo. Was quite cool when they overdosed and went mad though. Some potential, but seems like a rental to me, not enough interest (and the graphics really are very generic).

  • Artemus #20 4 years ago

    Not worth the 1.5 gig download. Far too short. Save yourself the bandwidth.

  • klanger13 #21 4 years ago

    I quite liked it. my expectations weren't high to be honest but the nectar thing was cool, especially when you overdose and start wondering why your own team mates are shooting you. Not the best looking game going but there is a certain something to the graphics - makes a change from the Unreal engine anyway. 4 player online co-op was a goodl augh as well.

    Nothing to write home about but I might even pick this up.

  • KayJay #22 4 years ago

    I am with the majority on this...
    Didn't impress me much... Does not look that much better that Resistance 1.
    I have canceled my preorder with Shopto.

    Saying all that I may pick it up for the 4 player online CoOp which would interest me should I gain that many friends come release date... ;-)

  • Beano #23 4 years ago

    I found the demo to be exellent and promising for the full game... looked great also. But a VERY short and contained demo and impossible to tell how the full game will be like for sure. Hopefully the levels will be more open, free and enemies more challenging and varied.

    It' may not revolutionize the FPS genre, but if it's fun to play (like Black for example), I will be satisfied.

    The online co-op portion also looks promising and well though out - worked perfectly in the 4-5 (short) co-op sessions I tried.

  • Hughes. #24 4 years ago

    GRID demo today, innit?

  • Beano #25 4 years ago

    Yup... late afternoon or evening as usual :)

    Should be on Live now if you have a 360 and a gold Live subscription.

  • dominalien #26 4 years ago

    Yeah, the dialogue in the shot-down plane is really, REALLY bad. I also got the impression the rendering resolution was very low. Apart from that, an OK game for a shooter. Anyway, I hate those, so I won't be picking this up. Had fun for the duration of the demo, though.

  • Waldo #27 4 years ago

    I'll wait for the PC version.

  • Benno #28 4 years ago

    There seems to be really mixed reviews about this game.

  • Amoebalove #29 4 years ago

    being a huge time splitters fan i was initially looking forward to this. however, the constant delay and underwhelming video footage kind of killed my interest but after playing the demo I'm going to pre order it. it seems fun and given how awful the sixaxis usually is for fps's it controlled well. i also liked the graphics but then i liked halo 3s graphics!

  • djed #30 4 years ago

    CAN YOU SEE ME?
    uh?
    CAN YOU SEE ME?
    sure, i can see you.
    YOU KNOW, I USED TO BE A BOXER, SEMIPRO!
    wow, that's fascinating. So are you hurt?
    GARG GARG GARGLE BARGLE GURGLE.

    + FANTASTIC motion capture
    / non-skipable cut scenes.
    = HAZElol

    also, no blood? maybe i dialed in some parental lock or something but bullet hits look like PLINK PLONK, you know...

  • BiscuitBase #31 4 years ago

    I hear there's over 1000 pages of great dialogue

  • Triggerhappytel #32 4 years ago

    "As it says on the demo it's from an earlier build and things will change for the final release."

    Don't get your hopes up. I seriously doubt that there will be any significant changes between this demo and the final version, and all the way through this game's development whenever people have said how dissapointing it looks others have chirped up to say "it's from an earlier build though!". This close to release, I don't believe that.

  • Widge #33 4 years ago

    There is a reload button. A big screen with a controller comes up with an arrow pointing towards one of the buttons with the legend "RELOAD".

  • Brianstorm #34 4 years ago

    having put in more than my share of time on COD, I really enjoyed the controls, the demo was short, but at least the story trys to bring something new, having previously discounted this game, it's now been pre-ordered, and not having had a 360 and Halo I found the co-op an excellent feature...

  • The-Bodybuilder #35 4 years ago

    I'm confused...

    If rare gave us PDZ, and FR are givin us this (both equal games), where then is the talent that made goldeneye?

  • Gaol #36 4 years ago

    "also, no blood? maybe i dialed in some parental lock or something but bullet hits look like PLINK PLONK, you know..."

    This is an intended effect of Nectar, and also why the corpses disappear.

  • DrDamn #37 4 years ago

    I wasn't expecting much but though it did deliver on a few key areas.

    1) Control was very good
    2) Frame rate was silky
    3) AI seemed pretty good - ducking behind cover etc

    Where it failed was the size of the demo and what it showed. Gameplay I really don't see how people can make a call on that based on the very limited scope of the demo - was far too short for the 1.5Gb download. Plus it was the first level of the game. How would people have recieved a demo of Halo 3 which was the first half of the first level? Though obviously it is up to the devs to release a good demo.

    I think after the first level or so you also lose the nectar don't you? Becoming a regular soldier fighting against the nectar people.