Haze Comments by Kristan Reed

Wait, there are other games besides MGS 4 ?

"Wait, there are other games besides MGS 4 ?"

Not on PS3 :)

I've got loads of bloody games thank you very much! So don't you pull that cliche on me!

Wait.....PS3's getting Bioshock....Bless :)

@magikdodo

try the xbox you might be suprised

"at least when I bought the 360 there were some good lunch games."

Isn't Cooking Mama on the Wii?

*sigh* can we not just accept that free radicles screwed up, from what i've seen and read i don't think would have been any better if it had been on 360 exclusively or multiplat.

I'd personally guess that Ubi or Free radicles realised that they'd missed the mark so dropped the 360 version in the hope of saving some dev money know that the current lineup on 360 would meen this pile of rubbish would get ignored. And hope that the less compitition on PS3 might get them some sales.

>"Wasn't Haze done by FRD's "B" team (the ones who did Second Sight) while the "A" team is doing SW Battlefront 2?"

That's right, keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.
Here you go, have some more nectar.

@monkie_king

and the DS - I have changed it now

@monkie_king

and the DS - I have changed it now

A lot of people said this was going to be pants. I dont think I ever saw anything that led me to believe it wouldnt be.

Cutting review! At least it gets what it deserves (from the sound of things). I'm sure the dev team knew it was pants as well, so what on earth is going on at FRD? They were taking the money and ploughing it into another game whilst letting interns and a smattering of actual devs get Haze out?

"so what on earth is going on at FRD? They were taking the money and ploughing it into another game whilst letting interns and a smattering of actual devs get Haze out?"

Hopefully all the money and resources went into BF3, if they mess that up I'll go round and kick 'em in the nuts!

The whole PS3 version of BioShock was just a rumour the emerged at the start of the month (probably from some Sony fan boys wanted to improve the PS3's image) from the Cult of Rapture forums. It has no basis what-so-ever.

Amazed this wasn't given to Ellie to dismember. Kristan's good (BAFTALOL) but it's missing that special Ellie venom for such a real stinker.

Just an hour to go before I can play this underrated gem... well an hour and seven minutes because there's that mandatory HDD install! ;) LOL

burn

magikdodo: You didn't answer my question but you did answer something else.

Biscuitbase wrote: "Is it possible to die of a schadenfreude overdose? "

Great post ;)

@Kangarootoo

Basically I personally believe that there should always be a core design team who are distant from actually coding/scripting/etc.

This is simply because when you are both designer and implementer of a mechanic or scenario, deciding to improve/change something means creating more work for yourself. This makes the designer far less likely to improve and change, unless they're in the unlikely position that they don't have a list of further tasks which need to be completed to a strict deadline.


@Iambatman

I was under the impression -- I may be wrong -- that R* North's design staff comprised of both game designers and mission designers (who were the guys who handled the scripting). As I say, I may be wrong.

Lets hope it stays an exclusive.

it got 7.1 here


computerandvideogames
they are on nectar ;) just orange spots everywhere ^^

Played this last night and was disappointed. The PSN demo is a fair reflection of the whole game as it doesnt really get any better IMO. It's middle of the road for me. 5/10.

'Was Timesplitters really any good? I never picked it up back on the PS2.'

Timesplitters was the most fun I have ever had with a FPS in my life. Not nearly the most serious or best graphically or best story etc but the house and hours on end me and my friends spent on the level builder coming up with our own scenarios etc has never been beaten by a game yet! :)

I have unchartered

That's either a thrilling accountancy exam sim or a down-on-his-luck former pirate trying to make his tourist boating company dream come true! Either way, I'm there!

@frod - I'm not sure that's true at all. Haze is a third-party game not one published by Sony. Haze is just one example of a bigged up game that turned out bad like last year's Lair and it's not like the Xbox 360 or Wii haven't had similarly bad games. Remember Hour of Victory, an Xbox 360 console exclusive, which EG gave 2/10 to last year? Granted that wasn't hyped up like Haze but a bad game is still a bad game nevertheless no matter what platform it appears on. ;)

Tragedy.

Free Radical Design need to try to recoup their losses by releasing Timesplitters on XBLA and the PSN.

Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel.

@BlankOBlank!

I think I take your point. I think a system designer still needs to be able to see any given mechanic in action and improve it in response to what they see. Its a balance though. If in viewing the common implementation of a mechanic, you envisage a way in which it could be improved to suit a majority of cases, the change might be warranted. Agreeing that you can't change something forever and that feature creep is a bad thing is not the same as saying that the first pass is the one that ships (which isn't how true design works anyway).

It sounds as though you are saying that a system should not be continually modified by the person implementing it, just so it will fit their latest implementation, and I agree with that for the most part (I say "for the most part", but I can't think of an exception offhand; there always is one though :) ). "Don't change the tools to suit jobs they weren't designed for; just do the correct job and the tools will work fine" might be another way of putting it?

Not sure if that is the issue at the heart of Haze though. Sounds to me like things went wrong whilst the systems were being developed, in advance of them actually being put into practice in the levels. A lot of issues described seem to be system level rather than implementation, to my eyes anyway.

LOL...do you hear that?.....its the sound of heads rolling at FRD in Nottingham.

My decision to skip this generation of over hyped, under powered consoles makes me feel more smug and superior every day.

i loved jericho. the gameplay was nothing special, but that game had loads of atmosphere.

I've got loads of bloody games thank you very much!

Backwards-compatible PS2 games?

Without reading the comments, I'm glad this didn't come out on the 360. It seemed to rushed for my liking.

BlankOBlank!
"Basically I personally believe that there should always be a core design team who are distant from actually coding/scripting/etc.

This is simply because when you are both designer and implementer of a mechanic or scenario, deciding to improve/change something means creating more work for yourself. This makes the designer far less likely to improve and change, unless they're in the unlikely position that they don't have a list of further tasks which need to be completed to a strict deadline. "

You are totally wrong here in every way possible. A good designer/scripter won't shrug at redoing stuff that isn't good enough - it's part of their job and if they have any sense of pride they will iterate it until it shines. Being able to do the work yourself cuts out a bunch of people who don't know what they are doing meaning a ton more work can get into a visible state far quicker.

Yeah, I figured out it wasn't another ten.

@Kangarootoo

I do think that the system should be constantly examined and evolved by the scripters, I just think it's also important to have a decent sized core design team who aren't implementing, they're more big picture people who are constantly playing and suggesting refinements.

The works, PS2 games, PSN games, a couple of PS1 games and PS3 games.
Although until GTA4 came out, I actually had to "force" myself to stop playing Warhawk and playing the other stuff. It sits there on the hard drive, and I think "oh yeah, maybe just a quick blast"... then it turns into a good 2 hours a day leaving no time for anything else!
Liberty City reigns king at the moment though, no surprises there really.

@supersoldier01

Absolutely, but just like a programmer needs a QA team to see the bugs they're blind to due to being too close to the project, a scripter needs a design team to see the design issues which they're too close to see or don't have time to contemplate from an external view.

Naturally there are designers out there who can fill all roles, but then there are coders out there who generate bug free code too.

That's IT !!!

I'm putting my PS3 on eBay!!!

fucking hell

/cancels order from game

@supersoldier01
"Being able to do the work yourself cuts out a bunch of people who don't know what they are doing meaning a ton more work can get into a visible state far quicker."

I disagree. I find that when you code something yourself, it becomes very hard to distinguish your own preference from good design. Coding and design are two distinct disciplines, now thats not to say its impossible to find a good coder/scripter who is also a good designer, but I think it is quite rare.

wow

May I just say now that zuljin is a real person and not me saying the same thing again in a slightly different way to reinforce my point.

:)

BlankOBlank!

"Absolutely, but just like a programmer needs a QA team to see the bugs they're blind to due to being too close to the project, a scripter needs a design team to see the design issues which they're too close to see or don't have time to contemplate from an external view. "

That's what the rest of the team are there to do - everyone on the team should be playing the thing they are helping make and providing feedback. And the outside perspective should come from a QA team (if they are good and you can trust their opinions). I understand that you believe a core design team away from the implementation is the best way of doing things - but, like people are individuals, every team is different and there's no set rules.

@zuljin

.o/

Crap scripter but (I'm told) good designer here.

Nah, I heard you were shit

"I disagree. I find that when you code something yourself, it becomes very hard to distinguish your own preference from good design. Coding and design are two distinct disciplines, now thats not to say its impossible to find a good coder/scripter who is also a good designer, but I think it is quite rare. "

It does become hard to distinguish own preference from good design but that's where you show it off to other people for feedback. Nothing should ever be set in stone.

But agreed - good coder/scripter is worth their weight in gold.

@supersoldier01

That would be the ideal, but I've never, ever seen anyone play through their own game with anywhere near the rigor required for that who didn't have either tester or designer in their job title.

Apart from maybe producers, but it's well documented that the producer should never drive the creative process.

@velios

I have it on good authority from my own mother that I am an excellent designer and a very handsome little boy.

hahahaha!

"That would be the ideal, but I've never, ever seen anyone play through their own game with anywhere near the rigor required for that who didn't have either tester or designer in their job title. "

It does happen - when your hands automatically do certain moves when you play different games because youve played something for too long or you hear the music in your sleep then you know you're near that level :)

"Apart from maybe producers, but it's well documented that the producer should never drive the creative process. "
You are bang on target there