Haze Comments by Tom Bramwell

@Tom

What did you mean by: "Judging by the Haze demo, they're not worried about deviating heavily from fun-loving TimeSplitters, either."

I hope they can pull off the idea well, it sounds interesting.

Sounds like quite an interesting take on the FPS genre. I'm intrigued.

The more I read about this the less interested I become. Hope I'm proven wrong.

I saw this on a preview on Gamer.Tv last night, it looked alright graphically but the framerate seems to be diabolical at the moment, and gameplay wise it didn't seem that original. Just reminded me of Farcry basically.
I'm more intigued by that upcoming Lucasarts shooter, I think it's on this month's Edge cover, Fracture is it?..Anyway that looked like it was going for something really different in the shooter genre.

Why do some people look at every jungle shooter and say it's like far cry?

setting =/= gameplay

The more I read about this the less interested I become.

Eh? The Nectar idea sounds very interesting - as long as it's done right and doesn't get too confusing / difficult to use in the heat of a battle, I can see it being the one thing that sets Haze apart from the million other FPS games out there. And in such a saturated genre, they need to have something special.

I'm looking forward to this more the more I hear about it.

I want to take this to bed n rub my manhood all over it

Does that pic of the eye remind anyone else of Far Cry?

edit: In fact after reading the article, a hell of a lot of it reminded me of Far Cry.....

I thought the protagonist's name was Jake Carpenter?

The stuff on GamerTV last night was pretty cool (aside from the frame rate drops). I really liked the way that when you're charged with Nectar you're just a killing machine oblivious to any consequence, but when it wears off you can see the bloodshed.

I also thought it was cool that the world looked a more clinical place on Nectar, and bleak and dark without it. It was eerie. I like that.

// still hopes and prays it wont say "FIRST KILL INFOXICATED" right in the middle of the goddamn screen during arcade mode, thus fucking up my view of the world.

They should rename this: "When bumblebees attack!"

nothing more suited to jungle warfare than a BRIGHT YELLOW helmet

I think they're more worried about their lead character blending in to the combat fatigue saturated landscape than the jungle, to be honest. :)

Sounds ace.

I can't wait to play this game it look's mint.( cool and refreshing )

Is it just me or does anyone else think Free radical are massively overated ? I thought the Timesplitter games (single player) were terrible.

Time to sound the Bs klaxon:

"So we can expect Haze to look closely at the issues of morals, of how soldiers behave in warfare "

nope it's a game, point the crosshair, press fire

"promoting the AI heavily, but Doak tells us that things have changed somewhat. "We're not taking it as obsessively far as we were going to. A lot of effort has gone back into concentrating on the Nectar system and things," he admits."

Oh dear.....Not even trying to over hype the AI....

Sounds like they have some interesting ideas at least, especially the idea of your helmet and Nectar affecting the way you see the world.

Not so sure about the activatable Nectar powers though, 'focus' and 'foresight' and whatnot, they sound a bit fiddly and annoying to me.

Sounds like the lead designer has been reading Forever War by Joe Haldemen ( I think), the military have suits and drugs which allow them to commit atrocities without really knowing in that.

So, this is definitely coming out on the 360 then. Hurrah! :D

Sounds more like the US army in Iraq, tbh.

So, this is definitely coming out on the 360 then. Hurrah! :D

That was never in doubt, was it? People just question the sudden 5to12 180 that will have to make them wait.

"nope it's a game, point the crosshair, press fire"

A crosshair?!? In a FRD game?!?

Talk about dumbing down...

Monkey assist, plz?

Sounds very good - especially the 4 playerness and the sanity filter thingie on the helmets. I wonder if that extends to 4 player co-op...

@Schiraman

"Sounds like they have some interesting ideas at least, especially the idea of your helmet and Nectar affecting the way you see the world.

Not so sure about the activatable Nectar powers though, 'focus' and 'foresight' and whatnot, they sound a bit fiddly and annoying to me."

I agree. They seem to be massively bigging the game up as massively original. But while the helmet changing how you see the world undeniably being a unique and great idea, the stuff involving the Nectar powers (or is that points?), especially the enhanced vision which turns the enemies bright orange, and also screenies involving the jungle setting, all scream 'Far Cry Instincts rip-off'.

Overall the game looks good, but nothing anywhere near groundbreaking. The screenies all look like derivative shooter pap, and all the PR talk sounds like the usual PR bullshit spouted before games turn out to be average releases. I hope it's absolute quality and that my doubts will be proven wrong, but I've got a strong gut feeling about this one....

is gingerbread man in it

What do you think the main ingredient in the nectar is? >:)

Hazelol!!

\o/

Interesting, very interesting

We do a lot of the kind of denial-and-confrontation thing where you see characters and you have a relationship with them and that relationship changes because they do unpredictable things, or they do things that make you feel uncomfortable about being associated with them

- and this is the tricksy bit, isn't it... because when I'm playing a game, I like to egg on any AI-controlled pardners to ever increasing levels of violence and atrocity.... whilst immersion is all well and good, game-agparrot is not the same as realworld-agparrot...

Game-agparrot likes to stalk the streets of San Andreas with a chainsaw, and he shouts at McCarver and that other useless black-ops muppet in BLACK to shoot more enemy terrorist goons, and bemoans the lack of blood caused by sanitised-game-interface. When game-agparrot's friends are taken hostage in some contrived game storyline, he is indifferent about whether they are killed or tortured, so long as nobody takes his gun/sword/magic powers away.

Whilst I find the idea of trying to address this involvement within a game interesting, if I want the reality of war and human misery, I'll watch the news, ta.

Anti-war FPS? I'm impressed.

"Game-agparrot likes to stalk the streets of San Andreas with a chainsaw, and he shouts at McCarver and that other useless black-ops muppet in BLACK to shoot more enemy terrorist goons, and bemoans the lack of blood caused by sanitised-game-interface. When game-agparrot's friends are taken hostage in some contrived game storyline, he is indifferent about whether they are killed or tortured, so long as nobody takes his gun/sword/magic powers away. "

Exactly.

It would be lovely to become deeply involved in a wargame and actually care about team mates and NPCs and feel bad when you shoot someone.

But in reality, my first reaction when greeted with an NPC/team mate is to see if I can attack or kill them. I played the demo of splinter cell double agent yesterday. I was infiltrating a village in the congo, there were cowering civilians and terrorists all over the place. I was meant to be protecting the civilians and dropping the terrorists. Within 2 minutes I had sneaked up on a peasant woman who was crying in the corner. Then I kneed her square in the crotch and laughed mercilessly. The fact remains, gamers are cunts, and they play games so they can be violent and feel all big and clever without fear of incarceration as a result.

As long as the fundamental running/shooting/lobbing/bumming/AI gameplay mechanics are fun, this should be really good.

"Shane Carpenter"

Pah

I love some of art direction with Haze. It doesn't look like it is UK-developed. I mean that as a compliment :-)

Looking better all the time, and this is coming from someone who was excited when they saw the original trailer back at E3 06.

24-player online? As long as this is for Xbox 360 too that's great (not buying a PS3 at that price, not even for this game)!

Sure, it's not groundbreaking in terms of gameplay, but this isn't a Wii game, so who cares? Narratively it should provide a whole new take, however, which I think is important for games as a whole.

i thought the e3 trailer was very strong. looking at a more recent trailer, it appears that they've decided to use live action for the intro?

i hope that isn't the case. i hate that shit.

"I love some of art direction with Haze. It doesn't look like it is UK-developed. I mean that as a compliment :-) "

How the hell is that a compliment? Are you actually proud that it is yet another British game that shows absolutely no British personality at all?

Japanese games have a distinct Japanese flavour. American games have a distinct American flavour. British games have a distinct American flavour. Notice where the pattern gets all fucked up?

It even seems that you're suggesting that this is one of the only British games where you can't tell it is actually British.
I'd like to find these games you are playing, because to be perfectly honest, in the last 15 years or so only Colin McRae Rally games have had any hint at a British development studio having made it, and even that series has now been Americanised.

Although I am trying to avoid the suggestion that you are maybe implying that it actually looks good, and that British games are usually crap. But then I know for a fact you'd be talking absolute shit if that were the case, and so that can't be true.

i hear you. remember when burnout had charm? remember when it lost its charm?

:(

"How the hell is that a compliment? Are you actually proud that it is yet another British game that shows absolutely no British personality at all?"

It's a compliment because most British developed titles have piss-poor art direction, and look rather amateurish as a result. I'd include the Timesplitters series in that actually - the last one looked fucking terrible.

And while I certainly agree that it'd be wonderful if there was one whiff of non-American non-Japanese culture present in videogames developed around the world, that's another issue for another day. At the very least, Haze has its own identity and a unique look and that is to be welcomed. British developers need to strive for competent, professional-looking original games that can compete in the global market, first and foremost.

I think you're being rather unkind to Haze - it's an original title developed in Britain and it looks really very good. It is clearly designed for a global audience, but it doesn't appear to be appallingly Americanised as far as I can see.

@afghan_jones

"The fact remains, gamers are cunts"

Huge generalisation.

Not everyone plays games the same way you know. Just because you act in ways contrary to how you would in real life doesn't mean everyone would. In that respect, maybe you simply aren't the target audience for a game that tries to disturb you by hacing your associates commit atrocities? Doesn't mean the audience doesn't exist.

Now I'm not saying I always play games exactly the way I conduct my myself in real life. Killing loners and stealing their kit is commonplace in Stalker, for example. But often as not I am able feel compassion for npcs in certain situations, or a sense of injustice when the underdog is bullied or otherwise harmed (the bullied kid at the start of Fable is an example I often use).

The example you used of your behaviour when playing Splinter Cell does not represent every gamers out there, and I'm sure you must know that.

Not played many British developed games have you? There are more British developed game out there than Codies' stuff and GTA......

Wow. This game just rocketed to the top of my rader. The teaser was a bit bland - but these screens and the concept sound intriguing.

Good luck FRD - you're one of the best British studios out there.

SomaticSense - can you name a single (recent, popular, original) British-owned British-developed game with strong art direction? If you can, it is the exception rather than the rule. Although I agree with you on the cultural issue - it would be wonderful to chip away at that all-pervasive American cultural hegemony in videogames - at the same time I find that often you can still spot an original British developed title by virtue of the fact that they're frequently so shoddy. They may speak with an American accent, but the rest is that special brand of endearingly wonky rough-around-the-edges Rover-Amstrad-C5 British quality.

Britain once had a games industry that was uniquely its own, and it was a world leader. That is not the case today and Britain may lack truly "inspirational" developers, but FRD appear to be doing some very interesting things with Haze, and they've popped right back onto a lot of gamers' radar. I haven't seen anything that suggests it has been appallingly Americanised - indeed its treatment of the subject of warfare seems radically different from the way a US developer might handle it. Haze has an interesting premise, fantastic art direction and a lot going for it. I'm just looking forward to playing it.

I'll avoid the discussions going on and bring up my own topic.

Isn't it a shame that a game developer will have to spoil their game and storyline to sell it to people? Because people are used to no-nonsense shooters and the only way to say that a game is different is by saying exactly what is different.

Removes the suspense. Still. Haze is probably the third fps to buy this year for me.

What FPSs are you buying this year disc? I'm not too interested in Haze to be honest. I'm really looking forward to The Darkness and Halo 3 and Bioshock. Those are my 3 FPSs. I just saw some ingame footage of The Darkness that has me so excited. Go to gametrailers.com and see for yourself.

Bioshock and Halo. Playing and studying Blacksite and Darkness at work will be enough for me.

Another day another Haze article?


My lawd....

I'm quite happy that they're deviating from Timesplitters. I absolutely hated the way those games played.