Interview: Haze

Well I wish 'em the best of luck, as their debut on this gen was a bit rushed.

Its Dr Doak!

no more splitters then? oh well, bring on 'haze'

(yes, and wot the guy after me says)

Getting proper script writers in is the way to go for sure! There's no excuse for a shoddy story... after all, there are thousands of unemployed writers mooching around Hollywood.

@ macksed - according to OPS2 Mag, Free Redical have said they would definately be up for going back to the Timesplitters series in the future.

Screen writers who understand interactivity are what's needed. Like Ken Levine's always talking about - it's better to do a story about the game world which is immediate to the player, rather than some high level story which has no relevance to the moment to moment game play what so ever.

But yeah, the script writer seems to get that to some degree. Fingers crossed.

(And also, games really don't have to have stories [though some abhor them more than others]. Sometimes a game can just be a game.)

@ myiagros - whoot!

The script writer might "get" it, but that doesn't mean that it will definitely feel like playing in a movie.

The basic expression I think is "easier said than done".

when they mention emotion in games i think instantly of kotor with the light and dark side, which i thought was a bit crummy. just wait and see tho free radical are a excellent company and ive loved all thier games out so far.

/yawns.

How many times have we seen developers bullshitting with AI only to be let down when the game is released.

I wish them luck but won't be holding my breath.

A war game!!! that is what i want to play between Battlefield and Ghost Reacon sesions. I can't wait.

That was a good interview and it's good to see someone not connected with games being so passionate about what he can bring to them.

I'll be keeping tabs on this one.

Great. Just what we need. A game with a heavy emphasis on narrative written by someone who's never worked on games before, who promises us it'll be just like a movie.

When the flying fuck are we going to get a game that actually plays like a game and not a movie, using interactivity rather than ham-fisted exposition and sophomoric characterization to invoke emotion?

Remember, he says "movie-like experience". The experience of watching a movie is an emotional one, and it looks like he's saying that THAT's what he wants to create - a "genuine emotive experience". I think saying it's like a movie is just an analogy, and that's a fair comment.

Let's face it, what he says about "emotional rollercoasters" is true: games lie, and say they're going to do it - but just have a bit where there's sad music. It sounds to me like they're going to "REALLY do what everone SAID they were gonna do" instead.

Also, even though he says he's "not a games guy", do you really think Free Radical would just pick some guy off the street? You should play Second Sight, then you'll see how good those guys are when they've got a story to work with. That was the only story game, apart from the first Metal Gear, where I really cared about what happened.

To quote you, Shadar, that was a game "that plays like a game" but ALSO plays like a movie. I hope Haze can do the same.

Wow, that Rob Yescombe guy is a mentalist or on coke, which is probably more likely being a script writer (although I couldn't find him on IMDB...). But I wouldn't worry too much about him to be honest, I always take a good story as a bonus rather than something I require in a game.

My major concern is wondering if they can make it different enough to be worth playing, I'm not so sure. I don't doubt that it will be competent and enjoyable but will that be enough for 2007 when it could very easily muddle in with the other dozen futuristic war-based FPS games.

Still, I have loyalties back to Goldeneye, and even though I didn't really enjoy Timesplitters I'll still pick this up (PC version most likely - so do a decent conversion!)

I'm pretty confident about this one. Good concept and devs with the pedigree to make it happen.