Not great, but not the massive evil people say it is
Pros:
- Co-Op Story mode
- Online/Offline matches available
- Cheap!
Cons:
- Story is very short
- Lack of variety in weapons
- Enemy A.I. isn't that intelligent
- In-game dialogue gets annoying quickly
In-depth review:
Let's get one thing out in the open before we start. This game was pretty much panned since it got released, and it never fully recovered, which led to sales going nowhere near projections, a cancelled 360 version and a speedy price drop that was only rivaled by Facebreaker. But given all the bad reviews and word of mouth, could this game really be that bad? Let's dive in!
Game play:
It's your typical shooter, shoot other guys and try not to get shot up yourself. However, there are a few new innovations, such as Mantel soldiers can infuse themselves with "Nectar" which makes them seem superhuman and causes enemies to become illuminated. Also, rebels have a "Play Dead" ability when they're taking damage, which makes enemy opponents look like they killed you, but in fact did not. Unfortunately…that's it for innovation. Other than that, it's almost like every other shooter you've played before, only with less weapons. Each faction (rebels and soldiers,) have 5 or 6 unique weapons to their side, making a total of 12 weapons in the entire game. Comparing this weapon selection to other games, this isn't a lot, which somewhat hurts the game, but also keeps multiplayer combat balanced and simple, which is a plus.
What's nice to see about Haze is that with most PS3 games released around this time, not a lot of non-fighting games had internal multiplayer. Well Haze broke the mold with not only implementing the campaign mode with 4 player online co-op, but also the campaign mode has a 2 player internal co-op as well. Also, if you need to brush up on your FPS skills, you can also set up matches against bots. Don't expect them to act like real opponents though as I have found that they generally run the same path to get anywhere, so if you go on top of a tower with a sniper rifle, expect to get over half of your team's kills.
This brings us to the A.I. look on this review. As I said earlier, in internal death matches, the bots generally run the same path, unfortunately the same can be said for the campaign mode. Enemies will frequently run into your line of fire, taking the challenge out of the game somewhat. However, with a few reviews I've seen, they have mentioned that the enemies will run into walls, I have honestly put over 50 hours into this game and I have only seen this occur once, so if you hear about that, don't let that discourage you.
Graphics:
Not much to say here, the game doesn't look too bad but at the same time, it doesn't exactly push the limits of the PS3. Also at times, the image can look a bit grainy, but that's just me as the level I noticed this on happened to take place inside a giant cave. Finally, some of the finer details just don't look as good or as polished as they could have been, so don't expect to be mesmerized by the graphics.
Sound:
For the most part, the sound is pretty good, bullets sound like they're being fired from a gun and explosions sound like something just got obliterated. The only problem I have with the sound is the voices of your allies. Mantel troops sound like a bunch of drunken frat boys and the rebels say the same thing over and over and over again, which gets annoying quickly. As for the music, there isn't any licensed music that I've been able to find so at least there's some original music, unfortunately, it's not very memorable.
Story:
The story to Haze does try to send a message about how war is bad and how powerful propaganda can be, but for whatever reason, it missed. It doesn't grip the player that well, except for a few unexpected moments and is overall forgettable. Also, the campaign won't even take 10 hours from start to finish, which is fairly short, which also hurts this game's campaign as I can honestly tell you the ending left me very underwhelmed.
Longevity:
As I've said before, the story mode isn't that long so that won't keep you coming back, however, what will is the multiplayer. The online multiplayer is oddly addicting and features several game modes that vary based on what map you're playing on. Oddly enough, the multiplayer is better than the campaign! Essentially practicing on internal death match and then converting to online multiplayer will account for most of your Haze playing experience.
Looking back at the game, could Haze have been better? Yes, it could've used a bit more refinement in A.I. code, a bit more graphical polish and the story could have been longer and preferably less contradictory. But given that, the game is far from unplayable, in fact, multiplayer alone is quite adequate and enjoyable, factor in you can likely buy a new copy for under $20 and this game is definitely worth a try. Don't expect a quality game like Call of Duty but if you can overlook the poor campaign, you will enjoy Haze immensely.