At Play.com LIVE 2 demos of the upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive HAZE were on display in playable form and I spent a while trying out this new FPS for the PS3.
I will Start by saying that the clerk at the event I was speaking to stated that these are playable builds from a few months ago, he also went on to state that Friday 23rd May is the target release date for HAZE in the UK and also that Rumble will be used in HAZE, however Im unable to comment on that, since the stands used Sixaxis controllers.
Both Demos which I played had you placed as a Mantel Trooper. In the first demo had you set in a forest, the environments were lush with sharp visuals in most areas (however the clerk assured me that the not so sharp areas will be touched up by the time is released), which are a large improvement of previous screens of the game we have seen and have no doubt that the new screens recently released are in-game and can be achieved by Free Radical. I will also add that both demos I played had a solid framerate throughout which will come as great news to most. Now, onto the gameplay. This short 7/8minute demo was more than enough time to leave me feeling that this game will be successful and could easily become a solid franchise for Free Radical and Ubisoft. While the controls do take a few minutes to get the hang of (those who have played a lot of COD4 like I have to find it hard to adjust to begin with) they do work successfully with L2 being used to give yourself a nectar boost and Circle being used to crouch. The Pace of the demo varied throughout at some point you will be just walking, enjoying the views whereas 5 Seconds later you will have bullets being fired at you from left, right and centre. The health system works similar to the likes of Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War where the screen goes red as you are getting hurt. The short but sweet cutscenes really help the storyline, but also helps you get pumped up as well, one scene sees you hearing out one of you fellow mantel troopers speaking during his last moments, I won't say what he said but it really did help me to really get into the demo and was disappointed when it ended.
The second demo had a completely different approach to gameplay with you driving while your friendly AI takes out your rivals. You drive by using R1 & L1 plus the analogue sticks which takes a lot of getting used to, if you are used to the likes of Motorstorm where you use R2 & L2 instead. I did find that the Ai of your targets was impressive during this demo and weren't that easy to take out. I'm afraid that's all I had time for this demo due to time constraints. However the short time I played it left me with a positive feeling about the game.
Overall however I can now safely say that this will be a solid title for the PlayStation 3 and will feel the gap nicely between this and Killzone 2 and could and should be a sleeper hit. There are a few complaints however, I found the analogue sticks to be that little bit too loose and could do with some tweaking. I also found that the friendly Ai really wasn't that great, but saying that I was unaware on what difficulty I was playing it on which may have had an effect, plus also Free Radical are focusing on Co-op so Im sure this game will benefit you completing it with mates rather than by yourself. Also take into account that the Ai will be improved before its released.
My final comment will be is that I enjoyed the short time Ive spent on the game and judging on reactions of others playing around me, they did as well. I for one will be getting this game on day 1 and suggest all FPS fans at least consider it, that is providing something doesn't go wrong between now and May.
Andrew Jeffery
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