It’s been long delayed and hyped beyond belief, but Haze also signified a chance for PS3 owners to get an exclusive First Person Shooter back when the console most needed it.  So the weight of the world was heavy on the shoulders of one game, was it any surprise that it couldn’t live up to the expectations?

My own experience with Haze initially came from the demo, which took an early look at the first level.  It was a good introduction which met with as many negative as positive comments.  But I found myself enjoying it.  Still, it wasn’t enough for me to get this game at full price.

Now, after time has passed since the release, I’ve managed to pick up the game and can give my impressions away from all the expected Hype.

You start the game as a soldier for Mantel Corporation, fighting the good fight against rebels who threaten to do harm to the carefully built up civilisation.  At your disposal is a drug called Nectar, which gives you powers of accuracy and speed, as well as marking your enemies out.  This makes the first level fairly easy, as you get to grips with boosting your Nectar intake to pick off the enemies and meet your fellow soldiers.

The banter between these Mantel recruits is at times quite comical, and at others very cheesy.  As with a lot of games, the voice acting does seem a bit forced at times, but it suffices and does introduce you to the team. 

Once you’ve spent a while as a Mantel dogsbody, the story turns on it’s head and you find yourself captured by the rebels, learning more about their viewpoint on events and what the Mantel corporation is really up to.  After previously having the Nectar at your disposal, you now have to cope without it, picking up discarded weapons instead and using the Nectar in other ways by shooting the supply on the soldiers so that they overdose and go mad. As a rebel, you can also pretend to be dead when shot, which will make you disappear from the enemies view.

As a single player game, Haze is pretty generic.  The Nectar levels and playing dead are all that sets it apart from any other FPS.  It doesn’t mean that it’s not fun, but it feels like you’ve been there before.  Even the graphics feel a bit retro, some of the textures stand out as being graphically sub PS3, though overall they do the job.

But play through the single player to get used to the sides and the (terrible to control) vehicles and then try out the multi-player and you might be pleasantly surprised.   The Rebels against Soldiers battle takes on a whole new aspect when they’re all being played by human players.  It really comes together, the weapons are perfect; flamethrowers, miniguns and sniper rifles all quick and easy to pick up from crates, the balance between teams really works, with the playing dead trick being great fun when you pull it off.  Even the environments come alive in multi-player.

So despite the single player being a bit of a disappointment (along the lines of; not bad, but seen it all before) Haze is still worth picking up on the cheap for the multi-player combat.  As a game it has a lot that could have been easily fixed, but despite the issues it has a good solid base and the recent downloadable levels have added even more reason to get online with Haze.

7.5/10