Haze is an FPS that has been tagged to have a strong emotional story. If Second Sight is anything of an indicator, we could be in for a treat. The game is set in the year 2025, where military operations are now being outsourced to large companies. Mantel Global Industries in particular, runs the US military and they specialise in “exporting democracy” to parts of the world that are deemed necessary. Part of the game will involve a conspiracy surrounding “Nectar”. It is meant to be a performance enhancing drug with the usual faster and stronger pros and potentially devastating cons. The implication of this substances use will be reflected in the story.
Hey, you said you wouldn't look!
The game will take place in a war torn province in South America. Reportedly, there are levels and areas that will consist of jungle and of urban areas. The level that we got to play was based in the jungle but we are told that at the moment, this is a very early build. The game will make use of squad mechanics and there will often be more than one of you at once. At the start of the level, we flew down on a drop ship. The squad mechanics are comparable to that of Republic Commando. The position of each of your squad members was located was represented by arrows on the side of the screen.
The story will have players forcing themselves to make moral and ethical decisions throughout. On top of this, the gameplay will be looking to build off some of these moments. At one stage, an enemy dropped his weapon, surrendered and begged for his life. A shot is heard and you see that he’s fallen to the ground clutching his stomach. The view turns and you see one of your squad mates holstering his weapon while watching the man die. The view shifted back to the man as he shuddered on the ground and dies painfully. This is where the game was left.
Can't wait to join the fun
Graphically, the game was quite impressive and the jungle was full of detail. Despite a few washed-out colours and low-resolution textures, the game was looking good in its early build. It seems that Free Radical have opted for a more realistic art style rather than the exaggerated limbs of characters in their previous games.
Despite being quite early on in development, Haze is shaping up to be another game to look for from Free Radical. Whether you are in for the story or just for some running and gunning, Haze looks like it will be able to suit your needs. The big remains though, will Free Radical be able to hit the standards that we’ve become accustomed to? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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