Haze (computer game)
| Haze | |||
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| Studio |
 Free radical design
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| Publisher |
 Ubisoft
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
May 20, 2008 | ||
| platform | PlayStation 3 | ||
| genre | Ego shooter | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Gamepad ( Sixaxis , DualShock 3 ) | ||
| medium | Blu-ray disc | ||
| Age rating |
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Haze is a video game from the first person shooter genre of developed by Free Radical Design and published by Ubisoft for the game console PlayStation 3 . It covers more serious issues (such as political repression and substance abuse) than Free Radical's successful previous series TimeSplitters . The game was released on May 20, 2008.
action
The game is about Mantel Global Industries, a multinational company specializing, among other things, in pharmaceuticals. It developed an active ingredient called Nova Keto Thyrazine - marketed under the name Nectar . This drug , which is also sold to the civilian population as a " dietary supplement ", enables soldiers to fight harder and more tactically, but on the other hand produces a hallucinogenic effect in that the soldiers are no longer aware of the real battlefield and instead perceive a harmonious setting.
Haze takes place over a period of three days when Mantel mercenaries attack a rebel group called The Promise Hand, led by Gabriel “Skin Coat” Marino. The player takes on the role of Shane Carpenter, a 25-year-old coat mercenary. After Carpenter realizes the effect nectar is having on his comrades in arms, Carpenter switches sides and teams up with The Promise Hand to combat Mantle's criminal machinations.
Gameplay
In the game, the mercenaries of the fictional company Mantel take a performance-enhancing drug called nectar, which gives the user increased speed, accuracy and strength. Mantel uses this drug to control his mercenaries through mind manipulation. After the injection, nectar changes the perception of a mercenary, comparable to the effect of a hallucinogen . Enemies stand out against the darker background as nectar lets a mercenary see his enemies in a yellow-orange glow. Nectar also suppresses the perception of the surrounding scenery of death and destruction. Overdosing on nectar is dangerous as loss of self-control and death are possible side effects.
In a trailer published for the E3 2007 game fair , it was shown that the rebels play dead shortly before a potentially fatal encounter with Mantel mercenaries, which allows them to restore their health and disappear from the perception of the Mantel mercenaries because one intus with nectar can't see dead people. In addition, the rebels discovered Mantle's addiction to nectar, so they attacked the nectar injectors to build nectar gas grenades or sprinkle knives with extracted nectar. These nectar-dispensing weapons make a cloak mercenary fire at their own troops as well, as an overdose of nectar disrupts the friend-foe identification, so that any moving target is identified as an enemy. The rebels can also steal a coat mercenary's weapon and cover the ground with grenades to use as mines.
The player has many genre-usual weapons such as pistols, rifles, hand machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, grenades and knives at their disposal. These weapons are fictitious and not based on real weapons.
Multiplayer mode
It is planned that Haze will include a co-op mode with split-screen display as well as an online co-op mode for four players each. Ubisoft confirmed that all four squad members and by participating in the game can be played cooperatively. In multiplayer mode, one to three additional players can play by combining online play, split screen or LAN . The multiplayer mode will also include narrative missions and online games for up to 16 players. In addition, the group of players in online multiplayer mode is divided into coat mercenaries and rebels. Each side has its advantages. The abilities offered by Nektar allow the Mantle mercenaries to easily distinguish friend from foe. The rebels, in turn, throw knives drizzled with nectar , which the Mantel mercenaries administered an overdose. Because of this overdose, the Mantle mercenaries can no longer distinguish between friend and foe and may kill their own squad. On the other hand, nectar enables the cloak mercenaries to carry out powerful Mêlée attacks. Of course, the rebels can counter this by playing dead. Each side also has its own weapons. The Mantel mercenaries have rocket launchers, while the rebels have Gatling pistols and flamethrowers. However, there is a possibility that each side can steal weapons from the other or pick up weapons from the fallen.
development
Haze was first announced at the 2006 E3 game fair . It uses a graphics engine specially developed for this game . Buying an existing engine would have shortened the development time, but the development team decided to develop their own engine in order to enjoy more freedom in developing the game design and additional features. The engine allows various graphic effects. The lighting is mostly predetermined, but the Haze engine also offers real-time lighting and highly dynamic degrees of freedom. Particle and fire effects as well as motion blur create the illusion of real plasticity in the game world. Haze runs at a frame rate of 30 frames per second (FPS) as the development team felt that 60 fps was not necessary for Haze to progress . The AI system "Conspire" allows enemies to react dynamically to other game characters and the environment.
It was originally planned to release Haze simultaneously for the PlayStation 3 , the Xbox 360 and the PC in the summer of 2007. The release was later postponed to winter 2007. In addition, it was announced at a Sony press conference at the E3 2007 game fair that Haze would be released exclusively for the PlayStation 3. The publication was then delayed again to May 2008. However, Free Radical stated that the delays allowed them to add several new features to Haze .
On October 22, 2007, Ubisoft announced that well-known rock band Korn had written and recorded a Haze- inspired song. The song, simply called "Haze", was due to be released to coincide with the game's launch in May. The song would be released as a single with accompanying music video, not just as an exclusive download for the game. On February 26, 2008, a new trailer called “Nektar Trailer” offered the song as background music.
On April 15th, Ubisoft announced a PSN demo would be available in early May. Less than a week later, the official video for the Korn single was released on various websites along with a demo released on the Playstation Network on May 7th, which includes a 4-player co-op.
reception
Haze received a rating of 34/40 points from the Japanese game magazine Famitsu , and an Italian Playstation magazine gave it a rating of 9/10 points. On average, the game was rated rather mediocre. At Mectacritic, the game has a Metascore of 55 and a user score of 6.5 points.
4 Players rated the game with 66% and described the game as a "solid shooter with lots of wasted ideas and poor technology". ComputerBILD also rated the game with exactly the same percentage , criticizing the weak graphics, while the fights themselves got off better. GamePro comes to a similar conclusion, although they describe the game as action-packed, but complain that the Playstation 2 already had better graphics.
Web links
- Official website
- Free Radical Designs Page ( Memento of March 8, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- Official website of the fictional Mantel Global Industries
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Haze. In: Metacritic . Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
- ↑ http://ps3.ign.com/articles/854/854877p1.html IGN - Haze Targeted
- ↑ COAT GLOBAL INDUSTRIES: WHAT'S NEW . Mantelglobalindustries.com. Accessed March 2008.
- ↑ a b http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52223
- ↑ a b c http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives/007218.html
- ↑ Walkthrough through Haze [1]
- ↑ Haze is NOT Duke Nukem Forever . Archived from the original on March 3, 2008. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 18, 2008.
- ↑ Korn To Release Original Song For Ubisoft's Haze Video Game . Games Press. Archived from the original on February 21, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
- ↑ gamerankings.com : Average rating from reviews in English (English, accessed May 30, 2008)
- ↑ Test: Haze. In: 4 players . May 23, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Haze. Game test: Action game for Playstation 3. In: ComputerBILD . June 5, 2008, accessed May 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Haze in the test. In: GamePro . May 21, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
