
	Platform PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Genre First Person Shooter Developer Free Radical Publisher Ubisoft ETA Q4 2007
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Haze

It’s time for more FPS hijinx on the PC and next generation consoles, as Ubisoft has recently announced Haze a little while back. The company is promising good times for all thanks in large part to a number of well established developers participating in the creation of Haze, touting that the game is being handled by the same folks responsible for TimeSplitters. Also, since the publisher is also responsible for Far Cry and GRAW, then this new game has got to be good. Or at least that’s what Ubisoft is saying…

The game takes place in the future where governments no longer have standing armies, and instead hire out private military forces called Private Military Corporations (is this how the folks at Blackwater envision the future?). Players will control one such soldier in a private military unit, and take advantage of all of the fancy technology, and bio-medical enhancements that come part in parcel with futuristic military engagements. As the game goes on, we shall be introduced to a rebel group calling themselves the Promise Hand, and not long after this players will find things taking a turn toward the unexpected.

Advertisement

As mentioned before, bio-medical enhancements play a prominent role in the game, with something called Nectar being the hip, new drug that all of the cool soldiers for hire are popping. These will help players in a variety of ways, but the substance also has its side effects, which need to be considered, and also play a role in Haze’s story. (I wonder if the side effects result in a purple haze…)

Advertisement

One of the more handy aspects of Haze is that the developers are trying to make it so that players never have to deal with loading times. There have been other games to do this, and the feature has helped immensely with pacing in these cases, so it will likely be greeted with open arms when it shows up in Haze.

By the looks of things, though, what Haze comes down to is that it’s an FPS set in the future, and there isn’t much more to be said without dipping into the world of rhetoric and PR spin. The game will try to be tops in its genre, we’re assuming, and that’s all one can really ask for. Not every game that comes out needs to reinvent the wheel, it just needs to be fun. Hopefully Haze will deliver when it comes out.

Jeff Nash

May 29, 2007