Bad initial reviews for Haze

ShaneU

* IGN (45/100) - "While their previous work was quite excellent, Haze is anything but, coming across as a middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters."


* GamersHell (65/100) - "Haze is still sitting in the wake of Call of Duty 4, and falls into that category of being just another FPS. The game tries to include different content with Nectar abilities and rebel dynamics, but a confused story, lacking gameplay elements and technical bugs bog the game down from being a stellar PS3 exclusive."


* The A.V. Club (C+) - "More narratively cohesive than the Halo trilogy, but less inventive and compelling than Resistance: Fall Of Man ... too bad it's paired with one of the more pedestrian FPS games to come along in recent years."

source: http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/05/20/haze-initial-reviews-are-not-promising/

koneko

Tom Chick:

http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/news/441/

Okay, it's after midnight so the embargo is lifted on the review copies of Haze that went out last week.

I've played through the whole thing and as much as it pains me to say this -- I've loved most everything these developers have been doing, and I wish them all the success in the world -- Haze is utter and complete tripe. If I can prevent just one of you from throwing away money on this underdone turd of a shooter, I will be happy.

I'll have a full review online somewhere in about a week, but I care enough about you guys, and I know that enough of you guys are Timesplitters fans like me, that I just had to warn you, before it was too late. Heck, get Dark Sector, or that cool Viking game, or that cool time travel one whose name I can never remember. But trust me: this is not the shooter you're looking for.

Ouch.

K.O.Kiki

Plea to game developers: stop making FPS shooters.
We've got plenty now, thanks.

Signed, the Internet*


*may or may not reflect the opinion of the entire Internet

Mossy Monk

So much hype, sigh.

Jessthemess

playing the full game now Graphics are very good, and the game is alrite, just alrite. Nice try sony bring on mgs4.

koneko

What? Sony didn't make the game.
Everyone else is saying the complete opposite to "graphics are very good".

In any case, EG's review is up:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=142250

4/10

lee_baby_simms

Wow. I was expecting a 6 or a 7 from EG.

Its all a bit of surprise really. Free Radical made time splitters which i loved.

Roll on Wipeout HD and MGS4.

RobertFoster

Mossy Monk wrote: »

So much hype, sigh.

Seems to be the way these days. Some games get hyped to bits, but end up disappointing. Assassins Creed, Army of Two and now Haze

Haze will render at 576p upscaled to 720p

Whats the point of spending big bucks on a HDTV and a PS3, and there was people thinking Halo 3 didn't look great and it rendered at 640p.

K.O.Kiki

hellboy99 wrote: »

Haze will render at 576p upscaled to 720p

Whats the point of spending big bucks on a HDTV and a PS3, and there was people thinking Halo 3 didn't look great and it rendered at 640p.

Please shut up about "render resolutions" & focus on the important bits of gameplay - AI, game feel, design choices, etc.

We don't need any more hardware/software pissing contests.

Zombrex

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Please shut up about "render resolutions" & focus on the important bits of gameplay - AI, game feel, design choices, etc.

Please! :rolleyes:

The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 costs hundreds of euros. If we are just going to end up playing games that run in just-above-SD upscaled to 720p (Haze, GTA4, Halo 3) we might as well have just held on to our Xboxes (the original ones)

K.O.Kiki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Please shut up about "render resolutions" & focus on the important bits of gameplay - AI, game feel, design choices, etc.

We don't need any more hardware/software pissing contests.

If I were to side with your comment, "focus on the important bits of gameplay", you only have to read the many reviews out there at the minute, it's by far a great game gameplay wise.

For the majority of people that went and purchased a PS3 it would of been based on the fact that "Sony" advertised it as "the next gen in gaming, both in graphics & gameplay !".
We all know about the first demo scenes that appeared when the PS3 was announced only to later find out that it was FMV footage and not actual gameplay. It's not a cheap console and Sony sell this machine as a Blu-Ray/HD console and thats what we come to expect.

It's a well known fact that developers are putting more and more into the way a game looks (looks being the main selling point these days) and sometimes fail with the gameplay and this game is one of them. For all the hype and Free Radicals promise to deliver the next best FPS, Haze is a big disappointment.

I like everyone else love to play a game that has brilliant gameplay, will last more than 4 - 8 hours, have great multi & online play, and look great on my PS3 but this isn't one of them. My opinion on the game would be that it's an ordinary and unremarkable shooter, there's far better FPS games out there that would deserve my parting of €56 - €70.

mathias

Even the ad for this one looks poor , It might merit a rent for an evening , thats about it , I wont be shelling out full price for it anyway.

Helix

Wicknight wrote: »

Please! :rolleyes:

The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 costs hundreds of euros. If we are just going to end up playing games that run in just-above-SD upscaled to 720p (Haze, GTA4, Halo 3) we might as well have just held on to our Xboxes (the original ones)

well then sell your poxy bleedy ps3 and buy an xbox and shut up about the unimportant dross

witnessmenow

Why is it so wrong to expect HD from Ps3/360 games? You would think that all of there games would be at least 720p.

Now saying that , if a game ticks all the other boxes i wouldnt give a sh1t what it looks like.

Captain Chaos

Well Microsoft stated that all 360 games have to be at a minimum standard of 720p and 50-60fps which 90% of the 360 games are, Halo 3 being one that is not.

The PS3 has a good few games that are not even 720p native and they are on the 360 never mind 1080p. UT3 on the PS3 is 576p whatever and will be 720p native when it's released on the 360.

You would expect that the PS3 would have higher res textures seeing as the games have to install to the harddrive like a PC where as the 360 runs them off the DVD will a small memory buffer.

kmart6

Won't be getting Haze so....:(

Helix

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Well Microsoft stated that all 360 games have to be at a minimum standard of 720p and 50-60fps which 90% of the 360 games are, Halo 3 being one that is not.

The PS3 has a good few games that are not even 720p native and they are on the 360 never mind 1080p. UT3 on the PS3 is 576p whatever and will be 720p native when it's released on the 360.

You would expect that the PS3 would have higher res textures seeing as the games have to install to the harddrive like a PC where as the 360 runs them off the DVD will a small memory buffer.

but the crux of the matter is that

a) the game is good

or

b) the game is not good

the rest is immaterial

Helix

witnessmenow wrote: »

Why is it so wrong to expect HD from Ps3/360 games? You would think that all of there games would be at least 720p.

Now saying that , if a game ticks all the other boxes i wouldnt give a sh1t what it looks like.

your last point is exactly why its wrong to expect it

if we ever reach a stage where every game is amazing, then yes, lets expect amazing graphics too

but we're a long long way away from that point. the majority of games release are rubbish or mediocre at best, and would be rubbish or mediocre even if they had photorealistic graphics. lets worry about what matters first and foremost which is the gameplay, and if everyone nails that consistently, then we can worry about the other stuff

ill take a rubbish, yet playable, looking game above a flashy 60fps 1080i monster any day

RobertFoster

While graphics are a nice thing to have, it's an area of gaming that's a big problem these days. The costs involved in getting super duper graphics have caused the cost of gaming to escalate. This is making developing games so expensive that some of the little devs can't keep up, and are leaving the industry or being gobbled up by the big corporates.

When's the last time we've seen a good 2D game that was mass-market and not on XBLA/PSN? They don't come around very often because some publishers won't fund games that aren't 3D, mainly because lil'Johnny McAdverage-Gamer pick graphics over the other important stuff (gameplay, story, longevity, etc.).

Nice graphics are good and all, but I don't like it when they're touted as the main selling point of the game. It's seen on PC gaming too. If the next best thing isn't an FPS with bleeding edge graphics, then it's ignored.

yayamark

Just downloaded and played a demo.

Not great in fairnes. The bit i played was only average, it was hard to get around as the screen was very dark.

Wont be buying it im afraid.

de5p0i1er

Thanks for the tips boys, I'll save my money.

K.O.Kiki

Just to weigh in really really quickly, I wasn't defending Haze (was never interested in the first place, saw it as just another brown FPS) or graphics or PS3 -- I just prefer to discuss game play deficiencies rather than have to see a thread denigrate into a "this game only runs at SD!".

So, um, yeah.

Captain Chaos

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Just to weigh in really really quickly, I wasn't defending Haze (was never interested in the first place, saw it as just another brown FPS) or graphics or PS3 -- I just prefer to discuss game play deficiencies rather than have to see a thread denigrate into a "this game only runs at SD!".

So, um, yeah.

Well it's a below average shooter to put it bluntly. I'd rate Killzone on the PS2 as a better game, which I still play the odd time. Haze plays like a last gen game, its shocking the Free Radical team released it in this form at all. The team must have lost some of it's member from the old Time Splitter days or they have either failed or don't have the ability to move with the times.

Oh and BTW this game does run in HD if you have the means to display it, anything over 480p is HD. Like what was said above, if a game has enough quality to do what it needs to do, the graphics don't matter too much unless they are a very important part of the gameplay mechanics.

Niall0

if i can get it cheap i will because it looks like a bit of a laugh.

TheAmateur

Just saw an ad for it... even the ad isn't impressive. The Halo 3 ad... now that was cool. Ah well. Red Faction 3, anyone?

mathias

anything over 480p is HD

No , its 700 vertical lines minimum , to be called HD. If it was anything over 480p then 576i or p would qualify and it clearly doesnt , as thats PAL SD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

The lowest resolution qualifying for the term HD is 720p , thats more than 700 lines of vertical resolution. anything lower is SD.

norrie rugger

mathias wrote: »

No , its 700 vertical lines minimum , to be called HD. If it was anything over 480p then 576i or p would qualify and it clearly doesnt , as thats PAL SD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

The lowest resolution qualifying for the term HD is 720p , thats more than 700 lines of vertical resolution. anything lower is SD.

Which is why people are rightly pissed off for being bombarded with "hi Def" gaming, when it is clearly not the case.

As for the Orig Topic, I had good hopes for Haze.
Been tracking it for ages and all the prospects were good, very disappointed that it plays like a hurler from Waterford (knows how, just not very well)

mathias

Yup , its pretty bad alright , had a go at the demo , didnt realise it would actually stink so much , I take back the comment about it maybe being worth a rental !

Captain Chaos

mathias wrote: »

No , its 700 vertical lines minimum , to be called HD. If it was anything over 480p then 576i or p would qualify and it clearly doesnt , as thats PAL SD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

The lowest resolution qualifying for the term HD is 720p , thats more than 700 lines of vertical resolution. anything lower is SD.

Thats news to me:o.

K.O.Kiki

^-- Noooooo!!!

wrafter

I'm addicted to Haze online multiplayer. Any other Irish players online playing this game?

daveyid89

thought this was gonna be about the initial review of haze being crap... but reloking at it to see its good... which its not:(
i want this game but wont let myself buy it:(

wrafter

@daveyid89: It can be picked up for next to nothing in discounted sections of games shops all around the country. Would recommend you get it, then skip the single player mode, and get yourself online. It's really very good. Let me know if you get onto it, and we'll hook-up.

cotwold

I got it for the online mode there last week and havent been able to connect to a single game yet. There doesnt seem to be anything going on with the ranked servers and i cant connect to any of the unranked games.

wrafter

For every ranked game there are about 20 unranked games. Ranked games are rarely played. With regard to your problem about unable to connect, I'm not sure what happened, I am unable to play about 1 night in 30, if/when servers are down, otherwise no difficulty.