The release date for Ubisoft/Free Radicals new first person shooter has been a little hazy (*cough*) over the last six months, but it has now been confirmed that the game will launch on May 23. This isn’t another planned release date, and will not be subject to another delay, this is the real thing people!
Haze is finally coming.
meh
Not too fussed by this… online co-op might be good, but graphically and game play wise I dont think its breaking that good old fourth wall!
A playable (online?) demo might swing me though
Comment by elephant_stone — Apr 10, 2008 @ 11:34 am
Wow, you make it sound like its the biggest thing ever?!? It’s not like it’s GTA or anything…
Comment by Robert — Apr 10, 2008 @ 11:38 am
Oh stop being so negative you moany buggers. It’s good news about a PS3 game, isn’t that what you come here for!
Comment by TheShirts — Apr 10, 2008 @ 11:55 am
That’s no Swamp, that’s a space station
Comment by JohnSketch — Apr 10, 2008 @ 11:58 am
This whole Haze release debacle has made it into nothing but a joke.
Just hope this game lives up to expectations.
Personally not really concerned, just seems like another FPS. *sigh*
Where have all the RPG’s gone.
Comment by darkwater — Apr 10, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
I’ll still be picking this up, Free Radical are great at FPS games, Timesplitters still holds up today.
The slippage doesn’t bode well for the game though, but hopefully something good will come of Haze. I’ve read my comments about people playing the game at Play.com live and how they weren’t that impressed, but at the end of the day we all have a brain and our own free will…
Comment by MrGilder — Apr 10, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
Haze got a pretty good preview write up in Edge magazine:
“Perhaps Haze still looks a little underwhelming in places, and perhaps the cry of ‘political game’ will scare players away. It’s neither. Haze looks like being, first and foremost, a brilliant current-generation shooter debut for Free Radical. Alongside that, there are individual scenes featuring subject matter few other pieces of entertainment go near. If Haze’s excellent design is sustained throughout, then alongside it’s new narrative territory it may be that rarest of beasts: an excellent game that dares to treat us like adults.”
Comment by Matt — Apr 10, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
I saw the demo at Play.com Live, but could not get on a “pod” to try it out. It did make me smile though that the location where they had placed the stand was immediately above the stage when (Iain Lee, and) Gemma Atkinson stood with a great top/down vantage point of the whole, erm, spectacle on show.
I guess you either like first person shooters, or you don’t, and if you didn’t come for Gemma, then “Haze” may have got you excited instead.
This aside, it looked much like any other PS3 offering of this genre. I was interested in it when it was first touted for the new console, but due to delays, and with the now (relatively) imminent releases of “Resistance 2″, “Wet”, and “Project Origin”, I think “Haze” will have probably missed the audience it may have once secured.
As mentioned above, “TimeSplitters” was such a good series & it would be a shame not to see the same success on the PS3, The provision of an online demo would be a definite point in its favour as past experiences of slipped release dates and lack of any in-game footage have resulted in games with diminishing returns such as “Assassin’s Creed”.
The Japanese PLAYSTATION Network Store is getting the reported “face-lift” on 15 April, so we can but hope this will be one of the first items available.
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Apr 10, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
I am quite looking forward to this game and over recent years have grown to think that delays, for improving games that have been badly received early on, is only a good thing.
Comment by Chris — Apr 10, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
Key facts about Haze are
(1) yep we have a lot of FPS’s, but we like em right and it is looking like a good one
(2) it is a PS3 exclusive
So lets hope for a downloadable demo level on PSN so we can make our minds up eh?
Comment by MrJimmy — Apr 10, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
The delays have been frustrating, but my interest in this has never diminished. It’s been pre-ordered since before it became PS3 exclusive.
The online co-op aspect sounds great. Let’s not forget that it was planned for Haze before any announcements were made about a similar mode in Resistance 2 - which everyone is raving about.
Comment by Paranoimia — Apr 10, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Oh, and I had an e-mail from HMV back in February which gave the release date as 23rd May, so….
Comment by Paranoimia — Apr 10, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
@1 I don’t think your using the term “breaking the 4th wall” correctly. Breaking the forth wall means talking to the audience as if you are a fictional character admiting to being a fictional character. What does that have to do with Haze’s graphics and game play?
Comment by Moses — Apr 10, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
@all
I plan on waiting for the 360 version
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……….*twiddles thumbs*……..
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……dum dee dum….
Comment by JohnSketch — Apr 10, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
Im sorry but at play.com live i couldent belive what i was seeing when i saw haze.
It looked terrible and the gameplay didnt astonish me at all. Quite poor for a title that gets so much hype. And from one of my favorite developers!
Comment by Ricky — Apr 10, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
*raps JohnSketch’s knuckles*
Great news, this - Haze is officially my next gaming purchase. Timesplitters 2 was my favourite game on PS2 and, for me, the best FPS since Perfect Dark on any console. I just hope Haze, with it’s more solemn style, is more Half Life 2 than Crysis.
*scours internet for details of 360 version*
Comment by rooee — Apr 10, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
I’ll wait until the reviews are in before getting too excited. Saw some vids a month or 2 ago and the graphics looked poor… maybe it was an old video(?).
Good news though, something (potentially) to look for to, and something to keep me amused until June 12th ;o)
Comment by Mister_G — Apr 10, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
woohoo this is gonna be great
Comment by bignatt — Apr 10, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Its been said many times - this looks poor, there are wayyy too many FPS on the market, etc….however, I loved the original Time Splitters as a launch title for the PS2! 4 player split screen action (although Quake 2 did it on the PS1 pretty well too)…so I will give free radical a chance, as long as I get a playable demo on the store soon!
Comment by elephant_stone — Apr 10, 2008 @ 5:52 pm
@ JohnSketch:
“It’s too big to be a space station”.
Comment by Zed Zee — Apr 10, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Since Haze soldiers are given Nectar, can I use my Nectar card to buy it then?
Comment by Zed Zee — Apr 10, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
If this does come out as scheduled I would have had it on pre-order for a full 12 months…
Comment by Justin Bailey — Apr 10, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
@ Justin Bailey:
Oh dear. So your money has been in someone else’s account for a whole year, earning them interest…
Comment by Zed Zee — Apr 10, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
@ zed zee
You dont hand money over for Pre orders until release day generally
Comment by elephant_stone — Apr 10, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
If you don’t like it, then don’t buy it. And it’s damn easy to be negative before the fact. If it’s good or bad then we can make up our own minds thanks. I for one am looking forward to it.
They can delay games all they like, I really don’t mind. It only seems to be anonymous internet posters who really care about that sort of thing.
And anyway, it’s from Free Radical and it’s an exclusive on the PS3. So far.
Comment by Xephon1970 — Apr 10, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
For FPS Games coming like Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Interstellar Marines and having Call of Duty 4, I think this is a no purchase for me, though…Haze is looking good in much aspects that other FPSs don’t use that much but in regarding in other aspects, I don’t think is that much ambitious as it could be, but people have to buy what they think is good for them and Haze is not a Bad Game at all, just not the AAA-type of title that many wanted, relative to what’s its coming…that’s my side of the question.
Having delays are always bad for the consumer and even developers/publishers, but doesn’t have to be the major reason for ppl to quit for a purchase of a game.
Comment by Vasco 'XzN' Bruno — Apr 10, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
Personally i don’t think that many people are bothered. It’s a sub par first person shooter that’s been delayed because there worried about going up against the AAA titles and they no they wouldn’t sell it so there picking a the best time when they stand the best chance of selling this crap.
I was very excited about this game when i first sore it, but the play test footage makes it look utter crap. What’s with the nectar covered knife that kills everything, yet the grenade does f all? lol I hope they have sorted that out.
And the derelict building level that looks so grey and boring. Ubisoft have not got a very good track record when it comes to PS3 development, i cringe to think this is going to be a lagging screen tearing piece of s%^&
I hope they prove me wrong as we need another good shoter on the PS3 like COD4….
Sorry, but roll on RFOM2 and killzone 2.
Comment by Anthonyp — Apr 11, 2008 @ 8:14 am
@Anthonyp
Ubisoft are not developing the game, free radical are. And they have quite high standards (hence the delays), but I reckon they just aimed too low with the graphics and so now that all the models/environments are made it would take a LOT of effort to improve them substantially. So let’s hope they’ve really made the _gameplay_ top notch during the delay
Comment by Geoff — Apr 11, 2008 @ 9:47 am
3 weeks after GTA IV
3 weeks before MGS IV
Sorry Haze, you’re getting rented first.
Comment by Varone — Apr 11, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
@Geoff
Well, lets hope so.
When i seen those jungle screen shots, that’s when my nipples where hard! That’s what people want, they want crysis for the ps3 and those screen shots where the closest thing i’ve seen.
I wan’t to stealth round a jungle and cut peoples throats with a nectar knife and plant claymores under bushes and set traps, not run round butlins.
Scrap that god awful derelict level and give us some lush environments. Give me claymores that explode nectar, give me a nectar flame thrower, hand made weapons that the resistance would use.
A multiplayer map where you have to capture a nectar supply transport through a derelict village that would be cool, waiting in ambush with rpg’s filled with nectar!
Oh well….
Comment by Anthonyp — Apr 12, 2008 @ 8:22 am
FYI:
From the “Haze” Developer’s via the dedicated forums…
[ http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7551024144/m/6491039546/p/17 ]
===
Will Haze have a mandatory install?
[DL] You will need to go through a minimal install (about 4 Gigs) but not the whole game.
Is friendly fire ALWAYS enabled for both sides?
[DL] Yup. Overdosing a trooper wouldn’t be much used if he couldn’t shoot his friends! The moral of the story is: watch your fire!
How many maps are going to be on the online gaming ?
[DL] In addition to the whole campaign playable in coop, you mean? Well, we have 12 levels which are made of two variants each of six locations.
Will there be a mapmaker and an option to put these maps online, like in Timesplitters?
[DL] We could add it in but we’d have to delay the game for another year or so - any takers?
Will there be vehicles online?
[DL] Yes! All of them!
Will the vehicles be Sixaxis motion controlled? What are vehicles controls?
[DL] Vehicles are controlled using standard pad controls; point the stick in the direction you want and push the R2 button to go!
When driving a vehicle, will there be an option to view from in the car?
[DL] Not unless you have a PS3 in your own car.
Any secondary functions for the guns?
[DL] You mean in addition to being able to scavenge, weapon steal, lay mines, roll grenades along the floor, melee kick or create nectar grenades and nectar knives? In that case, no Smile
===
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — May 17, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
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