Haze Review

This going to sound weird considering how much of a bad rep this game has but I think Haze has a pretty good story. Free Radical's writing is still pretty good in a game as mediocre as this. The game is surprisingly committed to keep the player in first person at all times. I wasn't expecting that in a game with such a bad rep. That and the writing is solid. And the game makes good points and the twists are foreshadowed well. I actually think Duvall is a good villain despite him no showing for a good amount of the game. Merino being an asshole was also foreshadowed well even the protagonist is decent.

The gameplay however is mediocre and I get Free Radical went through a number of development issues when making the game but the end result feels half baked. I'll start with when you play as the Mantle Soliders, these parts are decent if pretty standard, what makes these sections stand out is the Nector mechanic and the game does a decent job at making you rely on in tone with the story of the game. Enemies are really hard to see without Nector and they can get the drop on you if you don't actively use it, and it's pretty interesting how the game encourages you to get kills to sustain your Nector bar, and funnily enough in a 7th gen regen health shooter actually encourages you to be aggressive to keep the meter full. The enemies and weapons are nothing to write home about and are typical human enemies with hitscan guns fare meaning you will be using the same weapons the enemies will be using, and more so in this game because the basic assault rifles can kill your usual grunts with ease in this game and the shotgun feels awkward to use and it's better to have a weapon that you can keep firing when enemies are shooting you which is more so for the rebel sections and now let's move on to that. While I get what Free Radical was trying to do here in that they wanted to created to change up the gameplay and even have the player be in sync with player character in that they take away the very mechanic you were using and now the player and the player character needs to adapt and this could potentially elevate the game but the problem is everything about these sections feels underdeveloped, the game throws in mechanics like knives, disarming, playing dead, Nector Grenades and hitting Mantle soldiers in the back but of all this is pointless due to two big issues: the terrible AI and how enemies take little damage to die from the basic assault rifles. You know why Halo had the shield and flesh system and that enemies took a lot of damage in those games? It was to show more of their "intelligent" AI behavour like running away, jumping away from grenades and moving out of the way from your shots. Haze has none of this and the mantle soldiers just move on occasion rarely ever flank and rush your position. They never show any signs of intelligence to the point where you even can use the above mentioned mechanics. That and since the basic ARs can kill them in a few hits means that most combat encounters just end in you press ADS, and firing with little depth to the shooting.

There are other issues with the game like the scripted sequenced not being that great, and the driving while not terrible aren't as refined as they should be and have weird quirks like vehicles being on seperate health which is why I get why Bungie dropped that system after Halo CE. Weapon feedback both with the sounds and damage animations are average and the melee attack being inconsistent.

Overall, Haze is a game I get why is considered mediocre. The story I got more enjoyment out of than I thought I was going to but the gameplay especially the half baked rebel gameplay made me rate a game that was a potential 6 out of 10 to a 5 out of 10. I feel bad for Free Radical, they were just consumed by over ambition and the changing industry landscape at the time and it lead to them being shut down.