Haze Progress Report - "Not all is rosy."

During last week's GameCity event in Nottingham, IGN - and members of the Great British public - had the opportunity to go hands-on with a new section of Free Radical's upcoming drug-fuelled shooter Haze. Taking on the guise of a Promised Land rebel in the game's split-screen two-player co-op mode, they went up against beach-bound Mantel troops before working their way to a hotel on top of some cliffs.

The frame-rate (in the build IGN played at least) seemed rather temperamental, particularly during intense combat sections. However, this could have been down to the fact they were playing split-screen mode, doubling up the work for Sony's mighty PS3. Certainly, they've never experienced this kind of problem during previous single-player hands-on time, so IGN can only hope things are smoothed out prior to the game's release.

Certainly, while most of IGN's complaints should be fairly easy to rectify, IGN was left disappointed by Haze's relative lack of polish at this late stage. In terms of intensity and pacing the game still impresses, suggesting the groundwork for a truly solid FPS is there. Hopefully Ubisoft and Free Radical will have managed to iron out these last few niggles by the time Haze is released, and that the game proves to fulfill its awesome shooter potential.

[InMyOpinion]

"Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the interior of the hotel, which was disappointing to say the least. First of all, the graphics were hampered by some noticably low-res textures, making wall and objects throughout the lobby look lacklustre. What's more, some areas were sorely underlit and we were often plunged into darkness as we climbed stairwells, which proved to be more frustrating than tension building."

[sonarus]

I noticed those low res textures long ago. Like graphics in some areas are significantly better than in some other areas. Dat seems kinda lazy dnt it.

[InMyOpinion]

I noticed the same thing in Halo 3. Some of the environment textures look stunning (trees for example) while some look shoddy. Also the marines look like crap while the Arbiter and some of the enemies look extremely sharp. Still love the gameplay, and that's what's most important =)

[Shadow Flare]

The title should be, "Haze Progress Report - "AAA prospects looking Hazey". See what i did there?

Haze is one of those games i've kinda just haven't been bothered about recently whereas i was psyched for it at first. But the article did say it was a solid shooter. Maybe something will spark my interest in it again

[hazeblaze]

I think that's going a little far... aside from the complaints in this article, there have not been any other complaints about the game thus far. Even this article states this is the first time they've noticed any framerate issues!!!

The only dissapointment to me are the lack of polish inside the hotel. The game has a tremendous amount of polish in the areas that have been shown so far (as also insinuated in the article)... so I hope that there are not going to be many areas that disappoint.

Anyway, the article does state that the actual gameplay is what we would want from a solid shooter... and that is what matters most. But as I am looking forward to co-op, I would hope they get that ironed out as well as any last minute polish issues. All indications still point to this being one of the great titles of this winter.

[TheSadTruth]

PS3 fans are putting to much of a burden on Haze.. a game that just appeared suddenly out of no where and was hyped up SO much on this site. Halo 3 was expected to be a revolution in many Xbox 360 owners' eyes but it was nothing but just another "great game." (imo at least). Haze has been adopted on n4g to be the next "halo killer" when its more likely to be just "another" shooter. I expect many disagrees but I'm just saying you are ALL going to be heavily disappointed when its released.. just like with Lair.

[Nicosia]

This game kinda went low-key, which is a shame. The devs realy promoted the game, but after a while it went dark.I still believe the little hickups can be fixed, but i also believe this game will be delayed.

[hazeblaze]

Yea, I think that we may see a delay in the game as it still has not gone gold. But it has not gone low key by any means... the game has consistently been in the media every week since before E3. And so far, most media outlets have plenty of good things to say about what they've seen so far. I do think they'll have the game out by Christmas... but I'd hope they at least address framerate issues in the co-op mode (while it is good to hear there are no issues in single player). I can even stomach the occasional area having a lack of detail as all of what I've seen so far is visually amazing.

[macsto]

AAA am confirmed

[razer]

More like A-

[lawman1108]

I am starting to think only Sony and Insomniac should develop for this "system". This is just not that funny anymore folks, I hope the PSdreamcast holds on until MS drops the Elite $100 bucks in the Spring when GTA4 comes out

[trane07]

Ive aleady set myself up for dissapointment if there is any.

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

IGN loves pc and 180, they will always say that those two have such great graphics, but ps3? NAH

[Sam Fisher]

look at halo3, halo 2 got a better rating then 3, so ima have to disagree with u

[sajj316]

Get this title right Free Radical. I believe this title will be delayed also.

[THE_JUDGE]

what build it is? This could be an old version. Its not like they were playing the final one or playing it at a huge event. I'm still coping it!!!

[otherZinc]

about to crash & burn like those before it (HEAVENLY SWORD, LAIR, WARHAWK, MOTORSTORM, & new AAA wannabe's RATCHET & CLANK, EYE OF JUDGEMENT). HAZE will be delayed along with UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3.

If the PS3 is going to make it these games need to sell, they cant keep getting killed by the 360 if they want exclusives.

[thereapersson]

You are an idiot. Period.

[Sam Fisher]

there r no good games and if there was they fuk it up im only getting mgs4 and ff series 4 it and thats it, no killzone( it fuked up too many times) and DMC is 4 my 360, ut3 is a pc point blank and i hate pc games..... so ps3 got to step up or die

[hazeblaze]

Have you been in a coma for the last few months??? Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm and Ratchet & Clank have all received rave reviews and are each selling well.

Your attempt at a negative spin fails miserably.

[Vertius]

Did you write that message on your mobile phone, Sam?

And what's this about Ratchet & Clank being a "AAA Wannabe?" By every definition, it's a AAA title. And Warhawk is the greatest console multiplayer game ever made according to critics, and Motorstorm has sold over a million copies.

Fanboyism is one thing, but this is just ignorance.

[InMyOpinion]

Drakes Fortune is to be released soon and I think it will turn out to be a great game.

[lawman1108]

You Sony tools just can not have an open mind. "HALO3 sucked" (3 million sold in weeks...WEEKS...not year(s) I want Sony to make great games because I own each system HOWEVER when they talk up a system and don't deliver they should be knocked.

[Koneesha]

ok well R&C is a triple a game. Warhawk is one of the best online games ever. Eye of judgement never was said to be a AAA game. Heavenly sword was great. The only bad one out of that is Lair. And i must say its selling pretty for in japan and stuff. Just would like to point that out.

[gamesblow]

Ubi's attached... It's atuomatically going to suck and real bad. Who ever gets their hopes up for an ubi game needs to take up bridge or bingo.

[Sam Fisher]

F*** YOU im a UBISOFT HARDCORE FAN TILL I DIE ... but yea haze looks wack and i hope assassins creed is good im not going to buy it till i play it or see wat the reviews r

[FF7numba1]

F**K you sam fisher your a fakeboy. If your a gamer you should be more open to games that u haven't played yet especially if your ubisoft fan.

[thereapersson]

Even if it gets a 7 or an 8, i'll still play it and most likely enjoy it. Hell, I hyped myself up for the Darkness, and found that it wasn't everything that I thought it would be. But did that mean I didn't enjoy it? Hell no!

I just hope they can manage to fix the framerate issues, because I did sort of notice some problems in previous videos that I have watched in regards to multiplayer gameplay. With the developers pushing multiplayer as much as they are with this game, framerate issues in multi seems like it would be a BIG focus to eliminate.

Edit: Disagrees on that? Excellent! I guess we can all hope for framerate problems then, seeing as how that's what some people want!

[Keowrath]

Promised Land??? Good start! I was under the impression the rebels were the promised HAND? I wonder what the Mental soldiers are like.

Still looking forward to Haze. This "preview" hasn't unsettled me in the slightest.

[mighty_douche]

as i see it, this is is pretty screwed either way, if it releases soon it has to compete with CoD4 and if it gets delayed its gonna be up against UT3.

now, personally i cant understand why anyone would pick haze over those 2 titles. obviously tho it all boils down to personal choice.

[Sam Fisher]

hmmmmm........none...

[hazeblaze]

It's not about picking Haze over those two titles... Haze offers a comnpletely different gameplay experience than either of those titles. And as a true hardcore gamer, I intend to own all three.

[mighty_douche]

theres the personal choice i mentioned.

[pilotpistolpete]

I'm actually gonna pick up Haze over CoD4. I dunno, HAze just seems like more of my genre. I was never into war simulators, but that's juts my opinion. Plus, I get FPS for coop play, so HAze it is. It's gonna be nice to be able to play up to 4. At resistance, we were always switching remotes around, and I'm the only one who plays reverse axis, so we always had to switch axis.

[Koneesha]

Im getting haze. I never really liked the war games that are uber realistic. I hate how in ghost recon you get shot 2 times and you die. Also i like the scificis twist to haze soo im picking that up over COD4.

[otherZinc]

are you nuts!

Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, I have every game and when co-op link was available, I would buy 2 of each day 1. Thats more than 20 games all from those three games.

So "gamesblow" you BLOW, your PS3 isn't made to play AAA games, thats the problem. And if the PS3 does have a AAA game, people should buy it but they don't.

[gamesblow]

Meanwhile back at the ranch there, guy. Maybe you should open up a window and let some of that creepy out.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

I'm still sad they canned the 360 version :(

[Sam Fisher]

b/c 360 got gears of war and ps3 needs a gears of war universe game so the have UT3

Edit= i didnt relize that i was in the haze post i thought i was in a UT3 post....ooopsy.... heh heh heh....(-_0)

[gamesblow]

No, they didn't... Trust me. It's Ubi, folks. This game will be on xbox 360 right around the time Killzone 2 hits. Reason...

1 - It's ubi
2 - Haze didn't ahve a chance with Halo 3, Mass effect and Orange box on the xbox 360... No chance in hell and a hand basket made from cotton. Ubi knew that and they opted to make Money on the Ps3 end of the spectrum "as much as they could" and then release the xbox 360 version when the itme is right. Basically, when they could actually make money on the xbox 360. I.E. "the winter time"

[razer]

when the game sells 90,000 copies and they lose their ass on this game they will get the message.

Also, don't mention Gears of War in the same sentence as this title because it's insulting to Gears. =)

[gamehendge]

"In terms of intensity and pacing the game still impresses"

all i need to know...

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

180 cant run this game, thats why its was dropped from both 180 and pc, cause the ps3 is unmatched, and not near in rendering, nothing comes close to ps3s rendering, so that is why ps3s haze will NOT be ported, and the dreams of free radical could only come true on ps3

[InMyOpinion]

But the 360 can run COD4 which is graphically much more impressive? =)
How come Crysis is a PC exclusive?

[razer]

This is the new PS3tard mantra "the 180 can't play this game" and obviously a dumb statement.. Thanks for owning this fool with your comment..

[dhammalama]

has been hyping this game from the get go. The early jungle footage is still the best stuff they've shown, but it seems like this title's gotten so much attention, and I haven't seen anything yet to really interest me in it. Hopefully it does have a really great morally challenging storyline that makes me concider what it is to be a gamer, but . . . I'm not holding my breath.

I'm somewhat hopeful though because I know free radical are a well respected crew.

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

the graphics are impressive none the less, no matter what a pc/180 gamer says

[Bullseye]

Why? No. Seriously, why? How come so many PS3 games suffer this fate? I know this may be sorted out before release, but framerate seems to be a focal point for many PS3 game problems.Does it run smoothly many ask? well why shouldn't it run smoothly with all that untapped power, apparently available.And its not just the PS3. While i haven't noticed framerate issues as such, on my 360 games. I have observed on several games a sort of momentary glitching when loading or switching frames eg GOW and Bioshock.Although in the case of 360 this could be unreal engine? I'm increasingly disappointed with the quality of software on both consoles.We were all promised next gen.When are we gonna see a game that is smooth,loads fast,expansive,colourful and lives up to the hype? More RAM anyone?

[Xi]

I'm not completely sure, but I think it has to do with the ps3 fillrate acting as a choke to the framebuffer.

but don't quote me on that.

[DARK WITNESS]

for all this talk of untapped power, it sure does feel like there are lots of issues limiting the games.

there are very, very few games that are really new and different. it really is last gen with better graphics...so far.

[cherdman]

Why does this surprise anyone? Haze has always looked like a bargain-bin game at best.

[DARK WITNESS]

when i first saw screen shots of this in a 360 mag, all i thought was.. yep, another FPS.

Ok, so talk about new gameplay stuff and how ground braking and different its going to be...for how long have Dev's been promising this..

then all the rumors about it being ps3 exclusive and all of a sudden it is getting hype like no mans business. All the ps3 fans going on about how its going to own. all the xbox fans going on about how they are going to get it anyway...then the dev mentions the word " halo " and it goes off the chart !

could not careless, there are too many other fps shooters coming out to be interested in this. not interested as a 360 owner, not interested as a PS3 owner.

Maybe it will be good, but it does not look outstanding to me. I have more interest in Unreal and Drakes Fortune.

[Funky Town_TX]

I'll wait for the retail copy to pass judgement. 4 player split is important for me in a FPS. I like LAN parties on projectors. 2 player split (gears of war) is a joke. If they nned to remove some poly's and make it work. The GFX are not that good to start with. I was looking for a PS3 shooter other than KZ2.

[Apocwhen]

Haze will only do 2 player split screen. To play 4 players you need 2 copies of the game, PS3's and Tv's hooked up on a LAN, 2 player splitscreen on both.

[Bladestar]

I think this game is another victim of fanboy hype... we seen it before on (Lair, etc) were games are hyped as 10/10 AAA titles and once released BAM! fall on their faces... not for being bad games... but for being hyped and not being able to meet expectations.

[patriotZero]

180 cant handle that

[Bladestar]

Please be more specific...
"The frame-rate (in the build IGN played at least) seemed rather temperamental"
or
"graphics were hampered"
they mentioned lots of issues..

[razer]

is the definition of a Droid. He is caught in a feedback loop and repeats the same thing on every post.. While a game like CoD4 which looks a million times better and is 60fps 1080p and runs just fine on the 360. And its even more funny on a post that is all about the PS3 not handling a game.. LOL

[DARK WITNESS]

please explain ?

Wasn't it the PS3 build that they played ?

[lawman1108]

POW!!!!!!!!!!! Xbox 360: hardware to software ratio: 6.59 (hardware total sold = 6.8 million; software total sold = 44.8 million)
PlayStation 3: hardware to software ratio: 3.58 (hardware total sold = 1.9 million; software total sold = 6.8 million)
Wii: hardware to software ratio: 3.44 (hardware total sold = 4.5 million; software total sold = 15.5 million)

Man.....44 million to 6 million..... W33PB3YOND

[darkness within]

it didn't have any frame rate issues when I played but there was some problems when i tried to heal a team mate cause it wouldn't always respond, but it still looks a promising title.

[Marceles]

I'm still keeping this game with low expectations just to not overhype it if it turns out to be mediocre, and so I can be even more impressed if all of the kinks in the game are ironed out. The game is no Crysis, but it's still a great looking console game that I might still pick up if it turns out to really be good

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

:-)

[patriotZero]

Haze graphics better than Galo...Xbots say blablabla..I saw Halo and PGR forza..OLDGEN=180 for kids=180 it means toybox360..Understood xbots??

[karlostomy]

i want very much 360 but babooshka she not allow.
Please senda alls of your dollars money to nigeria for me patriot
is no joke ok no kidding ok !!
i ps3fandroid and hates very much evil 180, because i cannot afford.
i speaka short hope you like
needa money to buy 360 and lots english lessons.
see later all of you. and god bless

[DolphGB]

...and didn't notice any framerate issues in split-screen mode. In fact, you can read all about the experience here and at PS3 Attitude - "Haze not 'gold' but still glitters". Not sure if the machine IGN played on had the exact same settings. You would assume so, but there could have been all sorts of differences in the PS3 setup, as they had four machines there.

[OOG FunK]

I duno if im crazy but personally of what I had seen of the game it hadnt really caught my eye that much when I had a game like cod4 comn

[NiteWarrior]

id say this game still looks great and the few problems he stated doesnt seem to be THAT BIG of a deal to me, at least not big enough to prevent me from buying the game. I think this game is going to be an amazing shooter.

[Covenant]

"Not all is rosy."

I smell a delay.

[joydestroy]

i think Free Radical will fix most of the small issues before going gold. probably another positive for the delay.