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HAZE impressions & media thread

O

Odrion

Banned
dirtmonkey37 said:
I still don't understand the draw of this game. What's its most prominent aspect? The story? The Nectar system?
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Speevy said:
The game looks great, but isn't the color yellow a little conspicuous? Why not hot pink?
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Bees, bzzzz bzzzz. Perhaps the theme is an analogy on hive mindedness?
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
Kabuki Waq said:
when the dev said they are leading with the PS3 did they mean Release date or Lead sku?!


PS3 lead sku makes this an instant purchase on ps3 for me.
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The PS3 is the lead development platform. Always has been, as far as I know.
 
S

Salazar

Member
ElectricBlue187 said:
the game looks very generic
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Maybe the colour scheme (f*cking love it) plays an exaggerated role in my impressions, but it just feels unique to me. I'm amped to get around doing reckless stuff in that armour and in those vehicles. It looks like there are significantly different environments - hopefully not too much desert - and a timed PS3 exclusive kind of works for me. I get to see more or less exactly how it will run and read all the reviews and impressions, and I'll hopefully have a better picture of how xmas and later is going to pan out release-wise. Co-op could be damned intriguing, with people all differently affected by the Nectar.
 
C

calder

Member
Looks fresh enough for me to get me over a growing FPS fatigue (hey, at least it's not WW2 right). Mainly I'm excited for any shooter that has a serious coop mode built in - the interview I watched didn't mention it but I'm assuming it's an online coop mode.

Being able to play the whole game through with 3 other ppl? Sold. :D
 
M

Mau ®

Member
ElectricBlue187 said:
the game looks very generic
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I agree (not trolling) I dont see anything to gloat about here. And I AM a big PS3 fan

Maybe I need to wait and see videos, maybe a demo!
 
S

Speevy

Banned
Odrion said:
Bees, bzzzz bzzzz. Perhaps the theme is an analogy on hive mindedness?
Click to expand...



Yeah that's fine and all, I guess I'm trying to say it looks stupid, like someone photoshopped that in there.

Again, this is not a knock on the technical aspects of the visuals, which are awesome.
 
K

KevinRo

Member
wow this game looks amazing.

i like how the man screems 'hwaaaa' when he jumps the 'warthog' like vehicle over the ramp. :lol

24 players online!!!
 
S

SealSqueal

Member
I haven't had the chance to watch the videos yet, but from the screens this looks like the most advanced graphics yet for a console FPS. Free Radical have worked out the PS3?

I like the armour, but damn the names are stupid in this game. Nectar? Mantel? I keep thinking of the toy company.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
mantel1.jpg


If this shot is truly representative of the general tone and the A.I. behavior, then god damn.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
Speevy said:
The game looks great, but isn't the color yellow a little conspicuous? Why not hot pink?
Click to expand...

Meh, realism isn't always the best option. They look cool and the design is consistent with the Mantel symbolism, so it works. And honestly, if there is one thing I'm not going to doubt when it comes to this game, it'd be the design of characters. FRD proved a long time ago that it's second to none in character design, and we're finally getting to see that talent approach a more realistic look. Aside from the Mantel troops, that rebel character is one of the best damn characters I've come across. And I'm not talking about tech alone (which would be dumb seeing as how it's a CG trailer), but rather design. Hell, it may actually be the best character design I've seen in a game to date.

Everyone's seen the official trailer by now, right? I wouldn't typically recommend a game trailer that featured CG and Live action exclusively, but this trailer is really ****ing good.
 
E

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
Yeah I remember the previous shots of this game and it looked generic, now they got the presentation 100% right. This FPS stands out!

Thumbs up to the artists and their lead!
 
Z

zoukka

Member
The trailer was so cheesy! Story-wise i dont expect anything from this. But it`s Free Radical so the emphasis is elsewhere. 4-player CO-OP and tons of Multiplayer shit. That`s enough.
 
J

JCBossman

Banned
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
 
A

alterego

Junior Member
Haze dev interview: http://www.gameswank.com/content/view/108/1/

This is a global interview conducted at the UBIDAY event in Paris. The game will be releasing for the ps3, xbox360 and pc this fall.

Continue to read the full interview
When will the game HAZE be available?

[DL] HAZE will release in fall 2007.



Who is developing the game?
[DL] HAZE is being developed by Free Radical Design - the company behind the critically acclaimed TimeSplitters series. Ubisoft is the publisher of HAZE.


OFFICIAL SPEAKER

Could you please introduce yourself to our readers, and tell us what your function is involving HAZE?

[DL] My name is Derek Littlewood, and I'm Project Lead of HAZE. Also answering questions are Steve Ellis, who is a Director of Free Radical, and our Screenwriter Rob Yescombe.

STORYLINE & SETTINGS

What is the storyline?

[RY] In 2048 there is no more NATO, no more UN. In a bid to reduce their national debts, most Western governments outsource their military requirements to Mantel Global Industries – a huge multi-national corporation with their own private army for hire. As a company, Mantel has concerns in everything from plastics to petrol, engines to computers. They are involved in providing the materials or designs for nearly every aspect of modern life. However, in this story, we focus on two of their primary businesses: their armed forces, and their biomedical support systems.

Guerrilla soldiers in a region of South America have overthrown the government. Mantel is called in to deal with the problem – to restore democracy to this war-torn land. To make things easier for their soldiers, Mantel’s biomedical department has developed a ‘nutritional supplement’ called ‘Nectar’ that enables the troops to fight harder and smarter.

You play as Sergeant Shane Carpenter – a good man, with good intentions. With all the best equipment, tactics and support, Mantel soldiers have it easy.

HAZE is set over a three-day period during the war. These few days will change the life of Shane Carpenter forever.

DEVELOPERS’ and UBI’s AMBITION + CONCEPT

How did you first come up with the concept of the game, and how has this concept changed as development progressed?

[DL] Free Radical is renowned for innovation in First Person Shooters – and HAZE will continue this trend. We have honed our skills in delivering action-packed gameplay, and with HAZE we will be wielding all our experience and making sure that we bring something particularly exciting to the table.

From the birth of the concept for HAZE, one of our chief priorities has been to deliver a genuinely moving and emotional experience – but never at the expense of the gameplay. The narrative is packed with rounded characters, each suffering or succeeding in their own human journey.

Our Art Team is the envy of the games industry. Our guys are world-class, and HAZE has provided the perfect forum for them to step out from the trademark art style of TimeSplitters and to really show what they can do. The realism of the environments in HAZE is really going to blow you away.

The game is definitely very close to our original intention. So in terms of development, our ongoing task has simply been to find as many intelligent ways to facilitate that action/emotion experience as possible. Ubisoft's input has been invaluable thanks to their own experience in creating tactically rich, narrative-led experiences.

What are your ambitions with this new franchise?

[DL] We want to redefine the intensity and variety of emotions a player can experience in an action FPS. We want HAZE to become the definitive next-gen shooter and maintain Free Radical's reputation for developing some of the best games in the world.

How will it differ from other next gen shooter games within the Ubisoft titles and within the competitors?

[DL] HAZE takes a unique and challenging point of view on the presentation of war in videogames. The themes of the narrative cover dangerous topics – the ethics of war as entertainment; how we absolve ourselves from the responsibility of shooting another human being, just because we’re told to. It’s edgy stuff.

I can't say too much about it even at this stage, but it asks questions and raises issues that are worth debating long after you’ve finished the game. Visually, HAZE will certainly set a new benchmark, but we believe it will also set a precedent for the quality of writing that we believe should exist in the next generation of games.

HAZE is jam-packed with fresh gameplay concepts – Mantel provides a top-of-the-line high-tech combat package, including the latest ballistic weaponry, vehicles and explosives. However, the jewel in the crown is NECTAR, “a bio-medically engineered nutritional supplement“which enhances the performance of Mantel’s troops.

Nectar provides you with distinctive fighting abilities that are key to your success as a Mantel Trooper. We meticulously developed these ‘Nectar Abilities’ through carefully analyzing how players approach First Person Combat – you’ll see them in the gameplay demo!

As Mantel will tell you, Nectar is great! But between you and me, it has some unnerving drawbacks that the Promise Hand has been known to take advantage of…

It seems that there are still lots of mysteries un-revealed, what are you guys hiding?

[DL] Plenty! There’s more to HAZE than meets the eye, and there’s certainly more to Mantel too. In fact, every aspect of the game holds a surprise, secret or twist – the storyline, the gameplay, the graphics. Nothing is safe!

I can’t say too much about this yet, but there is a dark underbelly to Nectar too. It’s influence can get unpleasant if used improperly…

CHARACTERS

Who do you embody?

[RY] Sergeant Shane Carpenter – a young soldier with his heart set on doing the right thing.

Will the player be able to play different characters?

[DL] The single-player experience is all through Shane’s eyes. But in multiplayer, you and up to three buddies can play through the main narrative in co-op.

Who are the main enemies in this game?

[RY] The rebels group, known as ‘The Promised Hand’, are led by a vicious would-be dictator called Gabriel ‘Skin Coat’ Merino.

Merino earned his nickname thanks to the coat he is said to wear – made from the flayed skins of his POW camp inmates.

GAMEPLAY AND GAME DESIGN

How does the player progress through the game? Is it one seamless world, a series of levels, etc?

[DL] It's a completely seamless experience – no loading screens, no missions select screens. This was a core aim from very early on in the project, because we’re trying to create a realistic, immersive game world – and there are no loading screens in real life, my friends! We wanted to give the player a real sense of continuity throughout the game, so rather than simply jumping from one location to another, you'll catch a ride in a Mantel vehicle to get there instead. Think of it as a road movie through a war.

What weapons and devices are available to the player to execute the mission?

[DL] Mantel manufactures a wide range of technologically advanced ordnance, all of which will be available to you as you play through the game. Thanks to their extensive biomedical support you'll also benefit from regular Nectar administrations, making you the strongest and most powerful soldier on the battlefield.

Can you give details on the various online features available?

[DL] First up we've got cooperative play through the main campaign. This has always been a feature we felt added real replay value to the TimeSplitters games so we were really keen to retain it in HAZE. Besides, any gamer and their friends interested in coop will be in for a treat with HAZE – which is why we’re offering for the first time in the FPS world a real, entire 4 player coop mode ! It means that the single player campaign is entirely playable with 3 of your online buddies. Cherry on the cake is : you can jump in and out of your friend’s game seamlessly.

We've also got a variety of objective-based multiplayer maps that will support a great numbers of players online. The really cool thing about these is that they aren't just standalone experiences – each is objective based, with its own miniature story that ties into the main narrative of the game.

ENGINE / TECH

How is it to develop on PS3? What can you do with this console that you couldn’t do with previous-gen consoles?

[SE] It’s great. Working on PS3 has allowed us to create vastly superior environments that verge on photorealism – full-screen effects, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and obscenely complex shaders. Its more challenging than ever before, but the power is greater than anything else that’s out there.

Why did you choose to develop your own engine rather than license something like the Unreal engine?

[SE] Developing a next-gen engine is no easy task, but we wanted to be completely in control of the games that we are making rather than having to put up with limits that were imposed by a third party. After we finished our previous-gen development, we threw away everything, and set about creating the ultimate next-gen engine and toolchain, designed to meet our needs from a technical and artistic point of view, and fit in with our development pipeline. I think the results speak for themselves, and Haze is just the beginning.

How about parallelism? Does the engine support multiple processors?

[SE] Yes, it has to. The architectures of PS3, X360 and high-end PC’s are fairly different, but they all have one thing in common – parallel processing. The challenge for us has been in designing a solution that will work well across the platforms.

What is your experience with next-generation development? Is it harder or easier than previous generations?

[SE] It’s much more expensive, and much harder on many levels. From a management point of view, trying to get 100+ people to share the same vision and all pull in the same direction is harder. From a development point of view, the quality bar that we are aiming for means that everyone has to produce better work than they ever have before. Of course that is harder.

Have you encountered any significant design or technology hurdles during development, or perhaps have some entertaining anecdotes?

[SE] There are always design and technology hurdles when making a game – some days it seems like that’s all there is! Parallel programming is fairly new territory, so that has been a challenge. Other unexpected challenges have been in dealing with the vast quantities of data that is now involved in developing a game. We’ve had to create several fairly complex distributed systems for things as diverse as lightmap generation, asset conversion, compiling the code, and even our backup system – a bespoke linux-based system that provides instant access to over 50 terabytes of data in over 1 billion files. An entertaining anecdote? Our AI characters used to be able to bounce grenades off 5 different walls to land directly at your feet. The challenge has been in making them fallible.
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E

erlim

yes, that talented of a member
I think Haze is going to be THE fps on PS3, at least until Resistance 2 comes out. I would take a free radical game anyday over Killzone.
 
S

Salazar

Member
Perhaps thinking a bit too long term here, but I hope this IP establishes itself to the extent that by the time we reach Haze 3, they release one of those badass helmets with the special edition.
 
C

Ceb

Member
I think the texturing job stands out. Love how it's not normal-mapped to hell. I'm thinking Killzone 2 will have a similar look.
 
S

SealSqueal

Member
JCBossman said:
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
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Not entirely if OG is meant to stand for original, but Free Radical started on the PS2 with Timesplitters and everything after that was multi. I got a feeling you wrong.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
JCBossman said:
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
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NO. Dude, are you ever right about anything? PS3 is the lead development platform, and it has been the lead development platform since at least last summer.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
Ceb said:
I think the texturing job stands out. Love how it's not normal-mapped to hell. I'm thinking Killzone 2 will have a similar look.
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Yeah, it's nicely toned down, although I didn't expect anything less from this particular team. Despite the obvious jump in generation and the change in direction, the characters, or at least the rebel characters, have that trademark FRD smooth and stylized look. Which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing.
 
B

BruceLeeRoy

Banned
Listen I can understand how some of the haters might be doubting this game looking at the screenshots. But dont say a damn thing till you watch the videos some parts seriously remind me of the killzone 2 trailer
 
R

Rufus

Member
Let's hope you're not blind then.
I don't give a **** about the graphics as long as they look half decent.
 
J

JB1981

Member
JCBossman said:
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
Click to expand...
Wow you really need to go, huh?
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
JCBossman said:
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
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:lol :lol

you are something
 
B

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
Thanks gamersyde folks (blimblim + snoopers) :)
sweet video.

JCBossman said:
Didn't Free Radical do ALOT of OG Xbox stuff? I got a feeling that this has the 360 as the lead design SKU, but is going to be RELEASED first on the PS3, to try and soak up some of those disappointed PS3 owners, that cant play Halo and need a NEW FPS, than after Halo dies down this comes out for the 360.
Click to expand...
:lol
 
K

Kabuki Waq

Member
Am i the only non-nintendo fanboy that enjoyed the Timesplitters series more than Halo series?

Honeslty the Gameplay options just could not be beat. I hope they have same options here.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Banned
Kabuki Waq said:
Am i the only non-nintendo fanboy that enjoyed the Timesplitters series more than Halo series?

Honeslty the Gameplay options just could not be beat. I hope they have same options here.
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Trivia: The hardest difficulty setting is allegedly referred to as Timesplitters, although I'm not sure if that's going to make it into the retail version.

JB1981 said:
Wow you really need to go, huh?
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It wouldn't be so bad hadn't it been so easy for him to fact check this "belief" before blurting it out like that. I mean, it's been asked and answered in this thread. But whatever.
 
B

bud

Member
Y2Kev said:
:lol :lol

you are something
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what do YOU mean? he's OBVIOUSLY expressing his OPINION on an internet messageboard. are YOU telling ME that HE can't do THAT anymore? He isn't something, it's YOU who is something.

CAPSLOCK
 
E

ElectricBlue187

Member
recklessmind said:
Are you being funny?
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no. i'm not.

take away the cool looking armor and make it some power armor and i've played 3 similar looking games already this year and probably will again before the year is out.
 
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