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How Metascores Are Calculated
69
1942: Joint Strike
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
Twenty-five years in the future. Governments have outsourced military operations to private multinational corporations. As Jake Carpenter, a newly enlisted soldier in the Mantel army, you are seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause. Thanks to their high-tech arsenal of vehicles, deadly weaponry, and performance enhancing bio-medical support, the Mantel Corporation's ruthlessly efficient soldiers are the most feared by terrorists, dictators, and the corporation's political enemies. Your conflict begins in a war-torn country in South America, where you have been sent to fight a vicious rebel faction, The Promise Hand. At first glance, all is well, but things quickly begin to look a little strange... State of the art multiplayer modes Fire up your console or PC for online battles on one of two carefully balanced sides. Choose from a variety of online modes including furious co-op action with your friends! [Ubisoft]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 79
Games Master UK
After a steady diet of brilliant alternatives, Haze's innovations and compelling story aren't enough. [July 2008, p.80]
71
PSM3 Magazine UK
So Haze, as a PS3 exclusive, is far from a reason to own a PS3.
 70
GamePro
Also lacking is the game's graphics, which are a huge letdown. Despite its tight story and well-balanced action, the killer buzz Haze cultivates all but dies when it comes to the visuals thanks to janky animations, blurry textures, and downright pitiful special effects-it really is fitting that the game is called Haze.
70
GameDaily
It doesn't do anything vastly different from its competitors, but it doesn't need to. Just pop it into your PS3, relax and start shooting.
70
Total Video Games
There's no avoiding the fact that HAZE is a huge disappointment.
70
Worth Playing
The immediate association with Haze as an underperforming FPS with lofty ambitions will be Saber Interactive's TimeShift, where the boat anchor, besides some awkward but forgivable vehicular control mechanics, was an excellent gameplay design hook that worked well, but almost no one got it, so no one used it, and ergo the title was ultimately just another shooter.
68
Gamers' Temple
At best, Haze is a solid, but flawed game that most people would enjoy to the fullest during a rental, rather than an all out sixty-dollar purchase.
67
Da Gameboyz
In my opinion Haze can be considered a pretty good FPS game in terms of its basic gameplay concepts, however not everything came together in the end.
67
AtomicGamer
As is, it's an average entry that had potential, but due to poorly implemented mechanics and sub-par visuals, will likely be forgotten soon after Metal Gear Solid 4 arrives.
67
GamingExcellence
Despite some early promise and hype, Haze has a lot of trouble living up to those high expectations set forth by its developers’ past triumphs.
65
NZGamer
Despite the delays on the release date, it still feels rushed and slapped together at the last minute despite some promising planning and concept designs (I still want to buy a life-size Mantel solider suit).
65
Extreme Gamer
Haze is the type of shooter that will be taken differently from every player. Some will love running around half blitzed on an adrenaline boosting Nectar, and others will find the entire experience a little shallow and contrived.
65
Kombo
Haze has the makings of a great game, but due to various issues the formula seems to have gone askew.
65
IGN UK
For all its promise to deliver a thoughtful take on the murkier aspects of war combined with Free Radical's proven prestige with first person shooters, ultimately Haze is a resounding disappointment that never truly shines in any department.
65
Gamer's Hell
Ultimately, Haze is still sitting in the wake of Call of Duty 4, and falls into that category of being just another FPS.
64
Play UK
Although ambitious, Haze is let down by generic gameplay. [Issue#167, p.86]
64
Pelit (Finland)
Quotation forthcoming. [June 2008]
63
Game Informer
Haze’s saving grace is its co-op gameplay, which can be fun when you shoot a friend’s Nectar tank from behind to watch him freak out. But these short experiences do nothing to offset the major disappointment the rest of the game delivers.
62
IGN AU
It's not a terrible game at all. It's simply that it's such an ordinary and unremarkable shooter, and we were expecting so much, that we can't help but bitch about all the areas we wish were better.
62
Cheat Code Central
Even though nothing here is truly groundbreaking, if you just want another shooter you can do a lot worse than Haze. But, if you're looking for a title that gives you a long-lasting experience, then you may need to look elsewhere.
62
GameTrailers
Despite bugs that seem to pop up around every corner, Haze isn't an awful first-person shooter. It's just not a very good one.
62
Ferrago
The gameplay itself doesn't really offer anything new but it is a refreshing change to have a futuristic shooter against humans rather than aliens.
60
Playstation Official Magazine UK
No amount of sharp gunplay can redeem Haze's cilched script and patchy execution. [July 2008, p.90]
60
Boomtown
By the end of the game I ended up hating both sides, which was perhaps the intention, but I wanted to be able to play the game my way.
60
Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK
No amount of sharp gunplay can redeem Haze's cliched script and patchy execution. [July 2008, p.86]
60
Game Over Online
HAZE will go down in history as a missed opportunity.
60
AceGamez
While Haze may be dumb, it's also fun, and if you like your first person shooters - and especially if you can find it for under £30 - it's worth picking up Haze so that you can shake off the blurred vision for yourself and make up your own mind.
60
Gamervision
Haze's heart was apparently too big for its chest, and the finished product is quite possibly the biggest letdown this generation.
60
Level7.nu
Haze is neither a bad game nor broken or unplayable. On the contrary, there are a lot of competent features to be found in this game. The problem with Haze is that it never stands out, it never delivers anything out of the ordinary. Four player co-op and some decent multiplayer-modes saves Haze from being a mediocre game.
60
Maxi Consolas (Portugal)
Despite the good background with the "Timespliters" series, Free Radical fails to deliver a appealing game, and the good moments provided by Nectar fall short to face so many negative points. From the problems in the gameplay and AI to the poor graphics and sound, Haze actually makes us cry for the return to "Timesplitters." [June 2008]
60
VideoGamer
Haze is far from a complete disaster but, given the high level of hype surrounding its release and the pedigree of developer Free Radical, it still stands as one of the biggest disappointments of this generation.
60
GameTap
There are many great ideas within Haze, they just happened to be trapped in an extraordinarily mediocre game.
60
GameSpot
A seven-hour campaign and uneventful multiplayer modes just don't cut it in light of the far better modern shooters available on the market.
58
The Onion (A.V. Club)
More narratively cohesive than the Halo trilogy, but less inventive and compelling than Resistance: Fall Of Man, Haze does finally give us a self-aware portrait of videogame soldiers, and a foil for all the head-butting, "boo-yah" behavior that's been the norm for far too long in the medium. Too bad it's paired with one of the more pedestrian FPS games to come along in recent years.
55
GameZone
On paper, Haze had all the makings of a PS3-exclusive classic but, thanks to poor execution, it just doesn't have what it takes to be a fun first-person shooter or a good game in general.
55
PALGN
A game like Haze from a developer like Free Radical had so much potential, but there are just too many issues with the end product, making it very hard to recommend.
54
MEGamers
All hype and no fuzz. A huge disappointment.
53
Game Chronicles
Haze is just the latest nail in Sony’s coffin that finds me using my PS3 more as a Blu-ray movie player than a gaming system.
53
Gamer 2.0
When it comes down to it, Haze isn't a bad game at all, just a very mediocre game that would have felt more at home a year and a half ago at the PlayStation 3's launch.
51
PSX Extreme
Avoid this one at all costs, at least until you see it at the bargain bin for $10.
50
Hardcore Gamer Magazine
Haze can be enjoyable, but it's far from the PS3's killer app.
50
Gamer.nl
Haze has not become the game we all expected it to be. Although the idea is nice, the result is absolutely not original. Next to that the game has terrible AI and voice-acting. Graphics has it's limits and vehicles are really uncontrolable. We expected better from the developer.
50
Gameplanet
We tried to like this game - we really did. The promise of online play, four person co-op play and a potentially gripping storyline all offered some great possibilities. Unfortunately, Haze never really fires the imagination and its numerous quirks ultimately leave you frustrated.
50
Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)
At least the single-player campaign--that you can play through co-operatively with three friends--is mercifully short at around eight to 10 hours. [Aug 2008, p.76]
50
Gameplayer
Visuals are ugly and uninspired.
50
Edge Magazine
Haze is a distinctly unflattering addition to Playstation 3's library, embarrassingly reminiscent of the previous generation. [July 2008, p.88]
50
TheSixthAxis
There isn't a website on the planet that knows the particular politics behind some of the changes to what appeared to be an exceptionally promising shooter, but it's turned out to be a real stinker: Haze is as average as beans on toast, and the biggest disappointment is that it didn't have to be.
50
games(TM)
We can't fault the solid feel of firing a weapon; there is a degree of variety spread across the chapters; and the game’s engine is reliably stable, but none of this stops the game from qualifying as a major letdown. [July 2008, p.110]
50
Kikizo
What could have been so good and what - according to the hype - was going to be so great has proven to be nothing more than a complete and total let down, tied together with some decent ideas but coming out as nothing but totally, completely and utterly shonky.
49
GameFocus
To be blunt, the actual gameplay of Haze is mediocre mixed with a side order of boring and I have to say this is really disappointing because we know the developers, Free Radical of Time Splitters fame have done much better games with far superior gameplay.
45
PTGamers
Haze is a huge mistake, an unfinished game with a variety of flaws, both from technical and design standpoint.
45
IGN
Haze does not live up to the company's reputation thanks to a horrible plot, weak gameplay mechanics and visuals that are truly underwhelming. While playing with friends is enjoyable, not even those are enough to bring this lackluster title around.
42
Game Revolution
The sound and music constantly find the most irritating corners of your ear to hammer away. The slightly cheesy music hides behind six annoying voiceover samples, which play over and over every five seconds. Literally.
40
Video Game Talk
Free Radical and Ubisoft missed quite a few things in the quality assurance department with this one and it would seem that the project was rushed somewhere along the line.
40
Giant Bomb
Though it was announced just over two years ago, the end result plays like something that was slapped together and shipped after a year or so, rather than something that was painstakingly developed and refined.
40
G4 TV
There's nothing remotely compelling enough in the online modes good enough to take the focus away from the disappointing single-player mode.
40
GameSpy
It's clear from the bare-bones multiplayer, glitchy graphics and incredibly short storyline that Haze is a game interrupted.
40
EuroGamer
The combat's weak, the storyline's excruciating, it's technically deficient - Haze really is this year's most significant gaming disappointment.
40
DarkZero
Regardless of its name, it's still clear to see Haze is a disappointing game based on a weak premise that has been half-heartedly realised.
33
1UP
On the whole, Haze isn't outright terrible or broken -- it's just unsatisfying and misguided and would have been merely average on the Xbox and PS2.
25
Gaming Age
It's all very ho-hum, even down to the visuals which are neither pleasing nor revolting. This is a game which when you play it, you'll wish you were playing a different game that it reminds you of which is more fun, and then you end up just wanting to play that other game.
25
GameShark
Every developer is allowed to lay an egg, and this is definitely Free Radical’s turn to drop one.
mike semoff gave it a3: L D gave it a0: Grant Lancaster gave it a9: Drag On gave it a5: Kevin M. gave it a0: Christopher S. gave it an8: Bradley D. gave it a5: |
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