Interviews// Haze: Rob Yescombe, Screen Writer, Derek Littlewood, Project Leader

RY: So... with the vehicles, again, all of those were designed with multi-player in mind. [Indicates a buggy on-screen] So you can have one guy on each side, one guy driving. Likewise for the Rebel's vehicles as well. There's quad bikes, as well.

There are some sections in the drop-ship, where you won't be able to fly it, but you'll be able to man the guns.

So, the interesting thing about it is that you can take Nectar to improve your driving skills in the sense that you'll be able to see where mines are – you saw the yellow passes there – just like when you're out of the vehicle you have this Nectar foresight ability, where if someone's about to 'melon' you, or you're about to be hit from off in the distance by a sniper, or if a grenade lands near you you'll see this sort of ripple effect, so you can tell that something bad is about to happen.
I mean, we're in a pretty difficult situation, because we've got so many features, that actually communicating them to people is a bit of a task. One of the reasons I wanted you to come down is that, with that combat system, along with all the Nectar abilities, plus the rebel abilities, plus the Nectar gameplay and how that works, plus the fact that we've had four-player co-op since day one.

When you're talking about Halo, it's funny, because they made news by saying, "We don't have something" – and we've had it from the very beginning.

With ours, you don't have to wait around for all your friends to join you in the lobby. You can do the hot-swap straight into the game.

[Picks up the control and plays through a factory as a Mantel trooper]

So, the idea here is that when you're on Nectar it's a lot easier to just run in and kill people, so it encourages a very particular style of play.

SPOnG: So, the Promised Hand (a rebel group) attacks, are some of them more effective in terms of how quickly they get Nectar into your system?

RY: The knife is basically instantaneous. The gas takes maybe a second or two: for them to breath it in and for it to take effect.

So, you can see that because my Nectar's run out temporarily, it's much harder to get a bead on these guys.

[Charges down a corridor into three rebel troops]

SPOnG: If you hadn't have had your Nectar level up then would they have most likely killed you?

RY: Yeah, being outnumbered when you're off Nectar is bad news. So, for instance, that room: if I'd have been off Nectar – that bunch of guys with armed blockades becomes a totally different experience. I'm sure there'll be guys out there that'll decide after a while that the challenge of playing through without Nectar will be pretty interesting.

[Door opens, Derek Littlewood - project leader on Haze - steps in...]

SPOnG: We've heard a lot about Nectar and ability changes. Is Haze just about ability changes?

DL: We're really trying to emphasise the thing about this being two games in one. The fact that, yes, if you just took the trooper side of the game, if you just took the Nectar thing, I think you'd say, 'this is quite like something like Far Cry, it is just about the abilities.'

But I think having the flip side of that, having the rebel gameplay is a thing that completely changes it, which makes it a more fulfilling, more interesting experience. Another thing about Nectar is that, while it is a power up, it's a power-up that comes with it's disadvantages, cos if you overdo it you overdose on it.

That's another thing that elevates your usage of it to be something that actually uses a bit more tactics or forethought. In particular, when you're a rebel and you can use the Nectar back against the troopers it's a really interesting thing to do, and in multi-player, it expands your tactical options and allows you to play the game a lot further than most first person shooters.