Reviews// Haze

Now, the vehicles... While blasting along a canyon with mines setting off rockslides at either side of you (pre-empted by weird ripples – you can drive on Nectar) is a good lark, the steering can be a bit frustrating. I found it to be over-sensitive and found myself constantly correcting my direction - a symptom of the apparent lack of mass granted to it by Haze's physics engine.

The vehicles will hold up to four players, with the gun being handled separately to the driving. In the game's four-player co-op mode that works well, spreading the joy a bit. When you're playing on your own, it would be nice to have some sort of armament under your control instead of leaving it to your AI team mates.

Talking of which, the friendly AI works well, for the most part. Occasionally your pals seem a little too interested in a wall in front of them. I find nothing more irritating than seeing my so-called team mates fannying around while I get down to the serious business of Killing Things. Likewise, the enemy AI is solid, if a little slow to get out of your line of fire when they think they're behind cover but really you're taking chunks out of their hide.

The level design is a strong point of Haze. Not once did I feel like I was re-treading the same old ground. The action moves from jungle to quarry to beach to observatory, with no two levels feeling same-y. The setpieces, such as the aforementioned quarry run, a stint as an on-rails helicopter gunman and a shoot-out from a cable car are all good fun and keep things interesting.

Once or twice during the single-player campaign I lamented the lack of a map as I stumbled around, completely unable to leave the area I was in. Then I spent a good ten minutes banging my head against the wall when I realised that the compass at the top of the screen actually has the direction of your objective on it.

The thing that jumped out at me as I played the game through (and which had not been evident when I played it on previous occasions in smaller chunks) - was the story. It's dealt with deftly, playing out through short(ish) cut scenes. It engages with the subject matter of corporate politics in a mature fashion. It doesn't scream subtlety (that would, after all, be a paradox) but it's never insulting or preachy.

The dialogue can be a bit caricatured at times (mostly on the part of the Mantel troopers) but it serves the game's underlying themes well.

The voice acting and character animations are particularly strong, with the talent involved making their lines dramatic without ever being hammed up. The devs at Free Radical have done a particularly good job of making the soldiers believable and human. I really ought to add that in-game, the characters die spectacularly well, too...