Haze (video game)
| Haze | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Free Radical Design |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Designer(s) | David Doak (game director) Derek Littlewood (creative director) Rob Yescombe (writer) |
| Engine | Conspire |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 |
| Release |  Q1 2008  Q1 2008  Q1 2008 |
| Genre(s) | First-Person Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Haze is a first-person shooter video game developed by Free Radical Design, which was announced at E³ 2006.[1] It is published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3. On November 20, 2007 Ubisoft announced that game would be released in the fourth quarter of their 2007 fiscal year, which begins in January and ends in March of 2008.[2] According to Free Radical, Haze will have a 'serious' tone unlike Free Radical's TimeSplitters series which provided a more comical and laid-back gaming experience. Additionally, Haze will not include a mapmaker feature. It will allow the main character to jump, another departure from the TimeSplitters series.
Synopsis
Plot
Mantel Global Industries (not the MenTel Corporation from Fortress) was founded by David Bloomfield.[3] Mantel Global Industries is also a multinational corporation with bio-medical expertise. This has led to the development of Nova-Keto-Thyrazine - also called Nectar.[4] A nutritional supplement that enables soldiers to fight harder and smarter. This is shown to us through the second trailer when Shane says that "Nectar made him one of the world's most elite soldiers". However, as you progress through the game, you find out that there is more to Mantel and the "nectar" than meets the eye. In one trailer the body of a dead civilian disappears as the Nectar is administered. This is a mind bending effect of Nectar when administered. In a developer interview, there is also a sequence in which the character's suit apparently malfunctions and causes the helmet to open up, revealing a bleak black and white landscape punctuated with horrifying cries of pain. Once again, the player comes across a corpse on the ground which disappears as soon as the helmet closes and the suit's firmware resets, also causing the world to become colorful again.
The game takes place over three days that will "change Shane forever." Mantel battles a guerrilla group known as The Promise Hand led by a dictator called Gabriel "Skin coat" Merino; a brutal man who wears the flayed skins of his POW camp inmates. In recent trailers, it has been revealed that Shane will switch sides over the course of the game.
Characters
The protagonist of Haze is Shane Carpenter. Apparently born in the year 2023, Carpenter is 25 by the events in the game and is the character that the player assumes the role of. Shane survived past the age of 20, having a 90% probability of not doing so, because "Mantel set him free". Shane's mother was killed at The World Games (known also as The Games Of Terror) when Shane was 9 years old.
Location
As seen in the trailer[3], the Corcovado mountain is at the end of the trailer, with Christ the Redeemer. This hints that Brazil will be a location. It is also worth noting that the game takes place in South America.
Mantel
Mantel Global Industries is a international business juggernaut that is prominent in every country. Mantel is diversified throughout various industries, such as: avionics, health & pharmaceutical, global systems (GPS, satellites, home security), arms, solar energy, global cargo, military, financial solutions (banking, insurance, stock trading), and television.
Nectar
Nectar (Nova-Keta-Thyrazine) is a drug distributed around the world by Mantel Global Industries. Nectar comes in over the counter and military grade forms. Over the counter Nectar comes in pills and is a daily supplement to civilians. Military grade nectar is injected into the neck of Mantel soldiers to enhance them.
Gameplay
Mantel Powers
Nectar is a performance-enhancing pharmaceutical drug that gives the user better speed, accuracy and strength. Nectar is used by Mantel Corp soldiers. Mantel is secretly using it to control the minds of the soldiers. Nectar can control what the soldier sees when administered and is a sort of hallucinogenic drug. It can make the soldiers see only the enemies and cut out the destruction and death around them. An overdose on Nectar is dangerous and can lead to loss of control or heart failure. Soldiers may even see their own team as enemies.
Abilities with Nectar:
- Nectar Perception: While on Nectar, enemies will become far more visible, even if they are hiding in the shadows or foliage.
- Melee Blast: Performed the same way as the normal melee attack, but with 10 times the power, thanks to Nectar.
- Nectar Resilience: Bullets won’t bounce off, but the player will take less damage from them.
- Nectar Focus: When sniping or using the zoom function resorting to the helmet, Nectar will give the player a new level of focus, helping to aim and making it easier to kill in one deadly accurate shot.
- Nectar Foresight: If the player is in danger while on a Nectar overdose, a visible “pulse” will ripple outward from the point of threat. This could be a grenade at the player's feet, or someone about to melee from behind.
Rebel Powers
As revealed in the SCEA (SONY / PlayStation) E3 press conference 2007 Haze trailer, Rebels may go in to a Play Dead mode just before they are killed. This ability allows them to appear dead to the Mantel troopers, other rebels, and the player. However, while "playing dead" the Rebels regain their health. Rebels have also been given the capability to exploit Mantel's dependence on nectar by attacking the injector near the back of the neck causing an overdose, extracting nectar from dead mantel troopers to use on throwing knives causing the victim to overdose and using the injector to create nectar grenades causing an overdose.
Also announced is the Weapons Steal, which gives Rebel troops the ability to take a Mantel trooper's gun. Rebels can also bury grenades in ground as mines, furthering the distinction between the rebels and Mantel troopers.
Mantel Weapons
BSW-72 Assault Rifle: Anti-personnel rifle firing 5.56mm shards of white-hot depleted uranium capable of penetrating any body armor. Nicknamed the "Black Saw".
Fragmentation Grenades SK3: Based on a standard time fuse, the SK3 is ideal for clearing out a room and is reasonably effective against light vehicles. Nicknamed the "Spring Cleaner".
Pistol Wilson D6: Equipped with 2x zoom and a laser sight, the D6 is capable of delivering 18 rounds between reloads and is particularly effective at close-range against unarmored targets. Nicknamed the "Diplomat".
D118 Combat Shotgun: A high end shotgun that is deadly at close range. Nicknamed the "Donkey Puncher".
87L Rocket Launcher: A state-of-the-art rocket launcher that is very effective against armored targets. Nicknamed "Hard Candy"
B72 Sniper: A long range rifle that fires armor-piercing rounds. Nicknamed the "Pinpointer"
JM90 Machine Gun: A heavy machine gun, weighing in at 180 lbs, that is used in a fix position. Nicknamed the "Heavy Gun"
Promise Hand Weapons
‘Lobo’ (Wolf): The Lobo is the standard rifle for most militia groups across the world, with a quick-load double-ended magazine and a large clip size, it’s the ideal weapon for both attack and suppression.
‘Oso’ (Bear): A standard shotgun with a slightly larger clip size than its Mantel counterpart.
‘Mano de Dios’ (Hand of God): A minigun with a large bullet capacity and rate of fire.
‘Razor Tongue’: A hunting knife that can be thrown or used to slash. It can be smeared with nectar and used to instantly overdose a Mantel soldier.
‘Dragón de la Gente’ (The People’s Dragon): A portable flamethrower.
‘Aguila’ (Eagle): A sniper rifle with fewer rounds than the "Pinpointer", but with a bigger rounds.
‘MalaFruta’ (Bad Fruit): Old school, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. Filled with a combination of steel chippings and high explosives, these grenades are just as dangerous as Mantel’s own.
‘Nectar Grenade’: A make shift grenade with a Nectar administrator strapped to it. After exploding a Nectar cloud spreads and overdoses nearby Mantle soldiers.
Mantel Vehicles
'Mrs. Mantel' A dropship vehicle that 'births' troopers onto the battlefield. It uses movable rotary engines, and miniature kerosene afterburners. It can fly at high speeds like an air plane and at low speeds like a helicopter.
The 'Boxcart' A 4 wheeled light-weight assault vehicle that can carry 4 passengers; a driver, a gunner, and two passengers. It has a mounted JM90 HeavyGun turret.
The 'Dumpster' A large vehicle that is able to transport troops and supplies. It is environmentally conscious, using a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain. It has dense armor which can stop most ballistics.
The 'Bigboy' A versatile tank with strong armor, and a flexible track. It uses a high power electromagnetic cannon, which functions like a rail gun.
Multiplayer
Haze is planned to feature a four-player split screen co-op mode as well as a four player online co-op mode. At Ubidays, it was revealed that all four squad members were player enabled and could be played co-operatively by simply joining the game. Multiplayer can be played with one to three extra players through combinations of online, split-screen, or LAN.[1] Multiplayer games will also include narrative-based missions to complete, and the game will accommodate up to 16-player online battles.[5]
Hardware
In a recent trailer, it was revealed that Haze will support the PlayStation 3's new DualShock 3 rumble controller. The trailer played on the controller's new ability, depicting vibration to occur after it was "injected" with nectar. A second trailer also played on the PS3's recent price cut, depicting the price to fall from £425 to £299 after it was injected with nectar.
Development
Haze was first announced at E³ 2006. It makes use of a Free Radical Design proprietary graphics engine that was developed specifically for the game. Though purchasing an engine would reduce the development time, the team chose to create their own in order to have more freedom in the features and game design.[6] The engine provides various graphical effects. Lighting is mainly baked but the Haze Engine also has support for Real Time Lighting and has a high-dynamic range. Particle and fire effects help give the illusion of volume along with motion blur and real time depth fields, the engine supports color Specular maps, Normal Mapping and Parallax Mapping technologies. The game runs at 30 fps because the team felt that 60 fps was not needed for the pacing of the game.[1] The AI system, "ConspireTM", is designed to allow enemies to dynamically react to other characters and the environment.[6]
The game was originally set to be released simultaneously on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in Summer 2007. However, the release date was pushed back to Winter, and it was announced that Sony's E3 2007 press conference that Haze would be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. Free Radical announced at the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention that there are currently no plans to develop Haze for any platform other than the PlayStation 3.
On October 22, 2007 Ubisoft announced that alternative metal band Korn had written and recorded an original song inspired by Haze. The song, which is also entitled "Haze", is due for release in November. "Haze" will be released and promoted as a full-fledged single and music video, not just as an exclusive download with the video game.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Hwang, Kaiser (June 2007), "Haze: Taking Care of Business", PSM, pp. pp. 8 - 17
{{citation}}:|pages=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "Haze now slated for before March 31st 2008". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "MANTEL GLOBAL INDUSTRIES: WHAT'S NEW". Mantelglobalindustries.com. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ Through the Haze [2]
- ^ a b Hwang, Kaiser (June 2007), "A Personal Chat with Free Radical's Derek Littlewood", PSM, pp. pp. 22 - 26
{{citation}}:|pages=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "Korn To Release Original Song For Ubisoft's Haze Video Game". Games Press. Retrieved 2007-10-22.