Haze (PS3 Preview)

Overview: Haze is a First Person Shooter which is developed by Free Radical, where some of their members were behind the famous Goldeneye 007 game for the N64. After suffering through countless delays on their release date, Free Radical decided to release a demo of Haze on the PS3. I decided to download the demo to give you guys my first impressions of the game. Keep in mind that it’s just a demo, and due to that, it won’t be a representation of the final product.

Plot: The game takes place in the near future, a chaotic future. You play as a man named Shane Carpenter, a member of the Mantel Global Industries Private Military. Shane and his group has been sent to a South American country to quell an uprising led by the “Promised Hand” rebel group. Nectar, the drug created by Mantel Global Industries, plays an important part in the Plot.

Gameplay: You have the option of playing the full single player by yourself or with up to 3 other friends. I personally chose to go it solo in the demo. The gunplay is extremely solid, all the guns feel useful and they pack a solid punch. Really satisfying, kudos to Free Radical! Also worth noting is the usage of Nectar. The game really encourages to use the Nectar to slaughter your foes. When using Nectar, you gain some new abilities/skills, such as a one hit kill melee attack, and the ability to view the enemy through thick foliage. It will also increase the overall damage that you dish out. Due to that, it changed my old tactical, wary play style to a reckless, dangerous play style. But there’s a catch to Nectar. If you overuse it, you’ll overdose and will proceed to lose control over your character & will automatically shoot at any humanoid creature (You can’t tell the difference between friend and foe during this). The enemy can also cause your buddies to OD and will cause them to turn on you and your other friends.

Graphics: Right now, the textures look merely average and bland. But in doing so, the overall frame rate stays at a consistent 30 FPS. Free Radical did some deliberate things in the game, like overdone bloom. If you hate that, don’t worry. The overdone bloom will be gone at the second half of the full game.

Sound: The guns and explosions provide a meaty sound. The voice work is also excellent. Again, Free Radical did some deliberate things in the game, like giving the Mantel Troopers gung-ho voices. You’ll understand why they did that in the full game.

Reviewer’s Final Opinion: Haze looks like it won’t disappoint and fall over from the hype. Also, wait for our upcoming review on the First Strike mod for Battlefield 2142!

Metal Gear Online Beta (PS3 Preview)

Overview: The Metal Gear franchise has been one of the best ever made in history. But does it succeed in the next-gen online multiplayer experience?

Plot: As usual, there’s really no plot in a online only game. This particular online game takes place in the Metal Gear Solid 4 universe, where PMCs (Private Military Companies) battle each other across the world for money and profit.

Gameplay: It’s fantastic. The gameplay is heavily based on teamplay and/or stealth. Before a match starts, you can choose a set of up to 4 ’skills’, which will allow you to specialize in many tasks. In some scenarios, you may be allowed to purchase extra attachments to your weapons, and personally I think MGO’s version of that feature is much more better than Call of Duty 4’s attachment feature since you can add more than one attachment to a gun. There is a catch though, you have to acquire “Drebin Points”, points that are required for you to buy the weapons/attachments which is an excellent balancing system. The SOP System is also a great feature of MGO, it really helps to enhance teamplay with it’s notifications of your teammate’s current statuses. When you’re currently in a match, you can also perform certain co-op moves with nearby teammates to gain an edge over the enemy, such as boosting one up to an otherwise inaccessible area so he/she can snipe away at enemies. If you’re the lonewolf who would rather sneak around, no problem. The game will provide you with skills/items that will help you with your sneaking gameplay, including the Play Dead (Saved my skin in several occasions) and the Cardboard Box (You’ll be surprised at how people constantly miss players who are hiding in the box). Some players would probably be turned off at the controls (a bit clunky, but once you get used to it, it’s great) and the slow pacing of the game.

Graphics: The game looks good, but not amazing. If you’re thinking that MGS4 would look like the same, don’t worry. The MGS4 team made a statement that the graphics in MGO have been downgraded for multiplayer reasons, and that MGS4 has been untouched.

Sound: The sound effects in MGO are extremely good. The gun sounds pack a lot of punch, the explosions make a satisfying “Boom”, and the character voices don’t sound terrible like other Japanese games that have laughable English Voices (Resident Evil). Players with 7.1 Surround Sound setups, though, will definitely love it since you’ll get to hear everything in true HD sound.

Reviewer’s Final Opinion: Metal Gear Online has provided me with one of the best Online gaming experiences. It’s an awesome tactical game that values teamplay and stealth over mindless stupid strategies. Throw in the legendary MGS charm, and you got yourself a winner. Thanks for the beta key CodeFire!