In the heat of the console war, gamers rely upon exclusive titles that set their gaming platform apart from the others, all the while instilling confidence in the decision to buy one console over another. With only a few of A-list exclusive titles available for the PlayStation 3, owners of the console have been chomping at the bit for more new IPs that are created solely for the PS3. Enter Haze, a sci-fi first person shooter from video game developer Free Radical.

Like many games, Haze had its share of promised release dates and delays to follow. Thanks to Free Radical's viral marketing scheme in the form of a faux corporate website, those awaiting the game's eventual release could learn about Mantel Global Industries for whom you play as a soldier in the game. On May 22nd, PS3 owners could finally get a taste of an A-list hopeful that could possibly add a bit more value to their console purchase.

In Haze, you play as Shane Carpenter, a college dropout whose desire to succeed led him into the clutches of the aforementioned Mantel Global Industries, a private military outfit whose soldiers benefit from the use of its revolutionary new drug called Nectar. Mantel's presence is to "fight the good fight" and to eliminate those who pose a threat to world peace. As a member of Mantel's private army, Carpenter's combat abilities are enhanced by Nectar, enabling him to join the ranks of the corporation's super soldiers. When the game begins, Shane and the members of his squad, each with a severe God complex, are ordered to track down Skin Coat, the leader of an extremist group known as The Promised Hand.

Sweet Nectar…

Members of the Mantel force are suited up in full body armor trimmed in bright yellow and wear helmets with shiny yellow face shields that give the appearance of giant bumblebees. No doubt the game's developers saw the irony between the soldiers' appearance and the drug, Nectar. The Nectar used by Mantel is contained in packs worn on the soldiers' backs and is injected intravenously into the back of their necks. In the game, players are given a tutorial on the use of Nectar, instructing how to give your character a shot, or boost, of the drug. While the drug is continuously administered into the blood stream, a boost of it will fill the Nectar bar in the game's HUD.

Boosts of Nectar allow the player to move faster, take less damage, and view enemies much easier as they emit an orange glow. This works like night vision or infrared goggles, but affects enemies only. Each of the six Nectar boosts you can carry at once deplete over the course of a minute or so when used. However, each kill you make before your indictor bar drains completely refills it a little. With that in mind, it's entirely possible to keep a single boost going until the an is cleared of enemies. While these are welcome enhancements, the use of Nectar is not without its negative effects.

Like most drugs, Nectar comes with a disclaimer. Here's ours.

While using Nectar, do not overfill the capacity of your Nectar bar. Overdoses of Nectar may cause the inability to distinguish your enemies from your own squad. Most common side effects found in those who use Nectar include, but are not limited to, hysteria, dizziness, blurred vision, extreme paranoia, hallucinating, temporary deafness, or spontaneously bursting into flames. Those suffering from the most extreme side effects should consult a physician immediately, or simply run and hide while shaking your Sixaxis controller vigilantly.

Soldiers who have overdosed are recognized by their bright red face shields, erratic behavior, and red clouds of Nectar that leak from the containers on the soldiers' backs. The drug is also used as a brainwashing agent. Unlike Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, Mantel soldiers cannot see dead people. This of course is to protect them from the realities of the war at hand.

While the use of Nectar appears to be the star of this show, disappointment inevitably comes when players no longer have the ability to use it after the first couple of hours into the game. At this point, you learn that Mantel's real agenda is not so desirable, thus causing your character to switch sides and begin fighting alongside the members of The Promised Hand. With this turn of events come a few new abilities, such as swiftly dodging enemy fire and feigning death. While playing dead, Mantel's troopers cannot see you, which is odd since you're not actually dead. It is a welcome feature nonetheless and one that you'll use to your advantage from time to time.

Graphics and Gameplay

The graphics in Haze are a mixed bag. At some points in the game, players will experience rich detail, nice lighting effects, and realistic textures. Yet other areas fall flat. Some players may feel as though they've entered a new game as a result. Also, the graphic detail may be mixed simultaneously in the same areas. For example, in the tropical forest areas, while outlying foliage appears lackluster, plant life you'll encounter on the ground looks superbly done. While many may simple overlook these inconsistencies, they are apparent and noteworthy. However, the overall design remains consistent throughout and is fairly pleasing to the eye.

Oddly enough, the portions of the game where graphic detail totally missed the mark are in the interactive cutscenes. This is rather unusual since cinematic sequences in games usually sport a high level of detail and often reflect more polish than character models during actual gameplay. Regardless of whether corners were blatantly cut or not, the game moves along quite smoothly at a comfortable frame rate, with only a few minor hiccups. Players can expect similar graphical quality while playing online. Overall, the visual experience is only passable and hardly takes advantage of the level of quality the PS3 is capable of producing.

The gameplay in Haze is fairly straightforward. Anyone who has played a first person shooter on the PS3 should feel right at home. If not, players have the ability to customize nearly all of the game's controls to their liking. This brings up the one element of customization that should have been present but wasn't; control sensitivity. Being able to adjust how fast the aiming reticule moves onscreen has become the standard in console shooters, but was lost in Haze. While some may feel comfortable with the default sensitivity, others who may have just come from another game might require some time to adjust.

Other negative aspects of the game worth mentioning include clumsy AI, limited camera panning, inability to fire weapons during vehicle sequences, and the lack of varied weaponry. On the AI front, issues with your enemies are plentiful but are not nearly as evident as with those on your side who accompany you into battle. The most notable issue is the fact that members of your team will constantly run into your line of fire causing players to miss their targeted foe. This, along with your teammates' being unlikely to kill any of the enemies they face themselves, lends itself to enough frustration to prompt players to leave them behind and push forward alone. While this seems entirely possible in some missions, your teammates will magically appear at the next objective even after driving a fair distance away from where you left them. And when you do rejoin your team, you can rest assured that its members will spout off the same five or six lines of cheesy dialog over and over again.

This brings up to the vehicle sequences. In Haze, you'll encounter a few types of vehicles that you can commandeer, including ATVs and futuristic dune buggies. None of these sequences involves full-scale war while in the driver's seat, but there are enemies present who will appear along your path to the next objective. While the ability to fire at your enemies while driving would have been helpful, weapons are simply not at your disposal. There are, however, weapons mounted on some vehicles and they are utilized by your squad, but your computer controlled teammates will never jump into the driver's seat and allow you to use them while traveling.

While you're piloting one of these vehicles, players only have the ability to pan the camera 90 degrees to the left and to the right. The main purpose of vehicles in Haze is to transport players from one objective to the next, but there are some instances where your vehicle is attacked from behind by pursuing enemy crafts. When this happens, the lack of being able to fire at them is cancelled out by the fact that you can't see them in the first place. If you do have a squad mate operating a mounted weapon on your vehicle, you can bet the enemy will not be affected. Thus, it is usually better to simply try and outrun your attackers or, sadly, jump out of your vehicle and fire at them while on foot.

Weapons and Multiplayer

The weapons available in Haze are top notch and are a lot of fun to shoot. The developers of the game made sure that players will want to use the pistol as a weapon of choice rather than a last resort. Grenades are also used quite frequently and, combined with the Nectar collected from your fallen enemies, can cause a group of Mantel troopers to overdose on the drug at simultaneously. This is indeed a sight to see.

Sadly, with all of the interesting choices of weapons in the game, only a few of them exist throughout the majority of the campaign. For instance, assault rifles, high-powered machine guns, and shotguns are all over the place, whereas other desirable choices such as the flamethrower and sniper rifle are only available in the few missions that call for the extra firepower. In fact, the sniper rifle is actually touted verbally early on in the game, but it's not available until well past the halfway point in the campaign. Then when you do have the sniper rifle, you'll most like rid yourself of it as soon as you run out of ammo due to the lack of your ability to carry more than two weapons at a time. In fact, you may not be able to find additional ammunition for the rifle anyway since your chances of finding another along the objective path are slim to none.

The multiplayer in Haze is as straightforward as the gameplay itself. When the PlayStation Network does not hinder one's ability to join a game without serious lag time or unavailable servers, players can enjoy the standard deathmatch and team deathmatch modes. While solo and team deathmatch are fairly run-of-the-mill, the team assault mode adds the most creativity to the online experience. During team assault matches, two teams totaling a maximum of 16 players are given both areas to defend and objectives to accomplish. This game mode actually compliments the single player experience with its own story elements not seen in the original campaign.

Regardless of the chosen multiplayer mode, bots can be added and customized to even out the teams with too few players. This is also a great way to enjoy the game's split screen mode that can be used to for instant action or to practice for upcoming online games. Even so, with only six maps available out of the box, the multiplayer experience may run dry all too quickly for some gamers.

While multiplayer proves to be much more fun than single player, Haze's co-op mode that can be experienced with up to four players is where the game really shines. There are those who choose to brave the campaign alone, and this still has its benefits, but there's nothing like bringing along a few friends to turn an otherwise mediocre campaign into an extremely enjoyable romp. Cooperative play allows players to complete the single player campaign in its entirety with friends via the PlayStation Network or at home using the game's split-screen option. Cooperative play has become quite popular in recent history and is easily the most enjoyable way to experience Haze.

Future Forecast: Hazy

If you check out some of the latest reviews for Haze, you'll find scores that match those given to games that are either broken or downright horrible. This is not the case with Haze, as it is hardly broken and actually quite enjoyable. However, it does lack the quite a bit polish and is graphically inferior to the expectations of today's gamers. The campaign, which will take the average player about seven hours to complete, is a bit on the short side and suffers from the lack of a good challenge even on the highest difficulty settings. Still, the game does have its moments and is enjoyable enough to keep players plugging away from beginning to end.

Haze is a fun game in its own right, but is not amazing by any stretch of imagination. Its style and fun weapons place it among the ranks of other shooters released within the past year, such as Turok, TimeShift, Army of Two, and The Club. PS3 owners looking for a new experience will find it here, but those looking for a shooter to compliment the likes of Call of Duty 4 and Resistance: Fall of Man will not. Haze is simply a mediocre FPS that players may enjoy and forget. Haze leaves itself open for a sequel, but Haze 2 doesn't sound quite as exciting as it could have.