Haze (PS3)

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Like many other 3-D shooters -- including the abovementioned Halo series and Turok -- Haze takes place primarily outside but there are some indoor levels that require some minor puzzle-solving, such as finding and flipping switches to open up locked areas. Every few levels or so players will also find themselves in a rail shooter scenario, such as riding in a helicopter, allowing you to focus on shooting than maneuvering. The game is objective-based, so you'll be following a mission while skulking in between trees and around buildings to clear the area of threats, jumping behind this turret, finding a vehicle, chasing down some guy, and so forth. A few scripted events add a bit of excitement to the otherwise predictable and linear gameplay, but nothing to write home about.

The AI for both your mates and the enemy is incredibly stupid, whether it's computer-controlled characters standing in the middle of a gunfight without ducking for cover, someone failing to fall down after you've shot them 25 times in the chest, or your own soldier running in front of your fire. It's a mess. When you get to climb into a vehicle and have the option to drive or ride shotgun, be sure to choose the former, as they're just as bad at commanding vehicles by driving off course or even over fellow soldiers. Sigh. A cool move, at least, lets you play dead as a Promised Hand fighter by tapping L2 as to fall to the ground, while pressing X pops you back up.

If the AI -- or lack thereof -- is too much to take, you can always log online to host or join a multiplayer game, be it a four-player co-op match (or two-player split-screen) or the usual Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch or Team Assault varieties, the latter of which allows for up to 16 players to join Mantel or Promise Hand teams and complete various objectives. Perhaps it was because the game is new, but it wasn't easy finding people to play with, but I did manage to try out some maps that range from ho-hum (a missile launcher is in the center -- steal it and use it to win) to cool (nectar mines, where the Promise Hand break in to steal the supply). Visually speaking, the game looks good but it certainly doesn't appear to push the limit of the PS3's graphical prowess. At times the scenery looked impressive, with realistic vegetation and the sun shining off a drop-ship or jeep, while other visual effects, like the cheesy flamethrower, look like something out of a first-generation PlayStation 2 game.

Haze isn't horrible -- but it's only a few notches above it. The game is a below-average shooter that could've been a kick-ass addition to the PS3 library with more time and testing. This is even more of a shame given the hype surrounding the game and Ubisoft's proven track record for shooters with impressive series such as Rainbow Six, Far Cry and Ghost Recon. At best, Haze is a weekend rental for hardcore shooter fans curious enough to give it a spin, but for all other mature PS3 players it's not worth your valuable time away from Grand Theft Auto IV.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.