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Step into the HAZE
Product: HAZE
Company: Ubisoft Entertainment
Date: 07/21/2007
Avaliable On:

You were proud to be a part of the Mantle Troopers. At first. You were at war, and you and the rest of the Mantle Troopers were responsible for crushing the guerrilla forces. The sick, psychotic, anti-establishment scum. And... you had one definite advantage over them.

"Nectar" is a battle performance-enhancing drug that highlights enemies, adds hallucinations of "ripples" that indicate danger. However, when you overdose, it distorts your vision, disrupts your controls and causes bloodthirsty behavior. You've also started to notice that your fellow soldiers are not just cocky, but they seem to be developing more of a bloodlust; perhaps it's long-term effects of using the Nectar?

You eventually wise up. You've been lied to. You're fighting someone else's war. So you switch sides. Now, you're Mantle's worst nightmare; you know how they work... you used to be one of them.

HAZE is a First Person Shooter game that has some interesting features. For one, the aspect of "switching sides" is more than just a plot point; it actually has an affect on gameplay. When you're working for Mantle, you have the ability to use the Nectar when you want to, and you can use it to your advantage in fights, but you have to be careful not to overdose. Later, when you've switched sides, you can use the Nectar against the Mantle Troopers, by causing them to overdose, or by playing dead - part of the effects of Nectar is that you don't see dead bodies... something that was tossed in to lessen the demoralizing psychological effects of warfare, but something that you can put to good use now that you've switched sides. The Nectar is dosed out by an "Administrator" located at the back of the Mantle soldiers' necks, so when you kill one, you can pry it off, convert it into a make-shift Nectar grenade, and throw it into a group of enemies to cause them to overdose on the airborne Nectar and wildly shoot up the joint... oh, and yes, there is friendly-fire in this game.

HAZE is going to be a PS3 exclusive and is scheduled for a Fall 2007 release.

Geck0 aka Robert Perkins

GameVortex PSIllustrated