Haze - PS3 Exclusive

by Eddie Turner on 5/26/2008 12:00 PM EST
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  • Choppedliver - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link

    Ive been reading this site from the start too. Its like my morning cup of coffee and my evening beer.

    Give them a damn break. Hardware, games, etc, this is anand TECH. Tech is a lot of things. It's a progression of the site. As long as they do a good job of the review, I don't give a crap what they review. Its not taking away from other stuff, like he said, and I honestly would rather believe a game review from this site than some of the "dedicated" game sites.

    I like many tech geeks, like pc hardware, cameras, games and a number of TECH things. If I can get my reviews here rather than go to another site, well that's just fine with me.

    Just like with anything else, if you don't like it, click on something you do like. You people act like by giving you additional content they have caused you some irreparable harm. Read what you want, dont read the rest. How F***ing hard is that?





  • AcydRaine - Friday, May 30, 2008 - link

    Totally with you on that. If you do not want to read the articles, then don't. Not very hard. I do it every day on every website I frequent, and that is quite a few. Not just TECH sites either.

    Good to read actual users that enjoy playing games giving an unbiased opinion on their experiences with a game that doesn't come from how much money they were payed to give the review, or how much advertisment for the game they took on. Great article Eddie.
  • EddieTurner - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    Allow me to address some of the concerns here. For the most part, the hardware that AT has fcused on for so long can be only utilized to its fullest extent with today's games, which is why Anand would like to see more game related articles. And since AT has spread its wings into numerous areas of tech-related subjects, including console gaming, it is only fitting that all aspects of gaming, regardless of platform, have a presence on the site.

    We know that many of you are die hard PC gamers, and we aim to bring you up to speed on some of the most talked about PC titles on the market. But we also have a console gaming forum that stays just as active as the PC gaming forum, and that says a lot about our community. And with console game sales far outnumbering their PC counterparts, that says alot about gaming in general. Today's hard core gamers play on consoles just as they do PC's. As for myself, I own a halfway decent rig, an Xbox 360, and a PS3. I'm not alone in this respect. And since great games are not limited so a single platform, our articles about them shouldn't be either. I'm here to talk games. The bar's open!
  • GoodRevrnd - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - link

    I understand wanting to expand the sites appeal, but game reviews are an absurdly flooded market. I really think for it to be worthwhile you need to carve out a niche. AT is a pretty technical site, so I think looking at games heavily from the hardware side like Jarred said is definitely a good idea (this is probably harder to do for console titles, I'll give you that). In detail, what new whiz-bangedness does this game really bring to the table in terms of graphics, physics, AI, etc. AT has always done this for the major engine releases like Source, UT, Crytek etc. but it might be interesting to see what technical evolutions individual games bring to the market. This is obviously pretty dry, but it's one take you could do to differentiate yourselves.

    One thing I'd kind of like from a game reviewer is more technical analysis of gameplay. We get these wishy washy sweeping big picture articles from sites like Gamespy/IGN/Gamespot that don't really leave you much more informed than you were from the previous 6 months of hype and previews before the game came out. I'm reminded of older Adrenaline Vault articles. They really got into the nitty gritty mechanics of a game and evaluated game design elements. The down side was they just weren't able to keep up with the larger sites in delivering content. Basically it boils down to Summary = Bad.
  • tangsta - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    I appreciate the fact that Anandtech is doing game reviews. Right next to video cards and lcds, games are interesting to me. To me, this site gave the most informative, practical, and accurate review of GTA4. I don't ever feel a "biased vibe" from Anandtech, like I do from most gaming-review sites. Those sites always seem to be searching for a dramatic spin on things.

    I don't know if I'm going to try Haze yet, but so far, I feel that this review is the most informative.
  • geogaddi - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link


    reticule, reticle. redact, or ridicule!

    but it's a great premise for a hard-core, twitch-action, first-person shooter - using a high-performance weapon from dolce & gabanna to slay evildoers.

    accessorize THIS, biyatch...
  • the goat - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    You didn't answer the most important question. Does the game support USB keyboard and mouse for control?
  • Genx87 - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    I think after this generation will come to an end. It seems most of them were with the PS3 and the devs watch as their exclusives get beat in sales by COD4 on the 360 that has been out for 4 months.

    Good riddance imo.
  • sweetsauce - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    unless you plan on hyping up the ps3. The fanboys don't like negative reviews. How dare you put down their beloved system, and make it worse by pointing out that a mediocre game is exclusive!

    On a serious note, I enjoyed the review myself. Seems like you can't trust other gaming sites anymore. If you can manage to stay unbiased, and im hoping your pc roots will allow that, then game reviews would be a welcome addition to a great website.
  • Tavoc - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    I've been reading Anandtech since the late 90s when Anand was still a high school student in Raleigh NC (as was I). I came to the site first because my dad pointed out a article about Anand in the local newspaper, but I stayed for the high quality computer hardware reviews and analysis. At the time there were few sites on the net that had the same quantity and quality of hardware reviews as Anandtech.

    In the past year or so, it appears that the site is really losing focus on what brought people here in the first place, careful and rigorous analysis of a multitude of computer hardware products. I really don't see a point in adding a couple of random console game reviews (rock band and Haze) when Anandtech is losing its edge in deep hardware reviews to places like HardOCP and in quantity to places like Toms Hardware. I also don't see the point in offering digital camera reviews when the frequency and quality doesn't exceed existing leaders in the subject (dpreview.com).

    I think its great that the editorial staff seems to be given free reign to write articles about whatever they feel like (Digital cameras, console game reviews, random USB Hubs etc.), but they are really spreading themselves too thin given the relative lack of computer hardware articles. Just look at the number of tabs at the top of the page, and then look at the frequency with which each is updated. The "Linux" (last updated in 2005), "IT Computing", "Displays", and "Mac" categories should probably be discontinued if there isn't sufficient staff to keep updated on a more than monthly basis.

    Its not even the lack of hardware articles that bothers me so much more than the fact that the ones that do get released do not follow a consistent methodology over time, do not have enough depth (average FPS numbers from timedemos?) and no longer lead the way in quality.

    I guess the bottom line is that I think Anandtech should focus on what used to be their core-competency; in depth, industry leading computer hardware reviews. Additional subjects and areas of focus should only be added when and if there is sufficient bandwidth to maintain quantity and quality in the core computer hardware areas.
  • aeternitas - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    I agree with this.

    Many months ago I read a digital camera review here. I could see that they were trying really hard to sound like they knew what they were talking about, but there were so many obvious gaping holes and leaps in logic that any semi-pro digital photographer would just scoff at.

    Missleading half truths simply due to not understanding the technology!

    Honestly, if this site (or any online) doesn't want to dedicate one reviewer to a category, and have that person well versed, then there is little to no reason to do reviews on technology that you guys need not be. I much rather see updates on the video card section. Or maybe a lil expose on modern CPUs and how they work at the deeper level.

    You guys REALLY have plunty of stuff to review, rather than an extremely poor and very ugly version of Halo.

    Come on.
  • malkavianjkames - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    I thought it was more of a commentary than a review. I honestly don't care what anandtech has to say about if this good is worth playing or not. Alot of the comments, however, were informative about the game in an honest manner and I welcome them.

    Actually, I get a big impression that this game sounds like a more open ended "Red Faction 2" haha.
  • Baked - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    What the hell, AT does game reviews now?
  • Ensoph42 - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    Guys, stick to what you know. There are other sites out there that specialize in game reviews and do a much better job. I don't go to gamespot for thier hardware reviews and I don't come to anandtech for game reviews.
  • poohbear - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    yea true dat! unless the game review incorporates some kind of hardware (eg videocard, quad core support) analysis, please dont do console game reviews.
  • soydeedo - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    Agreed. I didn't really think it was a bad article, but I don't want these things to take the place of hardware articles. I also don't think I'll ever really rely on this site for game reviews. Make a spin-off or something like DailyTech, but incorporating it into AT isn't that smart.
  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    Note that the author (Eddie) is not one of our hardware reviewers, so his presence as a game reviewer is not taking time away from other articles. I do have a few game articles I'm working on, but they are PC games and they will certainly discuss the hardware side of things as well. Stay tuned....
  • GoodRevrnd - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    I have to honestly wonder what the point of this article is. AT isn't a game review website, so is this a test to see how it goes over? Can you even release reviews with the regularity necessary to maintain credibility? Judging from the waning Rock Band DLC reviews, I'm guessing not. So that brings up the other question: Did Sony just pay you all to review an exclusive for the mere purpose of plastering a great big "HEY WE HAVE AN EXCLUSIVE" on the front of the page?
  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    We're looking to do more game reviews. And the "Exclusive" was put there by me meaning "this is a PS3 Exclusive" not "this is an exclusive review".
  • anandtech02148 - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    not too many reviews for this game, and it looks promising for my underuse hardwares. Please review age of conan.
  • shabby - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    I see you guys missed that haze actually runs at 576p rather than 720p, would of been nice to mention.
  • JarredWalton - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    Not owning a PS3, I can't really say either way, but would rendering at 1024x576 and then stretching to 1280x720 result in a sort of "anti-aliasing"?
  • Furen - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    A simple strech would actually amplify aliasing, since you would stretch the edges even more. I'm pretty sure that the upscaling algorithms used probably are the equivalent of some of the higher-quality upscaling methods we see in DVD players, so the effect may actually be decent--but nowhere near what it would be if you rendered in HD natively. So much for Sony's "every game will run at 1080p" BS...
  • mmntech - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    Keep in mind that this is a third party title, being distributed by UBIsoft, a company who has earned my ire many times over on many different platforms. The developer takes the blame for this one since the graphics in Haze aren't exactly going to tax the system. Given that it's a PS3 exclusive built from the ground up, that's particularly disgraceful. If nobody at the company can program for the Cell (I assume this will be their excuse), fire them and hire someone who can. All other PS3 games run fine at 720p or 1080p. Sony does take some blame though since in the PS blog they said Haze would run at 720p when in reality it's only being upscaled to 720p. That is deceitful. If you're using a display with non-standard resolutions higher than 720p (say a 16:10 computer monitor like I do), the image quality further deteriorates since it's being upscaled twice.

    Technicals aside, Haze seemed like a pretty generic dystopian future first person shooter to me after I played the demo. There's nothing spectacular about it. You go around shooting terrorists while doing drugs. It's like Vietnam except with fancy yellow and black suits. It's not a bad game but it's not great. Over hyped and under substance. I'd rent it but I wouldn't fork out $60 to buy it.
  • ats - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link

    Very Very few games for either PS3 or XB360 actually render to 720P let alone 1080P.

    Neither of the consoles have either the graphics power or memory to really support heavy shading and textures at real HD resolutions.
  • Slash3 - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    No other comment on what you've already said, but here are a few other titles that do not run at 720p or higher resolution on the PS3:

    Lair: 800x1080 (no, really)
    COD4: 1024x600
    Dark Sector: 1152x640
    Metal Gear Online: 1024x768
    Haze is 1024x576

    MGS4 is rumored to be 1024x768 as well.

    The downside is that through the low rendered resolution + upscaling, you lose a lot of fine detail. It still looks great in motion, since you retain the modern particles, lighting and rendering passes for effects such as depth of field, HDR lighting and such, but you lose definition - literally.

    I honestly don't think it would be such a big deal if people hadn't been force fed the notion that this console generation would deliver all content in 720p or 1080p format when it's simply not the case.
  • slashbinslashbash - Monday, May 26, 2008 - link

    Reading the review, the game sounds a lot like Halo, although it seems Halo has a better weapons selection and a better multiplayer experience. I would have liked to see more explicit comparisions of each mode: single-player, multiplayer, and coop. Also comparisons of graphics, sound, etc. Halo 3, like it or not, is the standard-bearer of console sci-fi FPS gaming (distinguishing from historical or more-or-less realistic depictions like CoD). Not to mention, Halo 3 is exclusive to Xbox 360 and thus seems to form the most perfect competitor to Haze (bring on the "Hazo" comments). I, being mostly happy with Halo 3 and the 360, and not owning a PS3, would like to know how Haze fares in comparison.

    I'm not trying to be snide or anything, it just seems that this game is squarely aimed at the same niche that Halo 3 occupies.... like probably someone at Sony decided to come up with a Halo competitor. Nothing wrong with that, but since the comparison seems so obvious, I would like to see someone actually do the comparison in a review, despite the flak they will take from fanboys on both sides. I know that I will own a PS3 eventually, and I owned all 3 (4, if you count the Dreamcast) of the last-gen systems.
  • EddieTurner - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link

    Aside from being a FPS and having a four letter title beginning with the letters H and A. there is really no similarity between the two. Haze is a story about conflict between humans and just doesn't give off that Halo vibe at all. I don't think that was the direction the devs were going with this. But I agree, Halo is a fine game that has set some standards in console FPS's.

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