As we mentioned in our last preview (link at the end of the page), we have high expectations for Haze. A premier project from one of our favorite developers, Rare alumni Free Radical, we were fortunate enough to get a one on one with studio founder David Doak this E3. Even better, we got to confirm the game's long-anticipated secret twist and see huge new swathes of gameplay. Unfortunately, there is just no way to find out more about how Free Radical is looking to up the ante for shooters on the PS3 without some spoilers, but we promise to keep them to an absolute minimum. You won't suffer any worse than we did.
Forced Rehab
Yes, it turns out those gentlemen in the obviously evil corporation who sponsor the military of Haze's future are indeed evil. In a plot twist that's still secret, you will find yourself on the side of the rebels you once hunted. As a rebel, you're not just shooting at guys in yellow and black armor. Remember all those ways that Nectar makes Haze's bumblebee infantry incredibly dangerous, and how the squadmate AI could use all those abilities? Well, when they're suddenly the enemy AI, they still can, which means that as a rebel, you're suddenly playing a very different shooter.
For reasons unknown, during the single-player game you go "clean" of Nectar and join the rebels. In addition to some snazzy new character models, you gain a whole array of abilities to facilitate your new hit-and-run style of gameplay. For one thing, you gain access to the stunningly cool throwing knife. While Doak told us that it's probably too powerful at the moment, we hope it doesn't get toned down too far -- elite rebel guerrillas risking closing to close range to pierce even high tech armor with sharpened steel is brilliant fun.
Beyond the knife, as a rebel you can increase your gun collection pretty easily by stealing from your enemies. As we saw in the game's teaser trailer, if you close to a bumblebee you can rip the gun from his hands, flip it and fire it in a cat-quick series of hand tricks. If you manage to get a shot just right and nail a bumblebee's Nectar feed, expect them to go berserk, firing on friend or foe in a rage as their yellow armor panels go to crimson red. And if you spend a few precious seconds over a dead bumblebee, you can harvest their leftover Nectar to cobble together a "Nectar grenade." This is essentially a gas grenade that force-overdoses anyone currently on Nectar, making it a hit for when that party of bumblebees catches up with you. Thanks to some of the perception-distorting Nectar effects we've seen hinted at, you gain another special ability as a rebel: you can play dead.
When you're in bad shape, you can hit the deck, and the bumblebee's "Nectar-enhanced" mind will see you as dead. That gives you a few seconds to heal, Halo style, and try to get the imitative back. And since rebels can try to revive each other, that's one more way to split up the enemy's attentions. There's a mini-game to get back up to ideal form, but we haven't seen a final version of it. What's clever about all these rebel abilities isn't just seeing two playable factions in a shooter -- and not having it sprung on you, Halo 2 style, after you've dropped your dollar for a game -- but that they're all going to be available in multiplayer.
