Players start off as a soldier under the control of the Mantel Corporation, where in the future wars are run by companies and supported by this particular one's use of their manufactured drug, Nectar. In a nutshell, it makes you harder, faster, stronger, perfect. Heck, music even kicks in when you use it.

Things seem pretty black and white as you work to suppress rebel forces in local areas, working to capture their terrorist leader Skincoat, a dude with a coat of human skin. Halfway through the game your character changes his mind based on a turn of events that actually don't seem too bad in comparison to some of the things we've seen up to now, but it's important to the plot (I think), so let's run with it. After you defect, you find out you were being brainwashed for some secret reasons and start to see things a little clearer. I also refuse to make a joke about the game's title.

So the story sucks, but it's a game, right? Games are about playing, and fortunately this one plays fairly well. The controls can be completely customized to your liking, which is a considerate gesture, since the default scheme is a little wacky. It's not tough to get used to, but some players like me will do their best to mimic their FPS of choice's controls if these don't groove with you. Oddly enough, you're given this option but are left with no adjustment to the sensitivity of your aim, which could really have been used. You'll be leading targets like there's no tomorrow, but will have to couple it with some zooming in because the controls are so sensitive. Sometimes things work just fine and you can run and gun, but bullets move too slow for that kind of action most of the time.

The vehicle controls are another matter entirely. These can be custom mapped as well, and even when configured to the settings of a standard racing game, there's no saving how painfully bad the driving sections of Haze are. Your vehicle can't take more than a few hits before it blows up, which may not be such a bad thing since it puts you back on foot and in a comfortable position with the controls. As well, don't expect to be able to steer properly, or drive very well at all. In none of the vehicles was the driving fun, nor did they feel like they had any weight in them. You're better off steering as little as possible and hoping inertia does its job for you.

Other than that, things are pretty by the book for most of the game: kill, kill, kill. Nectar is cool when you have it, :since it makes stuff glow and when you overdose you can't tell friend from foe and start shooting people like crazy-or just pull a grenade on yourself 'til it blows up. Then again, with no real motivation thanks to the story puttering out and stepping in every now and then to remind you why you're doing what you are.

I hate to say it but while the game was fun in the beginning, and it does take a turn for the better about midway, it really becomes boring. I began to realize I was getting diminishing returns upon each play session, which isn't a good thing to feel after taking a break from a game. This was only coupled with a few spurts of emotion, mostly being frustration at how the enemies will sometimes stand tall against a full clip of ammo and at other times take a realistic three or four shots before kicking the bucket.

The game is riddled with wacky bugs like this, many of which you can find video compilations of online. These include the level not loading properly and dropping you off into nonexistence, soldiers not shooting at you, lots of pop-in, and things getting stuck on other things. In one instance when shooting a barrel to get a good glimpse of an explosion, one of my troopers wandered into a fire that was nearby and started shooting me when no other enemies were around. After dying with much surprise, I tried to recreate the situation but could not. This confirmed my claim that the AI is crazy, when an environmental harm can cause your own soldiers to take fire on you as if you attacked them; and no he wasn't glowing red at the time (as Mantel soldiers do when they overdose).

Haze has plenty of inconsistencies (such as your own guys having what must be ten times the health as you), but it can be enjoyable at times. It supports four-player co-op online or locally, which is also a treat for those who have an FPS buddy, and will be necessarily to fully laugh at moments which earn a good controller chucking. The multiplayer modes are standard for the most part, team-based and such. Nothing to write home about really, and especially not when there are three other games with vastly superior multiplayer components.

It's all very ho-hum, even down to the visuals which are neither pleasing nor revolting. This is a game which when you play it, you'll wish you were playing a different game that it reminds you of which is more fun, and then you end up just wanting to play that other game. I'm sure a few people will have more fun with this than I did, although I hope nobody will swear by Haze. It's a rental a best, especially if you're curious and the type of person who staunchly defends their PS3 purchase as if you still need to.

Sad to say, most of those excited for Haze were let down a while ago while others like myself had to see it to believe it. What we got was a short game with adequate multiplayer and nothing special to come with it. Hopefully the next Free Radical title is as much fun as their past efforts, but they'll be getting nowhere fast if they keep this sort of stuff up.