A console can live or die on its exclusive titles, as Microsoft proved a few years ago when Halo sold the original Xbox to a chunk of people, and Sony shifted a fair few PS2s and PS3s with Metal Gear Solid. So, it’s fair to say that a lot of pressure is put on exclusive titles to perform from the off, and when one fails to do so it opens the game and console to ridicule from opposing fanboys who want nothing more than the opposition to fail for reasons that evade the more sensible of us. Unfortunately for Haze, it’s less Metal Gear and more Genji...

Real men wear yellow. And carry guns.

As soon as the game starts you’re thrown into the deep end with a mandatory 5GB install, and even after the installation you’re met with long load times and mediocre graphics, complete with textures that can take a disturbing amount of time to load. This in itself isn’t a massive problem, but it does lead you to wonder what exactly was in the 5GB’s of data you apparently need on your hard drive. You’ll have plenty of time to wonder about this though, as you’re then greeted with a fairly lengthy unskippable opening cutscene which gives a quick rundown of what your Haze suit can do (not actually called that, I’m afraid) along with a bit about the story and world you’re dipping into.

Graphics are officially 3 times worse than this beauty.

I suppose I should tell you about the story around now, although I’m guessing you’ve had your fill of it long before now thanks to Free Radical ramming it down your throats every time you step out the front door. Space marines in the future go to some place with trees to kill rebels who are well evil, but then it turns out you’re the evil ones so it seems about time to change sides to fight the people you thought were the goodies. Could have been interesting - Isn’t. I’d heard a lot about the poor, overly macho voice acting, but giving it the benefit of the doubt I’d just taken this as people not quite ’getting it’. After experiencing it for myself however, I can happily say it just doesn’t work. Instead of Haze making a joke about the marines acting like jocks, it insists on everything being serious. The tone of the game overall is surprising considering the developer’s history and the nature of the promotional videos for the game, as the final product is a humourless experience.