Dev responds to IGN's Haze review - "MEGAowch"
- Posted May 20th, 2008 at 07:18 EDT by
- 31,359 views
- 90 Comments
With early reviews for Haze looking good (Famitsu 34/40 and Italian PSM 9/10), it came as a bit of a shock when IGN bestowed a dreaded 4.5/10 on the game in their review this morning. In curiosity, PSU.com contacted Rob Yescombe of Free Radical to hear what he had to say.
"My thoughts are 'Owch.' No, wait - MEGAowch." wrote Yescombe.
"Haze has had mixed reviews, but even GoldenEye got a 4/10 when it first came out. With a 9/10 in the Italian PSM, and an extremely positive review in Famitsu, we're looking forward to people playing Haze and making a judgment for themselves."
According to IGN, Haze suffered from "a bland story with weak characters... [and] tons of visual issues, from texture tears and non-descript environments to pop-in and odd animation problems."
This comes as a surprise to us because back in March, PSU was given hands on with a near final build of the game and we thought the title looked fairly good. The graphics in particular looked crisp and the framerate was smooth.
With Haze releasing today in the US, and Friday in Europe, we'll see how well gamers will jump on board with the new PS3 exclusive.
Comments
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pizzamonkio
- 7:27am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 2
well to be honest the graphics arent that good, but i usually go for gameplay over graphics. as long as the multiplayer is cool it should be good. plus you get to do some nectar and get ALL F**KED UP! i like when you take too much and it looks like your on lsd.
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Kane |
walle- 7:41am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 5
It looks like they got paid by Microsoft. I wasn't especially impressed by the graphics nor the gameplay. They were okay, but not very special.
But where the he-ll did the "tons of visual issues, from texture tears and non-descript environments to pop-in and odd animation problems" come from?At least I didn't notice any in the demo. Is the demo THAT different from the full game?
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TekkenLord |
HitMan00- 7:43am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 6
does anyone finds this strange that ign says something different than what the people at psu played. hmmm. something fishy.
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robbinator |
cowkong- 8:03am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 8
WTF??? I thought the demo of this game was amazing, I do know what they mean with the animation problems but the gameplay is so new and exciting. There has to be something wrong here...
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Staticneuron |
Staticneuron- 8:15am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 9
Hmm..... I was really banking on the story for this one. Well as long as it is playable ( unlike IMO kayne and lynch) I will give this title a rent.
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Clojo
- 8:38am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 11
i believe ign is getting really sloppy these days. People are actually depending on their reviews to choose a good game and I feel bad for the people who actually believe them. Maybe they don't realize that and who knows maybe they even forgot about honest reporting. i'm skeptical that the rating for a game that was done in a private unreleased time should be trusted when the ratings are conflicting. raises questions like 'who got paid?' or 'who's getting the jitters?' or 'is this honest journalism?' or in this case 'who is this reporter and does he have a bias for the 360?' We'll see soon because Haze was released today. If Haze isn't a 4.5 by a big difference you all you should know. If it doesn't have :"a bland story with weak characters... [and] tons of visual issues, from texture tears and non-descript environments to pop-in and odd animation problems." (which sounds like a vague and quickly done review anyway), you should know. IGN reporter I'm on to you...
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DolphGB |
DolphGB- 8:46am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 13
I've played through the entire game. I've completed the single-player campaign. I've played co-op and multiplayer to death.
Our review will be out on Friday at PS3 Attitude as part of our Haze Week (thanks to embargoes), but I can tell you I didn't see any of the issues IGN are 'reporting'. To give this game 4.5 when they gave the terrible Blacksite over 6/10 shows just how poor their review is on this title.
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SyckoSy
- 8:55am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 16
I too have played the game for some time now, got an import copy, and like a previous poster I can not for the life of me see or make any comparison to the IGN review! When I looked back at some of their previous reviews and compared to games of similar scoring and better I had to laugh. My guts says that due to it being a PS3 exclusive and made by a popular studio, that in IGN's eyes should only product diamond standard, was the cause of the poor score. 4.5 is blatantly ridiculous! There's nothing wrong with the visuals at all nor the game play! My honest score would be 8.5. IGN have joined the Gamespot bandwagon for bashing Ps3 games. Oh dear oh dear.
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Xdeth |
Xdeth- 9:02am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 19
I smell some MS money behind this one. First of all any core gamer will tell you gameplay over graphics any day. I played the demo and really liked it. I think the reviewer was a 360 halo fanboy and nit picked about things that arn't even there. Then again this doesn't suprise me comeing from IGN.
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electricmine |
cookiehour- 9:25am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 21
That's absolutely ridiculous.
On second thought, I think I'll give it a rent or wait to see what other people say about the whole game.
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tadpole3159 |
faulkner8991- 9:33am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 24
the review did sound like the guy reviewing it was just pissed off and needed somewhere to vent. maybe he should have vented at wii board. no one cares about the wii board
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Staticneuron |
Staticneuron- 10:24am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 29
I really thought the whole point of them chosing a lower resolution was so that they didn't have all these visual issues. Something does sound suspect but ign has rarely failed me....e xcept for that 'one' time.......
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Fiddlesworth
- 10:26am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 30
Lower score than Blacksite Area 51? How can IGN be so far off the mark?
Don't be a wuss, jack the demo up to hard and tell me this game isn't great fun.
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gingo |
gingo- 10:28am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 31
psn id: gingo.... with it receiving positive scores from other websites and magazines maybe ign were just a little harsh on it and it being ps3 exclusive wouldn't have helped its cause either because they are too many xbox fanboys working for these sites
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PS34ever07
- 10:40am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 36
Sorry, I may be a big Sony/Playstation fan....BUT any game that looks like this...is very much likely to be horrible in other departments. The game looks great in small screens and some shots...but in HD...it looks just like the screens they put up. ::awful::
Haze in HD screenshot <-click here
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kidkotic2001 |
hotshot2001- 10:57am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 37
man I didint think this was ever going to be released today im not going to get it at first I was but they delayed it to long lost interest in it.
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woodcock_ps3 |
WALL-MARTshinobi- 11:28am BST - May 20th, 2008
- 38
you guys are acting like complete sony fanboys. This game was truily horible the demo was the worst thing i've seen and the controlling was crappy i had to switch it to the cod4 settings and still it was bad.
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DSSS91 |
DSSS91- 12:09pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 42
Stop Bashing a game made by Free Radical. They need lots of money from this game so they can make Timesplitters 4 the greatest game of all time. The game is NOT worse than Blacksite, When I played the Blacksite demo I was shocked it was even allowed to be released, the quality was so low. But haze is great. Maybe the graphics are not up to todays standards but it's got features that make any game fun such as: Story mode co-op, 4-player split screen, fluid gameplay, a story line to immerse into and a cool online multiplayer (it reminded me a bit of resistance).
Just buy the game and then make your decision. Then buy Timesplitters 2 HD. Then buy Timesplitters 4.
@Free Radical: Please don't let me down on Timesplitters 4. The gameplay needs to be spot on like the other Timesplitters. Also please make it look pretty and update the haze engine because visuals influence me a lot when buying games. -If graphics are polished then it shows that time has been spent on the game, if their not good the game looks rushed and mediocre. In my opinion.
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AclayPS3
- 1:12pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 45
The mixed reviews for Haze are starting to make me wonder. I really expected HAZE to get reviews around 7.0-8.0, but not 4.5, that's just crazy.
But to be honest, I really don't care that much about HAZE since it's not published by Sony. If it was a Sony 1st party title, I would be ashamed of such a low score, but it's Ubisoft. But the fact that HAZE is a PS3 exclusive it makes me ashamed somewhat, but not that much. As long as Sony's 1st party game titles get good reviews and do well, I'm happy. IGN gave Gran Turismo 5 Prologue a 8.5/10 and I really thought that they gave pretty good reviews.
But, I'll have to wait and see what Playstation The Official Magazine gives HAZE and some other reviewers like EGM. I think that some people will say that the Playstation gaming sites will be more easy on HAZE, but either way I think that a reviewer that actually is in the Playstation gaming media all the way like PSU/ Playstation The Official Magazine will give the best non-baised reviews towards PS3 exclusives.
The only PS3 FPS that I care about are Resistance 2 and Killzone 2. I was going to get HAZE, but now I don't know if I will. I'll just have to wait for more reviews before getting it. Lair got bashed with negative reviews but I personally liked the game and I think that it may turn out the same way with HAZE for me. I'll have to judge HAZE for myself.
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Nineball2112
- 1:18pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 46
The 4.5 score will scare gamers away from that game. It does me... I'll rent it first and if I think it's worth keeping, I'll buy it.
4.5 is a really terrible review for a game. That's on the level of "Don't even rent this game!".
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pepsivscoke
- 1:54pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 48
This Definately seems out of place! 4.5 are you kidding me!! Jericho got a better rating! Not only that but correct me if I'm wrong, isnt Famitsu one of the most critical magazines in the world??? Famitsu gave it 34/40! Maybe the drugs (nectar) in Haze hit a little too close to home for the peeps at IGN. Maybe they were beaten as children when their Mommas were loaded up on crystal meth? Not trying to be a total Jack@22 but 4.5???!!!!
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BayBud
- 1:57pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 49
I must admit 4.5 is a little low, but then it is subjective, IF the final release was any thing like the demo then they really did have alot to work with when it came to writing a negative review.
I would perhaps have given it 5.5 but no more.
I would have loved to love this game but everyone of my complaints/hates about the demo is exactly what IGN have stated in their review of the game.
From my perspective i think the review is a little low, but i do stress little.
5.5
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pepsivscoke
- 2:08pm BST - May 20th, 2008
- 50
I absolutely disagree with the demo being terrible. It wasnt amazing either but I did enjoy it, especially when I got with friends running around in the demo. The game has plenty of potential. I cant wait to play the scene with the surface battleship. It may not be a revolution in gaming but the fun factor should be high! Remember Famitsu gave it a 34/40!!!! I have been looking at the reviews on the PS3 and very often I think raters are too critical of the PS3. They seem to always expect much more. They should chill out and rate the game for what it is and not compare it to others -i.e. Halo!!!!! Chill everyone!!
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