Haze: The One With All The Drugs
We start with a game so forgettable that by the time you reach the end of this article you’ll have to come back for a refresher. Developer Free Radical Design is best known for the delightful time-traveling TimeSplitters series, but towards the end of its run it teamed with Ubisoft for 2008’s Haze, a game about doing drugs and shooting guns. Haze takes place in a dystopian future where soldiers are enhanced by a chemical substance called Nova-Keto-Thyrazine, better known as Nectar. Taking Nectar gives soldiers a power boost but also applies a hallucinogenic effect, transforming battlefields into painless, idyllic environments.
What an amazing concept. Imagine fighting through a battle without knowing it, only to have your drug injector fail and reveal the ugly truth in shocking fashion. Handled correctly, that sounds like a concept that would make for an outstanding video game. It was not handled correctly, and now Haze is remembered as that one game with the yellow helmet on the cover, when it’s remembered at all.
