Playing the Haze demo was like chewing a popsicle stick. The foliage is non-deformable, which is a huge mistake, the combat is generic, and the personalities of your teammates are ridiculous. But the drug part is fantastic. Sort of.

I love the idea that you can go from a normal guy to a super-soldier through some kind of stimulant haze, but that’s not what’s really going on, is it? You’re going from super-soldier, which is already an unfair advantage, to a kind of super-godness, where the flesh-men that surround you simply become softer. There’s a duality going on, though, between being high and breathing the sweet, sweet air. Things become serene when your helmet is open–you feel more natural, and it feels good. I don’t know if I like being high. I thought they’d take it in a different direction. Something more like this:

You can overjuice yourself in Haze. It essentially makes you a dangerous retard; friends and foes become indistinguishable from each other, you’ll pull out a grenade, and just hold it, as the glint of sunlight dances upon its smooth surface. It’s an unhelpful high, full of wasted potential.

What if the overdose forced a crazy Klingon-like battle trance where you auto-lock to heads? Where the computer gauges distance, enemy bullet trajectory, grenade usage, and all that stuff, while at the same time you’re poppin’ teammates in the face, you’re vomiting all over the inside of your helmet, you’re leaving a trail of urine through a crack in your shoe to match the trail of limbs and blood? And then you snap out of it and you’re just some dude, HP-equivalent of some random enemy. Yeah, you need the haze to stand a chance, but there’s also this risk/reward system where you can, optionally, blitz the fuck out and clear an entire level like some insane, drooling monster.

The demo might not be a fair showcase of the haze system, so I’ll hold out hope that they do something interesting with it, but so far my expectations have been dashed. I want to love you, Haze!