remiered at last years’ E3, Free Radical’s Haze caused quite a bit of buzz at the event. Coming from a developer with a rich FPS pedigree, with such games as GoldenEye, TimeSplitters and Second Sight on their resume, and originally billed as a squad-based first-person shooter, everything about Haze went silent after last year’s big show. That is until just a few weeks ago, when Ubisoft held its perennial pre-E3 event, dubbed UbiDays. We got a few moments with Free Radical’s Creative Director David Doak to find out everything that has changed with the game and to see what they have in store for gamers when the game is released for the PlayStation 3 this holiday.

Free Radical has ditched the squad-based nature in favor of intelligent A.I. characters, or even better, four-player cooperative play. Set in the year 2048, governments are now outsourcing military to PMCs, or private military corporations. An uber-creepy company named Mantel Global Industries has taken over and acts as a sort of United Nations. However, they’re also a listed company, which has products including solar energy, bio-medical, engineering, high-tech weaponry and a private military organization of super-soldiers. Mantel’s employees are committed to a common goal—making a difference. Guess where you fall in.

As one of Mantel’s soldiers, you’ll be dropped into a South American jungle, where a rebel faction going by the name “The Promised Hand” has taken control, and Mantel has been sent in to sort out the disturbance. As you’re going into the warzone, everything is exciting for your character. The squads are having a great time, but suddenly things start to go wrong, and you realize that war isn’t the fun party that it’s supposed to be. While war is actually a horrific and dismal event, there’s something you discover that’s making light of everything that is going on around you. You’re constantly getting juiced up on a new military support supplement developed by Mantel called Nectar. While Free Radical is remaining tight-lipped about how the story will play out, we do know that there will be a dark focus on the moralities of war, and you’ll find out why you’re on Nectar, its origins and what’s up with these wackjobs at Mantel.

Nectar is some pretty potent stuff, and strapped onto your back is an administration tank of this drug that turns you into a super soldier, and more or less makes you blind at what you’re actually doing. As you’re high on Nectar, you’ll be able to take more damage, and you’ll be faster and heal quicker. By pressing a button to juice up, you’ll be able to differentiate enemies from friendlies by a glow emanating from people you should target. With focus, you’ll have assisted aim to help with easier headshots, and with the ability for foresight you’ll receive visual warnings of incoming danger. Your character has a Samus-like curved visor that delivers statistics, including how much Nectar you have left and how much of the stuff is actually in your bloodstream. Obviously, all these nifty enhancements will come at a price, because if you take too much you’ll overdose into an extremely nasty bad trip.

Overdosing on Nectar does a multitude of things. Friendly forces may appear as enemies, or you’ll completely lose control of your firearm and start blasting away at absolutely anything you target. Your squadmates will also accidentally take too much Nectar as well and fire upon each other, which should make for some interesting issues. If the tank on your back comes under fire, you’ll automatically overdose, taking friendly fire into a completely different realm. However, if Nectar is completely disrupted, your character will face the realities of war as they come down off the happy drug. Enemy screams and kills will be much more agonizing, brutal and horrific.