2:53 I don't get prompted to use the code during the buying process on Steam. Is this something you enter after purchasing the game? I have this game on PS4 but have been waiting for it to go on sale for PC. Best zombie game (single player) out there that delivers a open world, sandbox adventure. And, the developers have continued to update and add content which I find impressive. Now if only I could find where that code goes... 🤔
This was one of those games that you would see at a GameStop and think to yourself, “This looks interesting, I’ll wait till it’s $10 bucks.” The PS3, Wii and Xbox360 era had so many games like that. Still a great era though.
I think the fact there were so many games like that, is what made that generation so good. You don't have singularity or vanquish tier games now, it's either 2D indie or AAA micro transaction mess :(
Leon, I actually felt the exact same way. As a broke teen I didn't wanna take a chance on a new game when I was already familiar with COD and Battlefield, which were identical to what Haze was offering. Something about the color scheme threw me off as well, the bright yellow with black looks really unappealing.
"Did you ever hear the tragedy of Star Wars Battlefront 3? I thought not. It’s not a story EA would tell you. It’s a Free Radical legend. Battlefront 3 was a game in development, so anticipated and so ambitious that it could reinvent the very foundations of the series… It had such a knowledge of what players wanted that you could even fly from ground to space... without loading. Free Radical's game design was a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... really cool. It became so hyped… the only thing we were afraid of was it getting cancelled, which eventually, of course, it did. Unfortunately, it taught its apprentice Haze everything it knew, then Haze killed it in its sleep. Ironic. Its resources could get other games developed, but not itself." - Palpatine, 19BBY
@@rickylovesyou Free Radical was developing Star Wars Battlefront 3 along with Haze at the same time with split development teams. Star Wars Battlefront 3 while in development had a lot of technical issues and multiplayer was essentially impossible on all devices, leading to Lucas Arts to ask them to pull back on their vision of ground to space combat, the developers insisted they could fix the issues. They ended up over budget and falling way behind on development goals and couldn’t get multiplayer past 10 FPS. It’s speculated that the failure of Haze on a technical level is what gave Lucas Arts cold feet on the game and lead to the cancellation of the project.
@@MDPToaster I didn't know the multiplayer on Battlefront 3 was unplayable. Interesting did a developer say that in an interview? It should have been released on PC only but even back in 2008/2009 I think PC hardware could not have worked
@@aceofhearts573 Yeah there was an ex-dev that claimed the game was 98% finished and that Lucas Arts wanted a remake of the OG BF1+2 instead. However this was not true and the developer was treating the game as a passion project. Other devs have come out to contradict the completion percentage and place it around 30-40 and state the game was barely playable on single player. But there was a lot of completed assets for the game and they were put to use for the Battlefront 3 Legacy mod for Battlefront 2.
Who would had thought that Haze was a preview into what most triple A games would turn into. Crappy deals for the studios, stupid deadlines, even stupider deals, and Publisher interfering with development. Just to cause the death of the studio, while the Publisher yeets the IP, so nobody else uses a similar idea
I still think the concept for Haze could've made for an excellent single player focused FPS. Shame it turned out this way and pretty killed Free Radical and their Timesplitters franchise.
@DantesGrill, Nice, is Dambuster Studio working on it? If I recall correctly, that's the one that was made up from Free Radical once Deep Silver picked them up from Crytek. I thought Homefront The Revolution was decent. But it was pretty cool they included the entire Timesplitters 2 single player as an Easter Egg in it.
@@Gruntvc I have no idea actually. One of the devs said they where working on it in a youtube comment. I only made a background check to see if it was legit. But it's supposed to have a lot of the same team behind it. Tried to ask some about how the gameplay would be but he wasn't allowed to say anything yet. This was months ago though.
I remember when the marketing for this game came out with all the trailers and developer diaries. I was just a kid back then and became obsessed with this game. I look back now and cringe lol. Still reminded of this wasted potential every now and then. Multiplayer was fun though.
played a lot of the multiplayer with a friend back then. we didnt even take it seriously, our 'house rules' were basically playing hide and seek and then shooting each other in the back to cause an overdose.
Same. I used to buy OPSM magazine each month religiously & the build up to this game was immense. It's one of the first games I can remember having such a huge build up and just dropping in price massively after it released. Such a shame what happened to Free Radical, all their games had a vibe about them where you could just tell it was made by them, the animation, the UI but the vibe in general. I remember being very dissapointed by this though, I can't remember if I rented it from Blockbuster or I bought it but it didn't feel like FR, it felt kinda just standard, lacking..
I was in high school then, a good friend of mine and I would argue meaninglessly about Haze and Crysis, about which game would be superior in graphics or tech etc. good times
@@theoroinvictus lmao same, here in italy haze was ine of the first titles with triple a marketing and we were all hyped as fuck, we would constantly argue if haze or kz2 would be better
@@lucignolo8333 oh yes, we did a lot of arguing about KZ2 as well. we were so fooled by the infamous pre-rendered trailer, it's funny to look back on the trivial things we pointlessly argued about back then
Not gonna lie the Dying Light sponsorship was unexpected. Partly because it is probably the first time I've ever seen an in video for a product that is actually relevant to the targeted audience while the product is actually good itself and not a rubbish mobile game. The other part is that it's Dying Light 1 being advertised not Dying Light 2. Guess Techland needed some extra capital to get DL2 over the finish line, lol.
@@TheKarabanera I have no issue with them marketing it, just feels counterintuitive to market them previous game as we draw closer to the sequel's release day.
@@PlebNC the marketing focused on 1 is supposed to build a foothold into new players to later on sell you the second part, which if you enjoyed the first one, now you have the lore context and general feel of the franchise to persuade you to buy it, and since they are also going to give discounts to the first game, it makes it even easier to sell.
True, seeing a video sponsored by a AAA game that's a few years old is a first for me, but I wouldn't mind it not being the last. Also, I swear I'm hearing "to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary" and the subtitles seem to agree on that lol
@@PlebNC not at all actually, it's very well thought-out. once you play 1st one what will you be playing next huh? revenue is revenue and as you can see by Techland supporting their game for so long, it does not have to be all back in first week like with other scummy publishers
I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but my all-time favorite moment was during the marketing. Writer Rob Yescombe was being interviewed at a trade show, and he just goes off on the guy: "Haze is not a war game!! Haze is a game about war!!" Okay dude.... Think you can chill a bit? My friend and I still quote it to this day, and I always like to remind him that if there is one fact of life that he must always remember no matter what, it's that Haze not a war game, it is a game about war. This knowledge must be bestowed upon generation after generation.
You don’t understand the statement. haze and the storyline was actually very in depth about the reality of war and focused more on the story rather than a typical shoot ‘em up fps that there were hundreds of in 2008
@@fuzzyballs8726Yes I understand that having played through the game several times, but it was just so hilarious how he just blew up on the journalist.
The best promotion this channel does is discussing the stories of video games and their making. After watching your videos on Sleeping Dogs, Dead Rising franchise, Spec Ops The Line, FEAR franchise and Bully, I bought the games and played them for the first time! Thank you for showing me some gems.
Free Radical was actually killed by Lucasarts when they stopped funding of Battlefront 3. It was real bad because Lucasarta took out funding breaking the contract but since Free Radical was going under they knew Free Radical didn't have the money to take them to court so they closed down a few days before Christmas.
Bought this one on discount a few years after its release out of curiosity, it was clunky and tiresome but I will say the attempt to subvert gung ho military FPS by intentionally shielding the players via mechanics before showing the grim reality of what's being done by the evil conglomerate and its doped pawns is an interesting take for a game. Good ideas poorly executed.
Dam dying lights 30 years old already! I bought it day 1, man I'm getting old. Awesome video as always guys I'm supporting you all the way and will continue to. Loving the more regular uploads!.
I was playing it not too long ago. Got as far as the asylum chapter but you know when you skip a few days, then it turns to weeks etc & it gets to a point where its been so long you'd just rather start again... Anyways great game 👌
Man this channel is so good. The narrator's voice is amazing and soothing, the content is quality documentary worth videos, just amazing work all around.
Deep Silver could reintroduce a new Haze game as something like "Haze Redux" in spirit of their Apocalypse Now inspiration, and be totally within grounds to totally reinvent it while still having brand recognition 🤷
"while still having brand recognition" what brand? Haze is not a brand and even if it was why would anyone want to remind potential customers of the garbage that was haze?
The thing is it was the gaming media that called it a Halo killer much like they did with the first Killzone. They seemed obsessed with something coming along that had to be a better Halo than Halo rather than being its own thing.
man Ima cry; free radical was on eof my childhood favorites. time splitters was such a gem and second sight was an underrated experience. when haze killed them I was so sad.
I played haze on ps3 as a kid and really loved it, I still go back and play it now and always have fun with it, I think it's definetly a hidden gem and deserves a second chance
Yeah it’s definitely a hidden gem with sone very interesting mechanics and wonderful designs for mantel soldiers. I think the marketing hyping it up so much did more damage than anything else, if it wasn’t publicized as a halo killer people would’ve loved it much more
the craziest part about this was hearing golden eye got a score of 4. was it really that poorly reviewed? Because fucking hell I remember everyone loved it back then.
@@EggEnjoyer If the game was made today, do you think they'll rate it higher because everyone loved it and they're afraid of backlash if they said negative things about it?
I legitimately enjoyed Haze all the way through when I played it all those years ago, I guess there's something wrong with me. The same way people have nostalgia for Golden Eye, I have nostalgia for Haze, which I'm sure would freak some people out.
I will defend Haze until the day I die. So many great memories playing co-op with a friend, we must have beat the campaign over a dozen times. Can't forget the competitive modes too, this was actually the first game that I played versus online and realised I was pretty decent.
I recall it being an okay game. I ended up buying Fracture instead of Haze.. I had fun but I'd say they're both on the same level (Fracture was definitely more comedic).
I for whatever reason loved this game, & I cant really pinpoint why I replayed it repeatedly. The concept is unique as fuck & I'm surprised a better game hasn't reused the nectore gimmick. Overdosing in multiplayer made for some fun shoot outs
I never understood the hate for this game. I didn't get a chance to play it untill the multi-player had already died but solo it as just another average FPS that had pretty good visuals for its time.
@@maow9240 I think you just answered your question. While the few of us loved Haze for whatever reason, it was overhyped and (despite its unique points) turned out to ultimately be an average game which I think hurts more than if it was obviously average from the pre-release promos.
Well looks like Free Radical is getting a second shot with David Doak and Steve Ellis at the helm under Deep Silver as the publisher for a new Time Splitters game. Not many publishers get a chance to be resurrected like that.
Oh no not deep silver otherwise known as deep shit becuase anything involving them turns to shit I will explode if they fuck up my favourite franchise as much as I want another timesplitters I dont want a shit tinespiltters
Oh shit not Deep Silver. Aren't they the ones under Epic's payroll? I remember being excited for Metro: Exodus, until they announced, near the game's release, that it'll be taken off Steam and be an EGS exclusive. Its like a Monkey Paw wish.
@@Razgriz_01 nah Epic actually paid them a few million for the time exclusive rights. I cant blame any dev that takes the money from epic. Everyone would
One of the biggest crimes in computer games history is the lack of timesplitters. Haze was around the timeshift and pariah when studios appeared a bit more shook up from far cry being so amazing for a console port. We had a few out there games which were ok. Just never got any traction which is a shame as exclusive can have a damaging effect on some classics.
Nah. Some of the best games are being released nowadays. From indie developers like Supergiant to Remedy getting back into limelight, Arkane, IO etc etc.
Imagine if they released a new Timesplitters for the PS5 and Xbox. Beautiful graphics, vibrant colors, super smooth framerates, splitscreen and online coop and pvp, map editor....
@@tomstonemale He is talking about the overly saturated market of games that lack "color" from that time. Call of Duty 4 is one of them, but not the one responsible.
@@IronThumbs not really.Sure unreal engine 3 games have the same colour pallette but when CoD 4 and MW2 make 70% of the profit from videogame console market alone those years, yeah I blame CoD for making the grey, brown and bloom colour scheme popular.
I think the real villain of this story is, for once, not UbiSoft, but the fad for "serious military shooters". As soon as I saw the game's dreary footage composed of 50 shades of brown, I knew the game must have been ass.
The sad part is, the tech demo for the game was still awesome. When the game came out, the only feature still left from that demo was the ability to scope in on some weapons
Whoever you hire for voice acting is too professionally gifted for gaming. I mean, he sounds like the dude history channel hires for every wwii conspiracy series.
I very much enjoyed Haze. I particularly loved the tactical gameplay - it was a game you could play intelligently, and not just another stupid twitch-shooter.
Out of respect for this fallen game and dev as well as my twice-resurrected-yet-still-fallen-ps3; I'm gonna replay this in RPCS3 now you reminded me of its existence :) so thanks!!
This reminds me of cyberpunk too much, building the engine while building the game, higher up’s being responsible for the games fuck up. Being apart of the gaming industry is every kids wet dream when you know nothing about it.
It's stories like these that I always think of whenever the latest game is out and underperforming (I know, practically all the titles coming out of the wealthiest publishers 😒) and I'm tempted to start firing broadsides at the studio ! No one sets out to make a sub-par game, but often it's the people with the creativity that are the more exploitable. You went public and made tons on shares but now you're at the beck and call of the investors, and they couldn't give a rat's backside whether the game has a good story or is faithful etc nope, they're waiting to hear words like : Multiplayer Seasons Season Pass Cosmetics Licensed tie-ins Live Service Predicted revenue Revenue Where's our money ? Thanks for putting this together man, really appreciate your production values 👌
Haze didn't kill Free Radical, Battlefront 3's cancellation did. People just blame Haze because they don't want to admit that Lucasarts was a terrible company run by terrible people
Or the presidents at the time for LucasArts. They through though like 4 presidents in four 4 years, each or even less. Along George Lucas taking a bit too much control when he should have remembered that he made LucasArts to have professionals handle the gaming side with his IP.
That's not remotely true at all. 1. Free Radical died, when they failed to secure a 007 game contract with Activision, after Haze's failure and BF3's cancellation. 2. Free Radical came to Lucasarts with the idea of Battlefront 3, and promised them a score of 85 on meta critic, and a 2008 release date. Infact Lucasarts gave Free Radical a deal, which made the responsible for the whole franchaise, and would have them release Battlefront yearly. So when Lucasarts saw the failure of Haze, and how they failed to deliver a Battlefront 3 Alpha, without major bugs, the project was cancelled. TL:DR: Free Radical overpromised and underdelivered, and that's why Battlefront was cancelled.
"So we decided to write a game engine from the ground-up as the same time as developing the game" is just such a common reason for studio collapses, it boggles the mind how frequently it's heard.
Yes! Was just talking with someone yesterday about this *utter* disappointment.. such a cool concept, man Haze and Bodycount changed the way I anticipate things forever
Well you might be happy to hear that Free Radical is back with a lot of the original team and they are currently working on a new Timesplitters project!
I remember the hype train around this. Console wars and fanboyism were strong back then so PS3 players were hyping this up as a Halo-killer and a Crysis-killer. The pre-release screenshots made the visual fidelity look amazing too.
I remember that, the "game-killer" trend for advertising games. I think after Haze, they stopped doing that. Not sure if game publishers and reviewers would use that again lol
“Sadly the same fate befell Free Radical itself, though not solely at the fault of Haze as many have grown to believe” C’mon guys, you literally called this video “The Game That Killed Its Own Studio”
Ugh. Scary and sickeningly I've seen publisher-planted 'producers' absolutely wreck or simply fall-down on their job of steering the studio - most of the time these people are woefully inadequate, barely familiar and unsurprisingly beholden to the Publisher.
"this video is sponsored by Dying Light, an 8 year old game that still gets updates and DLC for some reason while everyone has been waiting for a sequel that continues to get delayed"
It's crazy how I have only heard about Resistance in 2022. Yet here I see it was quite known and considered a contender in the FPS genre. All of a sudde. I've also been hearing more and more about it.
Check out Dying Light, the game will be on 70% Sale between the 9th and 21st December! Check it out here wehy.pe/y/2/GVMERS #ad
Do Killzone please 🥺
"To celebrate the game's 30th anniversary" I didn't knowing Dying Light was THAT old! /s
Dying light is dying apparently, even RAID: Shadow Legends would have been "better" sponsor. :DDD
The rise and fall Need For Speed
2:53 I don't get prompted to use the code during the buying process on Steam. Is this something you enter after purchasing the game?
I have this game on PS4 but have been waiting for it to go on sale for PC. Best zombie game (single player) out there that delivers a open world, sandbox adventure. And, the developers have continued to update and add content which I find impressive. Now if only I could find where that code goes... 🤔
"Ubisoft wanted quantity over quality"
Some things never change.
Unfortunately...
Perfectly describes their current batch of games. Hard to believe I used to like them.
This was the start of the end for Ubisoft. Back then, they were known for quality always. Ghost Recon series was good af
@@xDrTomx Far Cry 3 was the downfall of it all.
@@kupokinzyt was the ass creed series for me. How you gonna make a series called Assassins Creed and the only assassin we get is Altair, for ONE game.
Such as the script of these videos. "A group of genius developers are forced by an evil corporation to create a terrible game".
This was one of those games that you would see at a GameStop and think to yourself, “This looks interesting, I’ll wait till it’s $10 bucks.”
The PS3, Wii and Xbox360 era had so many games like that. Still a great era though.
This is really bad though
I think the fact there were so many games like that, is what made that generation so good. You don't have singularity or vanquish tier games now, it's either 2D indie or AAA micro transaction mess :(
@@iceytoa1 My words exactly. Good AA games that aren't worth 60 bucks just don't exist anymore outside the PC gaming space. Pretty sad really
I got all 360 games from Newsgroups, which was pretty awesome. I remember playing Halo 3 and Fifa more than a month before release.
Leon, I actually felt the exact same way. As a broke teen I didn't wanna take a chance on a new game when I was already familiar with COD and Battlefield, which were identical to what Haze was offering.
Something about the color scheme threw me off as well, the bright yellow with black looks really unappealing.
"Did you ever hear the tragedy of Star Wars Battlefront 3? I thought not. It’s not a story EA would tell you. It’s a Free Radical legend. Battlefront 3 was a game in development, so anticipated and so ambitious that it could reinvent the very foundations of the series… It had such a knowledge of what players wanted that you could even fly from ground to space... without loading. Free Radical's game design was a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... really cool. It became so hyped… the only thing we were afraid of was it getting cancelled, which eventually, of course, it did. Unfortunately, it taught its apprentice Haze everything it knew, then Haze killed it in its sleep. Ironic. Its resources could get other games developed, but not itself." - Palpatine, 19BBY
wat
Lol some consider to be “really cool”
@@rickylovesyou
Free Radical was developing Star Wars Battlefront 3 along with Haze at the same time with split development teams.
Star Wars Battlefront 3 while in development had a lot of technical issues and multiplayer was essentially impossible on all devices, leading to Lucas Arts to ask them to pull back on their vision of ground to space combat, the developers insisted they could fix the issues.
They ended up over budget and falling way behind on development goals and couldn’t get multiplayer past 10 FPS.
It’s speculated that the failure of Haze on a technical level is what gave Lucas Arts cold feet on the game and lead to the cancellation of the project.
@@MDPToaster I didn't know the multiplayer on Battlefront 3 was unplayable. Interesting did a developer say that in an interview? It should have been released on PC only but even back in 2008/2009 I think PC hardware could not have worked
@@aceofhearts573
Yeah there was an ex-dev that claimed the game was 98% finished and that Lucas Arts wanted a remake of the OG BF1+2 instead. However this was not true and the developer was treating the game as a passion project.
Other devs have come out to contradict the completion percentage and place it around 30-40 and state the game was barely playable on single player.
But there was a lot of completed assets for the game and they were put to use for the Battlefront 3 Legacy mod for Battlefront 2.
Who would had thought that Haze was a preview into what most triple A games would turn into. Crappy deals for the studios, stupid deadlines, even stupider deals, and Publisher interfering with development. Just to cause the death of the studio, while the Publisher yeets the IP, so nobody else uses a similar idea
turns out it was ahead of its time all along
except that crap existed before this game - you are just more aware of it now (for various reasons)
@@xBINARYGODx yeah the general work environment of visual effects studios is one of many great examples, let alone cinema in general
I still think the concept for Haze could've made for an excellent single player focused FPS. Shame it turned out this way and pretty killed Free Radical and their Timesplitters franchise.
Deep Silver is working on a new Timesplitters so it's not completely dead, fortunately.
@DantesGrill, Nice, is Dambuster Studio working on it? If I recall correctly, that's the one that was made up from Free Radical once Deep Silver picked them up from Crytek.
I thought Homefront The Revolution was decent. But it was pretty cool they included the entire Timesplitters 2 single player as an Easter Egg in it.
@@Gruntvc I have no idea actually. One of the devs said they where working on it in a youtube comment. I only made a background check to see if it was legit. But it's supposed to have a lot of the same team behind it. Tried to ask some about how the gameplay would be but he wasn't allowed to say anything yet. This was months ago though.
@@DantesGrill iirc, they've actually reformed FRD, although I think it's still under the control of one of the aforementioned studios
The concept was great, but the game Spec Ops: The Line did better with that concept narritively
I remember when the marketing for this game came out with all the trailers and developer diaries. I was just a kid back then and became obsessed with this game. I look back now and cringe lol. Still reminded of this wasted potential every now and then. Multiplayer was fun though.
played a lot of the multiplayer with a friend back then. we didnt even take it seriously, our 'house rules' were basically playing hide and seek and then shooting each other in the back to cause an overdose.
Same. I used to buy OPSM magazine each month religiously & the build up to this game was immense. It's one of the first games I can remember having such a huge build up and just dropping in price massively after it released.
Such a shame what happened to Free Radical, all their games had a vibe about them where you could just tell it was made by them, the animation, the UI but the vibe in general. I remember being very dissapointed by this though, I can't remember if I rented it from Blockbuster or I bought it but it didn't feel like FR, it felt kinda just standard, lacking..
I was in high school then, a good friend of mine and I would argue meaninglessly about Haze and Crysis, about which game would be superior in graphics or tech etc. good times
@@theoroinvictus lmao same, here in italy haze was ine of the first titles with triple a marketing and we were all hyped as fuck, we would constantly argue if haze or kz2 would be better
@@lucignolo8333 oh yes, we did a lot of arguing about KZ2 as well. we were so fooled by the infamous pre-rendered trailer, it's funny to look back on the trivial things we pointlessly argued about back then
Not gonna lie the Dying Light sponsorship was unexpected.
Partly because it is probably the first time I've ever seen an in video for a product that is actually relevant to the targeted audience while the product is actually good itself and not a rubbish mobile game.
The other part is that it's Dying Light 1 being advertised not Dying Light 2. Guess Techland needed some extra capital to get DL2 over the finish line, lol.
@@TheKarabanera I have no issue with them marketing it, just feels counterintuitive to market them previous game as we draw closer to the sequel's release day.
It's also nice that they're marketing a 70% off sale.
@@PlebNC the marketing focused on 1 is supposed to build a foothold into new players to later on sell you the second part, which if you enjoyed the first one, now you have the lore context and general feel of the franchise to persuade you to buy it, and since they are also going to give discounts to the first game, it makes it even easier to sell.
True, seeing a video sponsored by a AAA game that's a few years old is a first for me, but I wouldn't mind it not being the last.
Also, I swear I'm hearing "to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary" and the subtitles seem to agree on that lol
@@PlebNC not at all actually, it's very well thought-out. once you play 1st one what will you be playing next huh? revenue is revenue and as you can see by Techland supporting their game for so long, it does not have to be all back in first week like with other scummy publishers
I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but my all-time favorite moment was during the marketing.
Writer Rob Yescombe was being interviewed at a trade show, and he just goes off on the guy:
"Haze is not a war game!! Haze is a game about war!!"
Okay dude.... Think you can chill a bit?
My friend and I still quote it to this day, and I always like to remind him that if there is one fact of life that he must always remember no matter what, it's that Haze not a war game, it is a game about war. This knowledge must be bestowed upon generation after generation.
You don’t understand the statement. haze and the storyline was actually very in depth about the reality of war and focused more on the story rather than a typical shoot ‘em up fps that there were hundreds of in 2008
@@fuzzyballs8726Yes I understand that having played through the game several times, but it was just so hilarious how he just blew up on the journalist.
The best promotion this channel does is discussing the stories of video games and their making. After watching your videos on Sleeping Dogs, Dead Rising franchise, Spec Ops The Line, FEAR franchise and Bully, I bought the games and played them for the first time! Thank you for showing me some gems.
God I want a remastered FEAR series
Free Radical was actually killed by Lucasarts when they stopped funding of Battlefront 3. It was real bad because Lucasarta took out funding breaking the contract but since Free Radical was going under they knew Free Radical didn't have the money to take them to court so they closed down a few days before Christmas.
And then Lucasarts was later killed off over Battlefront as well
Bought this one on discount a few years after its release out of curiosity, it was clunky and tiresome but I will say the attempt to subvert gung ho military FPS by intentionally shielding the players via mechanics before showing the grim reality of what's being done by the evil conglomerate and its doped pawns is an interesting take for a game. Good ideas poorly executed.
Bro can't believe dying light is 30 years old.
Really though. It aged super well
dying light aged so well it feels like it only released 6 years ago
How??? That thing came out in 2015 💀
2:42
“To celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary…”
I think you mean Techland’s 30th anniversary lol
Dam dying lights 30 years old already! I bought it day 1, man I'm getting old.
Awesome video as always guys I'm supporting you all the way and will continue to. Loving the more regular uploads!.
Ughh what? Pretty sure it came out in 2015
I bought it back in 2015 as well. But it was not until 2021 that I tried the expansion The Following. Had great fun with that one too.
Lay off the crack
@@UmVtCg They were referring to the narrator's ad copy flub(?) at 2:42
Aurongel - Aurongal got it. Good man :D. 2:42
God Second sight was such a gem.. I miss playing it. I might start it up again soon.
Dude, I remember playing that game with my gametap subscription lol
Second Sight and Psi Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy were both good games that gave the player cool psychic powers.
I was playing it not too long ago. Got as far as the asylum chapter but you know when you skip a few days, then it turns to weeks etc & it gets to a point where its been so long you'd just rather start again... Anyways great game 👌
@@ElSoloNoco
I hear that.
Psi-Ops was also solid from the same time period
I dont care if it failed, the idea of assymetrical gameplay with addicts vs people who can make you overdose is badass
Man this channel is so good. The narrator's voice is amazing and soothing, the content is quality documentary worth videos, just amazing work all around.
Deep Silver could reintroduce a new Haze game as something like "Haze Redux" in spirit of their Apocalypse Now inspiration, and be totally within grounds to totally reinvent it while still having brand recognition 🤷
"while still having brand recognition" what brand? Haze is not a brand and even if it was why would anyone want to remind potential customers of the garbage that was haze?
@@mylittlepkle1714 "One man's trash..."
They were so obsessed with killing Halo, all they had to do was wait a few years for Guardians to do that.
People keep saying this, but Infinite is doing very well all things considered.
@@Powerhouse1 very well so far, even with the micro transactions
The thing is it was the gaming media that called it a Halo killer much like they did with the first Killzone. They seemed obsessed with something coming along that had to be a better Halo than Halo rather than being its own thing.
@@EggEnjoyer yeah but 4's story was way better then 5's. multiplayer, not so much
@@Spartan_Jackal100%
man Ima cry; free radical was on eof my childhood favorites. time splitters was such a gem and second sight was an underrated experience. when haze killed them I was so sad.
Free Radical are now reformed by Deep Silver to develop a new TimeSplitters game. The original creators David Doak and Steve Ellis are involved
Ah, I remember when Dying Light first released in 1991...
lol Not just me that spotted that then
Ran too fast on my 386 iirc
Rise and Fall of Killzone series, please!
I want that too. I'd like to know more about the first Killzone. It's nice we got Horizon now though.
I would also very much like to see this. It would be great if it got done. Fond memories...
Yesss!!!
2:43 Can't believe it's almost 30 years since Dying Light released, it has aged beautifully.
I thought I was the only one who caught that lol
@@Chris-hs8zd its techland 30 year anniversary actually, dying light is 6 years old
@@DanteDMCSparda thank you jack Marston we know that’s why yo pa got taken out by the Pinkertons
@@Chris-hs8zd hey ! I already avenged my pa !
2:40
>Dying Light's 30th Anniversary is this Year
Well Damn that games older than I thought
You didnt play dying light on the NES?
I still can't believe in 2022 Free Radical Design is back from the dead and making a new Timesplitters game
I'm calling it; one of the big videos next year is going to be 'The Rise and Fall of Dying Light'.
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE TO MERINNNNOOO
This is the day Mantel falls.
I played haze on ps3 as a kid and really loved it, I still go back and play it now and always have fun with it, I think it's definetly a hidden gem and deserves a second chance
Yeah it’s definitely a hidden gem with sone very interesting mechanics and wonderful designs for mantel soldiers.
I think the marketing hyping it up so much did more damage than anything else, if it wasn’t publicized as a halo killer people would’ve loved it much more
@@lucignolo8333 Halo killed itself. Have you seen the mess that is halo infinite? Forced crossplay and cringe skins.
@@III1IlIIlIllIl the only way to save halo is get rid of that cancer that is 343 industries and give the ip to a worthy studio
@@III1IlIIlIllIl
Have you played Halo Infinite lately? It's great
the craziest part about this was hearing golden eye got a score of 4. was it really that poorly reviewed? Because fucking hell I remember everyone loved it back then.
It's a shooter for N64, 4 out of 10 is the best rating it can realistically aim for.
Maybe someone somewhere gave it that but it was pretty beloved when it came out.
@@EggEnjoyer If the game was made today, do you think they'll rate it higher because everyone loved it and they're afraid of backlash if they said negative things about it?
Nah it was pretty well reviewed. That was just one reviewer. Both EGM and gamepro gave it glowing reviews
I legitimately enjoyed Haze all the way through when I played it all those years ago, I guess there's something wrong with me. The same way people have nostalgia for Golden Eye, I have nostalgia for Haze, which I'm sure would freak some people out.
Rise and fall of the Red faction series please
It's just crazy how one bad game is enough to send a talented studio under
Game development is a rocky adventure.
I will defend Haze until the day I die. So many great memories playing co-op with a friend, we must have beat the campaign over a dozen times. Can't forget the competitive modes too, this was actually the first game that I played versus online and realised I was pretty decent.
I recall it being an okay game. I ended up buying Fracture instead of Haze.. I had fun but I'd say they're both on the same level (Fracture was definitely more comedic).
@@botmushin8878 Oh yeah, for sure they were both interesting concepts with that 'janky, bargain bin guilty pleasure' curse 😅
I for whatever reason loved this game, & I cant really pinpoint why I replayed it repeatedly. The concept is unique as fuck & I'm surprised a better game hasn't reused the nectore gimmick. Overdosing in multiplayer made for some fun shoot outs
I never understood the hate for this game. I didn't get a chance to play it untill the multi-player had already died but solo it as just another average FPS that had pretty good visuals for its time.
@@maow9240 I think you just answered your question. While the few of us loved Haze for whatever reason, it was overhyped and (despite its unique points) turned out to ultimately be an average game which I think hurts more than if it was obviously average from the pre-release promos.
Well looks like Free Radical is getting a second shot with David Doak and Steve Ellis at the helm under Deep Silver as the publisher for a new Time Splitters game. Not many publishers get a chance to be resurrected like that.
Oh no not deep silver otherwise known as deep shit becuase anything involving them turns to shit I will explode if they fuck up my favourite franchise as much as I want another timesplitters I dont want a shit tinespiltters
Oh shit not Deep Silver. Aren't they the ones under Epic's payroll? I remember being excited for Metro: Exodus, until they announced, near the game's release, that it'll be taken off Steam and be an EGS exclusive. Its like a Monkey Paw wish.
@@Razgriz_01 nah Epic actually paid them a few million for the time exclusive rights. I cant blame any dev that takes the money from epic. Everyone would
I wish they would do a Time Splitters HD for games 1-3
@@aceofhearts573 oh shit even Epic is involved, that's gonna suck oh god
I was so hyped for Haze before it came out, the media was talking about it like it was going to be the best FPS ever
This channel is like watching a world war documentary but for video games. I love it
I think I remember they called this the "Halo killer" back when it was released.
I remember that too. Funny thing the halo killer game ended up being halo 4 and 5
I love haze. after finding out who they devs were i could see the elements of their old games.
This voice could be describing the history of manilla envelopes and I'd still be captivated.
Who remembers the KoRn song for this game? Was the hypest thing about it.
"Say hello to Moreno!"
One of the biggest crimes in computer games history is the lack of timesplitters. Haze was around the timeshift and pariah when studios appeared a bit more shook up from far cry being so amazing for a console port. We had a few out there games which were ok. Just never got any traction which is a shame as exclusive can have a damaging effect on some classics.
The 2000s was a great decade for video games. Gaming slowly went downhill by mid-2010s.
Nah. Some of the best games are being released nowadays. From indie developers like Supergiant to Remedy getting back into limelight, Arkane, IO etc etc.
@@dimaz3 I'm only talking about most third party developers, actually. Also Remedy isn't that much of an indie dev.
If it wasn't for Dark Souls and its kids, I think I would've completely abandoned gaming by now.
Pfft
The good thing about all this is that Free Radical Design is back thanks to Deep Silver and will develop a new game of Timesplitters
Takeaway: if you have limited time and budget, don't develop a custom engine and the game on it at the same time.
Imagine if they released a new Timesplitters for the PS5 and Xbox. Beautiful graphics, vibrant colors, super smooth framerates, splitscreen and online coop and pvp, map editor....
It'd release as Early Access with a battlepass and/or some other bs :(
All I can remember from this game is Nectar.
I remember this. Such a shame it died because of the grey and brown bloom nonsense of the mid-2000s
I guess you should blame Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 4 for that
@Crispies lol no. Those games can even be compared to influence CoD had on consoles, not even close.
@@tomstonemale He is talking about the overly saturated market of games that lack "color" from that time. Call of Duty 4 is one of them, but not the one responsible.
I think the first Gears kind of started that.
@@IronThumbs not really.Sure unreal engine 3 games have the same colour pallette but when CoD 4 and MW2 make 70% of the profit from videogame console market alone those years, yeah I blame CoD for making the grey, brown and bloom colour scheme popular.
I think the real villain of this story is, for once, not UbiSoft, but the fad for "serious military shooters". As soon as I saw the game's dreary footage composed of 50 shades of brown, I knew the game must have been ass.
Well today we have a fad of fortnite looking games
Black is the only exception for me, good old ps2 goodness
@@canobenitez what about Spec Ops The Line, and yes i do play Black before the graphic is ahead of it time a year before first Crysis
@@aceofhearts573 Serious brown shooters >>>>>>>>>>> cartoony art and over the top weapon skins
The sad part is, the tech demo for the game was still awesome. When the game came out, the only feature still left from that demo was the ability to scope in on some weapons
Whoever you hire for voice acting is too professionally gifted for gaming. I mean, he sounds like the dude history channel hires for every wwii conspiracy series.
Haze is an example of cool idea and plot executed so poorly
HAZE BROS ITS OUR TIME...
I very much enjoyed Haze. I particularly loved the tactical gameplay - it was a game you could play intelligently, and not just another stupid twitch-shooter.
Out of respect for this fallen game and dev as well as my twice-resurrected-yet-still-fallen-ps3; I'm gonna replay this in RPCS3 now you reminded me of its existence :) so thanks!!
Do timeshift as well.
No youare’re not.
@@SECONDQUEST TimeShift is so much better.
Free Radical is back btw, making a TimeSplitters remake
The games 30th anniversary? I love y'all lol
This reminds me of cyberpunk too much, building the engine while building the game, higher up’s being responsible for the games fuck up. Being apart of the gaming industry is every kids wet dream when you know nothing about it.
well put
I love timesplitters and still own all my three copies of the three games they will never leave me haze killed timesplitters 4 in my eyes
_"Remember your promise to Merino!"_
Love the dying light ad around 7 years from the games release
you guys should do a video about the Army Of Two series!
Damn an add for Dying Light like 7 years late! This made my day.
Devon: Shane? Please don't tell my mommy what I did, Okay?
Shane: Okay pal
It's stories like these that I always think of whenever the latest game is out and underperforming (I know, practically all the titles coming out of the wealthiest publishers 😒) and I'm tempted to start firing broadsides at the studio !
No one sets out to make a sub-par game, but often it's the people with the creativity that are the more exploitable. You went public and made tons on shares but now you're at the beck and call of the investors, and they couldn't give a rat's backside whether the game has a good story or is faithful etc nope, they're waiting to hear words like :
Multiplayer
Seasons
Season Pass
Cosmetics
Licensed tie-ins
Live Service
Predicted revenue
Revenue
Where's our money ?
Thanks for putting this together man, really appreciate your production values 👌
Haze didn't kill Free Radical, Battlefront 3's cancellation did. People just blame Haze because they don't want to admit that Lucasarts was a terrible company run by terrible people
Yet. They managed to publish some of the best games
Or the presidents at the time for LucasArts. They through though like 4 presidents in four 4 years, each or even less. Along George Lucas taking a bit too much control when he should have remembered that he made LucasArts to have professionals handle the gaming side with his IP.
@@TheKenji2221 Most of their best games were just that - published. They leeched success off of smaller studios by taking all the credit
That's not remotely true at all.
1. Free Radical died, when they failed to secure a 007 game contract with Activision, after Haze's failure and BF3's cancellation.
2. Free Radical came to Lucasarts with the idea of Battlefront 3, and promised them a score of 85 on meta critic, and a 2008 release date.
Infact Lucasarts gave Free Radical a deal, which made the responsible for the whole franchaise, and would have them release Battlefront yearly.
So when Lucasarts saw the failure of Haze, and how they failed to deliver a Battlefront 3 Alpha, without major bugs, the project was cancelled.
TL:DR: Free Radical overpromised and underdelivered, and that's why Battlefront was cancelled.
You might want to edit your post
"So we decided to write a game engine from the ground-up as the same time as developing the game" is just such a common reason for studio collapses, it boggles the mind how frequently it's heard.
doing your own engine was normal in the 90s and still relatively common in the ps2 era - some devs kept that mentality in the ps3 generation.
Haze was marketed as a " Halo killer " it turned into a Free Radical killer
Yes! Was just talking with someone yesterday about this *utter* disappointment.. such a cool concept, man
Haze and Bodycount changed the way I anticipate things forever
Dying Light just had its 30th Anniversary? Oh my God I'm middle aged!
I remember the demo had more players than the full release and i loved playing the multiplayer.
And yet, it's one of the most used default Playstation avatars...
Timesplitters is a classic for me and my little brother, during our childhood. Kinda wish it would get rebooted.
Well you might be happy to hear that Free Radical is back with a lot of the original team and they are currently working on a new Timesplitters project!
It’s sad haze killed it’s own studio because the game could’ve been great.
Dying Light ad is unreal - beyond what someone else already said, the sequel is close (but of course, the DLC for the first is a long list).
Sees title*
''Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?''
“Brought to you by Dying Light !”
Man techland is reaching places, if they’re sponsoring channels now.
Your work on the socom series had me so nostalgic 😢 😭
Epic narrator guy returns.
2:41 How time flies
I remember choosing a haze profile avatar when I first got my ps3
I remember the hype train around this. Console wars and fanboyism were strong back then so PS3 players were hyping this up as a Halo-killer and a Crysis-killer. The pre-release screenshots made the visual fidelity look amazing too.
I remember that, the "game-killer" trend for advertising games. I think after Haze, they stopped doing that. Not sure if game publishers and reviewers would use that again lol
“Sadly the same fate befell Free Radical itself, though not solely at the fault of Haze as many have grown to believe”
C’mon guys, you literally called this video “The Game That Killed Its Own Studio”
Its so awesome TechLand sponsored this vid. If you haven't played dying light i HIGHLY recommend it and the amazing DLCs it has.
Wow, dying light as sponsor? That was Amazing
Ugh. Scary and sickeningly I've seen publisher-planted 'producers' absolutely wreck or simply fall-down on their job of steering the studio - most of the time these people are woefully inadequate, barely familiar and unsurprisingly beholden to the Publisher.
Why does my guy sound like he should be a narrator in a Medal of Honour game?
This was definitely the #1 prime example from the tsunami of average fps games from this era.
currently rewatching all of your content
It took me 10 minutes into this video to realize that I actually played this game and completely forgotten doing so
Just discovered your channel. These videos are so interesting and well put together, subscribed
Would love to see a video on how BF2042 has killed it's own franchise!
I bet it's a tragedy!
It didn't, lol. That's like saying Vanguard killed Call of Duty.
For some reason I get the feeling when I watch this channel that whoever's behind it has never played a video game in their lives.
Haze invented "hype" as we know it today.
Its evident that you did not see the E3 demo for HALO 2... the hype for HAZE was great.... but H2 was on another level
"this video is sponsored by Dying Light, an 8 year old game that still gets updates and DLC for some reason while everyone has been waiting for a sequel that continues to get delayed"
It's crazy how I have only heard about Resistance in 2022.
Yet here I see it was quite known and considered a contender in the FPS genre.
All of a sudde. I've also been hearing more and more about it.
I remember picking this up thinking it was the most fire game with its holographic cover art
I would change the video title: Yet an other big publisher killing the creativity and passion of a promising developer studio.
Rise and fall of Turok
Man. I can’t believe Dying Light is 30 already.