/thread

So you bought Gears of War despite it being a completely generic sci-fi shooter that has been done a hundred times before and added absolutely nothing new to the mix (Cover? Seen.)

But you won't buy Haze because of it being a completely generic sci-fi shooter that has been done a hundred times before and adds absolutely nothing new to the mix.

Sound logic.

For the record, I think Gears is one of the best games so far this generation, but it is still nothing more than a solid shooter from a reputable developer. I expect Haze to be the same.

 I initially bought gears because the multiplayer was supposed to be really good and my friends convinced me to buy it when I was thinking of getting an XBox.  The multiplayer was good but I enjoyed it for the single player (though not right away).

When Gears was released how many other games had a cover system similar to it?  How of those games actually did it well?  I didn't play it for the story part and each battle was essentially you in a round arena but they actually did a good job of varying those experiences and making each one feel fresh (which is very hard to do).

As a 360 owner, I fail to see how Halo 3's multiplayer revolutionizes on anything from even 1996 (QuakeWorld). QuakeWorld was a wider, better, more games implemented version. There was Team Fortress, Threewave CTF, all kinds of awesome games as part of QuakeWorld.

So Halo 3's multiplayer, and indeed Halo 2's multiplayer, was very "been there, done that. In 1996."

 It hadn't been done on a console before on that level.

OK, What WOULD make a FPS revolutionary??

or is it now just genre that is like football....nothing terribly revolutionary has occurred in Madden in about, well1989 I guess..just refined graphics and game play...if it weren't for rosters changing, Madden would likely not be the seller it is.

Instead of saying what would (after all, why would I give you my ideas or how could I tell you the future?) lets just give you some past FPS's that did some great things:

Halo: Introduced a nice control and gameplay mechanics and allowed for some amazing multiplayer
Gears of War: Great cover system. Cover had been done before, but nothing like this
Portal: Do I really need to say anything?
Bioshock: Amazing atmosphere and great storytelling
Half-Life 2: Interactive cut scenes and physics puzzles
Resistance: Fall of Man: 40 player multiplayer
Halo 3: Amazing depth multiplayer, 4 player co-op

I'm sure there are more, those were just some off the top of my head.

Also, a game doesn't have to be revolutionary to be good, it just has to be good and not be stale.  As others have said, Haze might very well be a good game but the fact it's lumped in with a whole crapload of other games just like it, it's hard to make it seem like something special.

I don't know people defending Haze thinks Gears of War applies to this situation. How many top notch FPS titles have been released in the past year? How many top notch TPS have been released in the same time? Haze is in a crowded genre so by in large people are going to be more critical of it. I am a fan of Free Radical and I hope Haze turns out well. That said, I agree that the game would have been better received if it had been released on time last year. I think that most PS3 owners would have chose Haze over Unreal Tournament. UT was the definition of a been there done that title.

The only thing I have to add to this thread is this:

In the SNES times, when a new game may run you $30-$35, it was easier to justify 'just picking up a game that looked good'. Now, you can only really do that if you plan for it, if you suddenly get a bunch of cash (like Christmas), or if you just have too much money. If I'm paying $60 + tax, I'd like some kind of assurance that the game will do something for me that my last $60 didn't buy.

 I agree totally, that was kinda my point.  I think Haze will be better than people think (hell, it might as good as people thought it would be when it was first announced!)...but I dunno that it'll replace COD4 as the big FPS for the time...Id think R2 is likely the next must have FPS for PS3. (60 person,squad battles..heck yea)