Yascombe: Haze's script is over 1,000 pages long

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 15th 2008 at 11:00AM }

We've all heard quite a bit about Haze, the next big (and easily-swappable) FPS coming exclusively to the PS3 sometime in May, but during a recent tour through Free Radical Studios led by lead writer Rob Yascombe (who is, in fact, a bona fide, bug-eyed madman), it was announced that the script for the nectar-enriched shooter is over 1,000 pages long. As a point of reference, the script for "Gone With The Wind" clocks in at a crisp 650 pages. Probably.

Before you linguaphiles begin frothing at the mouth in anticipation of a Bioware-caliber dialogue extravaganza, Yascombe explains that a lot of the script is composed of mid-battle NPC retorts -- some of which, he adds, will be delivered by none other than the Royal Shakespeare Company. We wonder if those dandy artistes will be able to deliver their bullet-riddled screams of agony in iambic pentameter.

Tags: firstpersonshooter, fps, freeradicalstudios, haze, nectar, playstation3, ps3, robyascombe, scifi, script, shakespeare, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Substance @ Mar 15th 2008 11:15AM

But if it's mediocre it's mediocre. I'm not bashing the effort, I commend. But 1000 pages crap is still crap. Plus, what is the background of Rob Yascombe? Has he produced anything of any literary worth? Should we be excited by his name? I don't know. I don't have a PS3, but if this comes to the 360...maybe...probably not though.

It looks mediocre.

jonondaspot @ Mar 15th 2008 12:19PM

Sour grapes is all I hear. It looks quite intruguing. They had issues to fix and they have had all winter for that. Reports from Play are very very positive. And no, it is never coming to the 360 or PC:

http://www.ripten.com/2008/03/15/haze-never-coming-out-on-xbox-360/

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 15th 2008 12:37PM

We'll find out if its mediocre when it releases, don't put it down before its had a chance to shine, and don't rate it based on the trailers, every time we do that we are horribly horribly wrong.

Assassins Creed, need I say any more.

SUPER DESU @ Mar 15th 2008 12:41PM

You know what? I'm gonna play the game before I write it off.

Tranando @ Mar 15th 2008 3:18PM

LOL, this guy is a joker. If this was on the 360, it would be "awesome"...

It's Xbots loss, thats my feeling..

Zeus.:God @ Mar 15th 2008 6:05PM

Yeah, they say it won't come out to the 360 and PC now, but Ubisoft is becoming the next EA (kinda' like Activision) as far as quality and sales numbers. Once they find out how poorly the game will do in comparison to other multiplatform games, they won't be able to resist.

Zeus.:God @ Mar 15th 2008 6:05PM

Unless, of course, they were paid by Sony to keep it exclusive.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 15th 2008 6:08PM

If you're questioning the pedigree of the studio in question, it goes as follows....

Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Timesplitters
Timesplitters 2
Second Sight
Timesplitters: Future Perfect.

Majoriity of Free Radical splintered from Rare mid development of Perfect Dark. Their games afterwards, aside from the original Timesplitters, has been praised for their excellent quality gameplay and well written scripts.

And yet despite this being pointed out every fucking time someone has to start a Haze thread out with "looks mediocre," this will still be passed by.

If people are willing to give this game the benefit of the doubt, they just may enjoy it. But most will write it off....

Mills and Boom @ Mar 15th 2008 8:03PM

Hey guys I think someone above me just posted some kind list in descending order of quality.

Haze looks too generic for me to even care about it.

Noshino @ Mar 15th 2008 11:01PM

Dont worry Mills and Boom, your comments are too generic for people to care about them...

Zeus.:God @ Mar 16th 2008 6:14AM

Noshino, the irony in your statement is the fact that you pretty much just copied his post... That would make yours pretty generic...

Platinum_Skeet @ Mar 16th 2008 9:58AM

Am I the only FPS fan that hated Timesplitters?

To me they drained the series...

Noka @ Mar 16th 2008 3:04PM

@ Platinum_skeet

I always hated Timesplitters too. My friends would rave about it being Goldeneye but better. It came nowhere near 007.

Zeus.:God @ Mar 16th 2008 6:48PM

I found Timesplitters 2 and 3 to be GREAT games, and seriously did remind my of my Goldeneye 007 playing days. I wish we had a new one, but then again, other people have different views.

Jeff @ Mar 15th 2008 11:20AM

This game has always looked good. I hope it lives up to appearances.

SoulBlade @ Mar 15th 2008 11:21AM

1000 pages won't make me want the game.

In an unrelated question, when did constantly changing your joystiq forum name become cool? Oh wait... it didn't.

playwhutyalike @ Mar 15th 2008 11:28AM

Wow! 1000 pages. I don't even know what that means.

I agree with Jeff on hoping it lives up to expectations.

Ben @ Mar 15th 2008 3:37PM

1000 pages!... at font size 50 with page margins set to 2" all around. Did I mention it was originally written in a Wingdings style font too?

playwhutyalike @ Mar 15th 2008 3:47PM

I'd prefer the PriceDown font. Also known as GTA Vice City font.

colinbell @ Mar 15th 2008 12:10PM

"It looks mediocre"
Curious about your reasons.
This is made by the developers of Timesplitters, they are largely the team behind Goldeneye on N64, They are trying out some new things, They had the courage to delay by six months and miss the xmas season to fine tune the game.
And yes, it yet another shooter - just like Halo 3, COD4, UT3. Doesnt mean that itsrubbish.
The only reason this might bomb is because they are probably trying too hard, just like Factor 5, but thats part of trying to create a new franchise.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 12:21PM

"They had the courage to delay by six months and miss the xmas season to fine tune the game."

The courage? ugh almost made me throw up in my mouth.

Also more like, they knew they probably were going to be lost among the games that were coming out for the holiday season, so they delayed it for spring. Just like every other game that had a delay.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 12:24PM

ugh, and enough with the whole, "OH MY GOD THIS IS TEH TEAM THAT MADE GOLDENEYE 0MGAG;LDAKJF;DSKJFK;LASJDF;KA;SFKJA;SDK." Seriously that was then and this is now, and since then the only exceptional game I can think of that they made was TS2(god damn that game was amazing). Second sight was meh, and TS3 was a damn disappointment compared to the awesomeness that was TS2.

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 15th 2008 12:40PM

Give it a break, we'll find out what is to offer when we get our hands on the game.

Theres many fully established names out there with a worse record. EA. Lets just see what happens before we go on bash frenzies.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 12:55PM

Oh I know that. I'm just tired of people saying

FUCKING GOLDEN EYE MAN, THAT'S WHY THIS GAME WILL BE AWESOME. For some god damn reason that pisses me off, mostly because the only way you can actually enjoy Goldeneye this day and age is either:

A. Drunk and have a couple of friends on
or
B. you have your nostalgia goggles on.

Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 15th 2008 4:20PM

@Vegeta

I'm equally tired of idiots putting down Haze for absolutely no other reason that it's a PS3 exclusive and an FPS. The fact is, the game is being made by a reputable dev... that doesn't ensure that it will be good, but it definitely increases the chances that it will be.

And your point about GE is plain dumb. The fact that it doesn't live up to today's FPS games doesn't take away from its impact at the time.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 7:33PM

@Vidikron

And can you please explain to me where I even said that I hated the game because it wasn't coming to the 360? The fact is even if the game was coming to the 360, I still wouldn't buy it. why? Cause there are much more better games that are coming along that actually deserve my hard earned cash. Now I'm not saying Haze will be a bad game, it probably won't. But from what I've seen so far, it looks meh, average, a game you'd probably rent for a couple of days. But it's not a game that I would add to my library of titles.

And about the goldeneye comment I only said it, mostly as a separate issue, since I'm tired of people praising the shit out of that game. Sure it was fun when it came out but now...meh. Also it really bothers me when people use it to justify how supposedly awesome this game will be.

lordwindowlicker @ Mar 15th 2008 8:00PM

@Vegeta

He didn't say you said anything about it not coming to 360. He said he was tired of people whining about it because it is a PS3 game, and therefore it is going to rubbish.

jonondaspot @ Mar 16th 2008 10:54AM

You never said you hated it because it was not coming to the PS3. That is the truth.

Instead you post in such a manner that your actions demonstrate you hate it because it isn't coming to the 360. And actions always speak louder than words.

Don't like it? Blame the guy in the mirrior. Tough I know, but that is who you are and what you are saying. You have discontented 360 fan in every line where you didn't say it out loud.

joshua @ Mar 15th 2008 12:12PM

Sounds to me like a lot of it is the Call of Duty-style "battle noise", which of course adds a lot to the game. But haters will hate.

colinbell @ Mar 15th 2008 12:53PM

"they knew they probably were going to be lost among the games that were coming out for the holiday season, so they delayed it for spring."
"Just like every other game that had a delay."
I hope you realise the other games delayed for spring were GTA4, Mercernaries 2 and MGS4 - so you believe these titles were going to be "lost" among the other titles?
Honestly, these guys have a consistent record of making fun games - I am not saying this would continue with Haze, but claiming before the game even hits that its rubbish is highly cynical or from someone whose console is never going to get this PS3 exclusive.

Vegeta, funny how the entire "Seriously that was then and this is now" comment holds true for Halo 3, Lost odyssey, etc. At least they are trying something new and not the same old crap 20-year old gameplay of Zelda, Mario and Super smash whatever.

Chris @ Mar 15th 2008 12:23PM

size 64 font.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 12:27PM

so 1000 pgs of npcs going, FUCK YOU in very different variations.

I kid. But still this does not in any way relieve my skepticism. From the videos I've seen thus far, it looks sorta meh: Probably will be enjoyable, but nothing really that makes it stand out to me.

AND I SWEAR TO GOD IF SOMEONE SAYS GOLDENEYE ONE MORE TIME....

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 15th 2008 12:40PM

GOLDENEYE :p

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 12:55PM

...

Tonight...
you.

MichFan @ Mar 15th 2008 12:29PM

1000 pages of script ... finally a use for all that capacity on Blu-Ray.

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 15th 2008 12:43PM

Personally, its not this game in particular I am growing bored with, its just fps games in general, not that I wasn't bored of them in the first place, but games like Bioshock and Crysis started to change my perception.

Once again I am stuck at a point where I find FPS games boring. How is Bioshock 2 going to be any different from 1? 1 was the original, it was new, 2 will pretty much be a repeat, and as for the rest of the brainless shooters about pandoras box, nectar, ugly aliens and whatnot, how are they any different to what we have played and seen before, and what do they have to bring to the table is the question I ask.

Noshino @ Mar 15th 2008 12:51PM

well, that's exactly what Free Radical is doing, all of their games have been innovating on their own ways, from GoldenEye (Sorry Vegeta) to Second Sight.

I really don't think there have been any "good" reasons to be disappointed by any of their games...

jonondaspot @ Mar 15th 2008 12:53PM

"It looks mediocre"
Curious about your reasons.

Uh, he says that because it isn't coming to the 360...

Zeus.:God @ Mar 15th 2008 6:07PM

From what I've seen, it honestly does look like a Halo copy- not that I like Halo; I detest Halo, I just think it looks like a copy.

el serpiente @ Mar 16th 2008 2:04AM

Looks nothing like halo. Maybe you need to wipe the hand lotion from your screen?

jonondaspot @ Mar 16th 2008 11:05AM

If there is any comment that gives away your true colors z, it is that one. It looks nothing like HALO. Not the characters, not the weapons, not the terrain, and even the weapons firing animations and melee are about as far away from HALO as you can get. You smell like a bacon encrusted 360 fanboy having a fit because a game isn't coming to his platform of worship.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 15th 2008 1:11PM

Really? Wow that's a pretty weak comeback.

SUPER DESU @ Mar 15th 2008 1:12PM

I want the gun. Nothing else.

Fernie @ Mar 15th 2008 1:24PM

Almost off topic, but more likely than not the script for Call with the Wind probably weighed in at the most 250 pages. A 650 page script would roughly equate to an eleven hour run time as far as movies go.

So, over a thousand pages for a video game script? @_@