Haze is commentary of game violence, of itself
The scriptwriter for Free Radical's upcoming shooter Haze, Rob Yescombe, sat down with the friendly Gamasutra to discuss the meaning behind the script he penned. In addition to the heavy political overtones found throughout the game, Yescombe admits part of the script is talking about violence in videogames. He said "As a [futuristic private military operator] Mantel guy, it makes sense that you play it like a game, because you're absolved from responsibility. It's weird that our entertainment is founded on shooting people in the face! The truth is that I enjoy it as much as anyone else, but I find myself weird for liking it so much. That's less than a big political statement; it's much more about, 'What are we, as people who are entertained by this?'" Good question, we guess. It's just entertaining to do stuff we can't do in real life, perhaps? No good answer, really.
Originally, Yescombe planned to pen a story akin to Apocalypse Now, which would make the game a lot more narrative-heavy, if Conrad's Heart of Darkness taught us anything. He claimed the story became a bit too overt and controversial for a new IP to push, so a lot of the heavier political stuff seems to have gone hidden in the depths of the game. You can still look for it, he says, as it's still there, but it's not the crux of the tale. After all, Yescombe says, if the game isn't fun to play, it doesn't matter what sort of political commentary you toss in. From the looks of it, Haze will be damn fun to play and the story seems like it's just going to grow if future installments are planned.
