Hype. It's been the downfall of many a game, creating lofty expectations and a level of anticipation that it will rarely be able to meet.

Sometimes, the hype proves to be justified and may even, on those very special and rare occasions, exceed it.

'Haze', unfortunately, turned out to be a huge disappointment, being a decidedly underwhelming game.

Seeing as it was developed by Free-Radical, the pedigree is certainly there. They're the masterminds behind classics such as 'Goldeneye' and the 'Timesplitters' franchise.

With Free Radical deciding to stick with it's first-person shooter roots, 'Haze' attempts to offer a serious take on warfare, oppression and the myriad of horrors that go hand-in-hand with it. Unfortunately it neither manages to achieve a riveting, or even competent storyline, nor a plausible view into the mechanics and raw nature of the oppressor vs. the uprising of rebels.

In fact, within the first ten minutes of the game it becomes clear that very little grey matter will be needed for the rest of the journey and probably even less was invested in the script of the game.

Starting off as Shane Carpenter, a soldier fighting for the power-hungry Mantel Corporation, the game pits you along your squad-mates on your way to your first mission in a jungle somewhere in South America. Your fellow soldiers may as well be members of a frat-boy club kidnapped from the latest 'American Pie' movie — the dialogue is annoying, unconvincing and laughable and the fact that you can't skip the cut-scenes is almost as unforgivable as having an obnoxious college grad for a team mate.

Once your chopper has landed in the jungle, the gimmick of the game is explained during your first mission. Jointly the best and most unbalanced part of the game, "Nectar" is a drug that all Mantel soldiers are issued with, enhancing performance, reducing your damage taken and increasing your accuracy.

It heightens your senses, with enemies glowing bright yellow when administered, and has a side-effect that if overused, will let you lose control of reality. Soldiers that seem dead would actually still be alive and this also becomes part of a gameplay element later on in the game.

For as interesting as it is to go into battle with the unfair advantage of Nectar, it also gets taken away about a third of the way into the game, when you switch sides and start playing as one of the rebels opposing Mantel.

The effect is jarring and is one of many design decisions within the game that will make you wonder if any kind of quality control or testing was done at all.

Bland level design, tacked-on vehicles with unwieldy controls, horrendous team mate AI, bugs and glitches in the cut-scenes — it all comes together into a package that is a far cry from the immense attention it received as a would-be PS3 killer app.

When it comes to the visuals, 'Haze' is for the most part unattractive and uninspired.

There are a few moments where a certain setting may look quite acceptable from afar — molten ash littering the floor, or a panoramic view across a densely populated jungle — but during combat you'll be forced to a closer look at the various plant, tree and structure textures that are anything but hi-resolution, the repeated use of certain objects strewn throughout levels, and characters that are undifferentiated from another.

The sound design is fairly respectable though, with impressive weapon and explosion sound effects and a decent soundtrack.

The multiplayer portion is probably more worth your time than the single player experience, but not by much. With standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes included, the most interesting part would be the online co-op modes.

Allowing four players to cooperatively play together is certainly a welcome addition, even though playing through this highly mediocre game will dampen the initial excitement with an abrupt suddenness. The co-op multiplayer is also available offline in a four-way split-screen mode.

Steeped in mediocrity and boasting the most generic of FPS mechanics, 'Haze' simply isn't worth your time. With a (thankfully) short campaign, your displeasure will not drag on for endless hours (seven to eight hours at most).

Serving as the ultimate poster-boy for wasted potential and the pitfalls of being over-hyped, 'Haze' is definitely not worth your hard-earned R700, but if you insist on getting it anyway, let this be a lesson to you to not listen to hype.