Assassin's Haze

Say hello to two of the most exciting upcoming games on PlayStation 3 - Ubisoft's Haze and Assassin's Creed

Ubisoft, the publisher of countless popular titles, among them the Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and Rayman series, have a bumper crop of PS3 releases on the horizon, including two of the most hotly-anticipated PS3 games, Assassin's Creed and Haze.

Assassin's Creed

Set in the year 1191, during the events of the Third Crusade, Assassin's Creed focuses on the mission of Altair a member of the Hashshashin sect who must slay the nine historical figures who are behind the Crusades. Assassin's Creed's major selling point is its sheer level of interactivity and amount of historical accuracy. The ancient cities of Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre will all be fully explorable, and filled with hundreds of non player characters who will react realistically to your every move. For example, moving slowly through a crowd will not attract suspicion, but running through a crowd and pushing people out of the way will draw attention your way, and may even result in the crowd reacting aggressively towards you.

One useful feature is the ability to use the concept of social stealth to blend into crowds to avoid detection. In this way Altair is able to disappear into crowds or even don a hood and join in with a procession of cowled monks. The controls are set to be interesting as well, with everything being context sensitive and reacting intuitively to the situation in hand and buttons being mapped to each of Altair's limbs.

The story is currently a mystery, but what we know so far is that there is a definite sci-fi twist running throughout the story. More will be revealed on the game's release in early November 2007.

Haze

A first person shooter set in the not too distant future, Haze sees you playing Shane Carpenter, a soldier working for a company named Mantel, who manufacture a performance enhancing drug for soldiers known as Nectar. Despite giving soldiers increased speed, strength and awareness in battle, Nectar also has a range of dangerous and potentially deadly side effects.

The first level, set in a jungle is already looking incredible, packed with dense foliage and teeming with enemies to take out as you climb and descend a series of rolling hills.

Controls are great and the Nectar system is clever. Administer enough of the drug and you gain a speed boost as well as improved vision that allows you to identify targets much more easily. It's easy to overdo it however, which can blind you and leave you vulnerable to attack. Nectar can also be used to your advantage another way when battling enemies. Targeting foes' Nectar dispensers allows you to smash them, completely filling their masks with Nectar and leaving them unable to tell friend from foe.

A first person shooter from the studio behind the phenomenal TimeSplitters games, Haze is shaping up to be a must-have for action fans on PlayStation 3 in November 2007.