Ok, my impressions based on the SP element of the demo.
Firstly, the visuals. Impressive, nothing mind blowing but better than I expected. The textures are a little on the soft and bare side, but over-all the level design and art style helps to make things look very well composed. The Jungle looks thriving, while it lacks a little colour, it also has a decent amount of scale to it, and is bustling with objects, tree's, shrubbery and other elements that make it feel more immersive. Lighting is excellent, if a little on the bloomy side. The atmosphere is nice, while it lacks the vibrancy of the jungle in Halo 3, it has more of a busy hot and humid feel about it.
On to the gameplay. Firstly, there's very little in the way of innovation. Sure you can tank yourself up with Nectar (which is very satisfying by the way, though you feel like a right junkie doing it) but it doesn't do much besides make you a soldier on roids. Think Chimera in resistance and that's the effects of nectar for you. At a hold of the L2 trigger, you'll transform, your vision will go in to blur focused mode, you'll speed up, strengthen and will see people as glowing orbs. It certainly makes you feel empowered, and makes hitting them really easy.
Aiming is tight, as has always been the case with Free Radical games. The controls feel solid. My only negative is that the slight level of auto aim can be a bit twitchy. But you soon adjust to it, depending on how good your level of control is with the analogues. The game just requires you to use the full range of analogue movement, and put more thought to sensitivity. After a few kills, I was comfortable with the set up, killing was easy but most importantly satisfying, which brings me on to the weapons. They feel great. They have a real grunt and kick to them. Think pulse rifle from Aliens with more tack and bite. The pistol is also deadly powerful, though pretty fidgety with aim. The sound effects are a little on the quiet side, but still sound potent.
The zoom works a treat on the rifle, and combined with the Nectar make for some pretty undemanding kills.
The characters are pretty weak. While the main character himself has decent voice acting, the same cannot be said for his comrades who sound like your typical gun ho American immature grunts. Their lines are cheesy, but not mind numbing, in-that you'll still care for what they say, simply because they're still rather amusing. Without spoiling anything, there's one plot segment, where the narrative is especially detached. Where a dying soldier has a random speech. My immediate thoughts were "what was that all about?" Never-the-less, it made for an interesting scene, if a little un-inspired.
There is one section in the demo where your nectar temporarily freaks out, and you see the crash site in a different light. Cue the bleak reality of the site, with degraded colours, burnt bodies and death galore. If anything, I can see this element of the truth behind nectar opening up nicely in the story ahead. It definitely intrigued me anyway.
Overall, I'll say that I was pleasantly surprised with the demo. I expected a lot worse, but what I got was a solid fps experience, with decent controls, fairly accomplished aiming mechanics and satisfying weapons. The visuals, while not genre busting, work very well. They're clean (not a jaggy in sight), smooth (no frame rate hitches) and well designed. Lighting is excellent, as are the effects and explosions. I think the game has potential, and I'll definitely be picking it up at release, if only to experience how the game and story develop. The most important thing is, the game is fun, and killing satisfying. These two elements keep things from being repetitive, and keep you enticed. Factor this in with the plot developments from the final game, the vast array of weapons, side switching, nectar abuse and vehicle components. And I think we may have a silent winner on our hands. I think people have short changed Free radical. They've provided solid experiences in the past, and I don't think Haze will be any different. It might not be pioneering or part of the elite runners, but it's certainly has the potential to be better than most.