Haze

But as the guerrilla's were driven back, we witnessed some truly bizarre sights. As Jake sprinted into cover blossom drifted through the jungle clearing and across his path, and as he drew a bead on an enemy position a brilliant white butterfly fluttered down to land delicately on the barrel of Jake's machine gun.

The squad moved further into the jungle, and Jake watched as one of his team-mates was pummelled with gunfire. But Jake's buddy didn't make a sound, and there was no blood spraying from his wounds. He didn't even drop to the ground. Finally, Jake emerged into another clearing, face to face with an enemy solider who dropped his weapon and raised his hands in surrender.

Above: Nothing is what it seems in Haze, thanks to Jake's Nectar-addled brainbox

Which is when Jake's world began to tear at the seams. The bright tinge of the battlefield began to flicker, Jake's vision stuttered in and out of focus, and the blossom vanished into thin air. What was left was a dark, dingy jungle. With his commander's voice ringing in his ears, Jake lost it and gunned down the unarmed guerrilla, before beginning to black out.

Haze was just one of the games at last week's E3 that impressed us by going beyond pretty visuals and trying to create an engrossing and solid game world. We're looking forward to getting hands-on with Haze's thoughtful action and helping Jake Carpenter battle against his Nectar-injecting employers. Expect an update soon.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.