Ubisoft announces HAZE

Ubisoft has confirmed that a new next-gen first-person shooter is on the way from Free Radical Design, the clever little monkeys who brought us the TimeSplitters series. And the chance to shoot virtual monkeys, bless 'em.

We first got wind of the project earlier this week, and it turns out our old friend Internet Reports was right on the money. Due for an early 2007 release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, the game places you in the military issue boots of Jake Carpenter (don't you just love videogame character names?), a newly enlisted soldier in the Mantel Corporation army.

It's set some twenty five years in the future, which gives Ubisoft the perfect excuse to throw in a "high-tech arsenal of vehicles and weapons" and a couple of grams of coke - sorry, we meant "performance enhancing bio-medical support."

Essentially, it's the timeless tale of heading out on a mission for the good guys, only to find that things are not quite what you've been led to believe once you arrive on scene - and before you can hand in your gun and book a flight home, all hell breaks loose.

There's definitely a fine pedigree of developer talent behind this one, and we're told to expect "hyper-intelligent" AI (too much bio-medical support, we'd wager), dazzlingly beautiful indoor and outdoor locations, and a broad selection of online multiplayer and co-op modes as standard.

More on HAZE as soon as we can bring it your way.