If ever video gaming were to have a final exam, Haven: Call of the King would be that exam. Every genre you’ve ever played, from platformer to racer to shooter to dog-fighting flying game, has loaned at least one element of its gameplay style to Haven, making Midway’s game the ultimate test of your mastery of everything game-related.
Now available on the PS2 but coming in 2003 to the Xbox and GameCube, Haven: Call of the King combines elements of virtually every game genre in a single, cohesive and seamlessly sewn-together title. Once the game initially loads, you’re off and running. It’s an amazing concept, and one that’s been at least three years in the making.
See a spaceship? Hop in and fly away, watching as the atmosphere passes your window and the next planet comes into view. Notice a baddie who desperately needs a beating? Deliver said beating in-game using intuitive fighting controls. Find a hidden door but stumped at how to open it? Use everything you’ve learned in your favorite puzzle games and solve the riddle.
It’s all there in Haven, and it’s all pulled together in the guise of a truly epic adventure. Playing the title role of Haven, gamers set out on a quest to liberate the main character’s people from the tyrannical Vetch, who has struck them down with a virus for which they must constantly take antidote or face certain death.
Battling through mines, islands, deserts and space, your ultimate goal is to find the Golden Voice, a legendary bell that, once rung, will free your race from Vetch’s powers. This journey will have you piloting all manner of craft and using all sorts of techniques on and between five planets and several moons, each of which offers another stage on which to perform your good gameplay deeds.
As you make your way through the game, you’ll naturally need to find enough antidote to keep yourself alive and on your quest to find the Golden Voice. You’ll also need to find gears to operate machinery, find vehicles to take you from one location to the next, battle a number of bizarre enemies and complete challenges that test the very foundation of your racing, button-mashing and shooting skills.
With so many different elements thrown in, Haven sounds like it could either pull off everything with a certain level of mediocrity or have some aspects stronger than others. Fortunately, the game is tied together with a common platforming thread, which adds some cohesion to it all and lets you switch to a different gameplay style without even realizing you’ve gone from third-person platformer to flying game in a single scene.
Aside from the sheer combination of gameplay styles, perhaps the most amazing feat is that Haven: Call of the King has no load time between levels and planets. Why? Quite simply, because there are no levels. This is a single, expansive universe, full of gameplay elements, foes, challenges and storylines that Traveller’s Tales (the developer) has congealed into an all-encompassing adventure.
Scheduled for a first-quarter 2003 release, Haven: Call of the King is sure to wow Xbox and GameCube owners for its ambitious scope alone. Look for DailyGame.net’s full review of the game in the months ahead.
