Sometime in the year 2048, the world's governments have outsourced their militaries to private corporations. As we learned in Robocop, this is never a particularly good idea. Soon enough, a radical rebel group makes waves in South America, and it's up to Sergeant Shane Carpenter to take care of business by locating and eliminating these anti-capitalist troublemakers.

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems and escaping tough situations requires more than the latest high-tech firepower from employer Mantel Global Industries. The secret weapon at Carpenter and Co's disposal? A steroid-like substance called Nectar, which enhances physical attributes for a short time.

Sure, getting juiced up adds heightened perception, better aiming and Spider-Sense-like foresight, but anything this powerful must have its fair share of side effects. We haven't seen enough of the game's plot to get into specifics, but the devs promise that Nectar's side-effects will play a prominent role in the game.

The game looks better than it did the last time we saw it, behind closed doors at E3 2006, and that may be because the team is currently focusing on the PlayStation 3 version, launching this fall, with the originally planned Xbox 360 and PC versions currently off the radar. That makes Haze a clear competitor for the 360-exclusive Halo 3 in what is sure to be this fall's biggest first-person shooter showdown.