Nitro. I just want to say thank you for playing these games on their original hardware. I seen some youtubers that play games on emulators so they can get a better resolution but when they encounter graphical glitches that don't happen on real hardware they complain that it's the game's fault and not their setup.
FormattedCompatible | I think a good example of this was Caddy's Net Yaroze video. I'm pretty sure some of those glitches and oddities in that video (e.g. some of the games had no music) were due to the emulators used. True, emulation was probably the only way to play those games, so what can ya do, but he still judged the games based on those glitches and didn't mention that possibility.
Being that that was PS1, he shouldn't have had much of a problem getting them to play on original hardware, even if he had to burn a CD to do it. Granted, at that point it's not an original print, but it's not like the Dreamcast where a CD was a different format from a GD-ROM, causing problems with the read/write heads on them over repeated plays of burned games because the file locations didn't match from the GD-ROM, it should be a lot closer and cause less problems in theory. I haven't researched that particular topic, but I also haven't heard of that in my years of watching people like Adam Koralik, MyLifeInGaming, HappyConsoleGamer and the like. Generally if it's a problem, they'll try and warn people, like Adam K adamantly (no pun or alliteration intended) does about the CD-ROM's in place of GD-ROM's. On the topic of emulation, while I will admit that it's true that emulation does have its glitches, the higher resolutions, especially in games in the Xbox/PS2/GC/DC generation, reveals a ton of detail that was impossible to show on native hardware. You see a lot of that kind of polish in first-party Nintendo Gamecube and Wii games particularly (SSBM, SSBB, F-Zero GX, Mario Kart Double Dash/Wii, Pikmin (All games I own & systems I own)), but one that I find incredible to see in an emulator is Dokapon Kingdom (EXPENSIVE game, emulation is the most viable method for most people (unless you're willing to shell out unreasonable amounts of money to scalpers on eBay for just a disc to play it as cheap as possible) since it's not digitally available, and it was a limited print since it's an Atlus game) on PCSX2 using widescreen patches. Graned, certain animations end on-screen where they would have cut off in 4:3, but that's fine, in some cases it adds to the hilarity of a good time w/ friends in that game. :D
Always remember this people. These are UA-camrs expressing their feelings about then and there using whatever to play the chosen media, not game developers reviewing other competitors products. in short that means most of the time you won't get the correct output of things. For example the complexities of making that particular scene or mechanic fun and believeable at the same exact time like you yourself where there. CONSUMERS (Almost every UA-camr) will never know how to do this by themselves Ask every popular youtuber if they can program. and see where it goes. Most of them will not know a single shit about making a game. they only know how to voice opinions. and in the very few instances where they tried (For example the Yogscast minecraft-like game) they often times fail miserably. however. There is always that one that grasps the challenges. the one who understands, but does not know how to perform it himself. he is known as the Nitro Rad. i believe this is the very factor why he is so obscured. sounds kind of theoretical i know, but i believe in it. He might be the one who knows too much, who doesn't get the attention he deserves. For he alone delivers far better content than the majority of youtube when it comes to gaming. For me he is the one who can speak for almost all, and not only the dick sucking fans, pardon my language
Not that I would ever say every game needs a happy ending, but the fact Haven kind of had a downer ending probably didn't help alongside it being a cliffhanger.
They should have had a better ending. I played and beat this game over and over. They should have never ended the game like that. They were so sure that they would get the trilogy. Smh.
I wonder if Haven would hve sold better if the game developers said tht Haven was kind of like the Jak games but more expressive. I think it would hve sold better. It’s better thn saying “Haven is like nothin u ever played before!” And then the finished product reminds players of the Jak games… *face palm*
My parents bought me this game, when I was 8 or 9 and I gotta tell you, that it took all my brainpower and some months to figure out, how to complete the puzzles to progress. Also the language barrier made it almost impossible to gather clues from dialogs or game tips, which sometimes led me to discover glitches in the game, instead of the developer's original intention towards solving the puzzle. I thought I had it 100% completed, until I heard just now, that it had a secret ending. Guess I never discovered those hidden temples as a kid. Exploring the planets with my spaceship was a thing I quickly grew tired of. I bet my younger self would scour every inch of those planets in search of those temples(if I managed to stumble upon one) It might have not been mainstream, but it still had its fair share of fans. I would definetely buy its sequels, if they ever decide to revive the project.
Always feels a mixture of heart-touching and heartbreaking when developers pour their soul into an idea that doesn't quite land. Jon Burton attributes full transparency to so many of his projects. Crash 4 and 5, Haven, Sonic 3D Blast... his honesty is really pure.
Great review! You're very good at breaking down a game's strong and weak points, and detailing exactly what you like/dislike about it. :) Though as for the email thing: Yeah, it's kind of lame to us nowadays in 2017 to just see "sequel hook" questions and then the dev's email for 100%ing the game. But if I played this game when it came out and saw that, it would've blown my mind. Today with social media and stuff we can talk to developers and creators whenever. But a kinda-major game developer asking fans to talk to them in **2002**, when windows of communication to the creators we loved were small, if they existed at all? Their email would have been a great reward, asking true fans of the game to send input, because they _earned_ that window of communication by 100%ing the game. Still love your review, just wanted to point that out. Thanks for doing what you do; you're a wonderful reviewer and a great UA-camr. Keep up the awesomeness, NitroRad. :)
Oh man, this was one of the earliest games I ever owned for PS2. Such nostalgia. It's funny seeing all of the criticisms against the game because as a kid I just plowed through and sank hours in. Honestly, the pirate ship turret section felt like hours, because I think it actually took me like an hour or two to complete haha. It's sad that the series ended, I think an expansion of the story and improvements to the gameplay would boost this series to new heights. All in all, thanks for reviewing this classic.
This game is so insanely impressive from a technical perspective. The large detailed environments, cool particle/post effects, huge draw distances, explorable planets/space w/ terrain generated on the fly, etc. all at a stable 60fps and seamlessly streamed in without load screens. I just really wish this tech was used in a better game. There really wasn't anything like it at the time.
That after-credits thing made me laugh so hard for some reason. Imagine if a post-credit scene in a Marvel movie is Kevin Feige's email where you can send suggestions for future movies. Either way, great review!
@@jimmymackinnon8474 I don´t think so, I just beat it today, the game features a hidden checkpoint system that allows you to respawn infinite times next to the part you die. You barely has to replay entire sections just as it was the norm back in the day.
Interesting, it seems to me that this game was heavily inspired by the first Jak and Daxter, and then Naughty Dog borrowed some ideas from this game for Jak 2 and 3. Especially the colour palette, hud elements and the non-platforming missions give me strong Jak 3 vibes.
Jak and Daxter came out in 2001; the HUD is from the first game. Not only that, but the general style is very reminiscent of Jak and Daxter, all the way down to the font.
The two games do look similar but if you think about it, Haven was developed by Travelers Tales(who developed Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Jak was developed by Naughty Dog (who developed Crash 1, 2 and Warped. So both developers share the same elements.
This is a game I LOVED as a kid and still own for my PS2. Faults and all. I do appreciate you’re attempt to cover both the good and the bad of this game. You were very fair covering this.
This game should have been open world. The proof of concept build is incredible and the planets ARE being rendered in real time. The day and night is also real and the platforms are curved with the planets. The dev even said himself that it could be procedurally generated.
seeing human like characters in platformers just doesn't look right to me, at least Jak looked kind of like an elf with super sayian hair, so him doing over the top jumps seems more believable to me. Haven and the other human characters look almost like people out of a Gamecube Harvest Moon game, not an action/platformer.
ya one of the devs showed a prototype of the game (look up GamHut if interested) and it originally had an animal looking thing you controlled, which looked better in my opinion.
@@SatoshiKong I think he meant the style. Of course Mario is human, but he would look off if he was designed somewhat real like Haven. That's what he's trying to get say.
Hearing 'Home Sweet Home' from Beyond Good & Evil at the end gives me hope that you may make a video on that gem of a game in the future. Wonderful video as always Nitro!
BG&E probably would've shared Haven's fate if the devs didn't cut out massive chunks of the game and polished up what they did have ready. They gave up on their ambitions to deliver a game that's simply good. Space exploration was meant to be a big part of the game but in the end we only got one planet and the moon base.
Still kinda mad that Beyond Good and Evil "2" is going to be a prequel, ergo, they're _not_ going to resolve that agonizing post credits cliffhanger from the first.
I was JUST thinking that lmao. I wonder if they were fans and got the idea / technique from them? Or if one of the devs from No Man's Sky was a former Haven dev.
@@SirBlackReeds As much as people (even myself included) complain about modern games constantly needing patches and updates, I bet there were a ton from the ps2 era that would've greatly benefited from having the ability to update be more regularly available.
@@SirBlackReeds at first I didn't know what you meant by the climbing segment in God of War, but with a bit of googling I found the part with the spinning spikes in Hades! I must have repressed that, that was an awful section.
I remember this game having a 2 page ad in (I think) EGM that I would obsess over when I was younger. They were still advertising a gamecube release at that point. I'm kinda glad to see that it wasn't a great game, but a part of me still wants to play it. Edit: The ad in question was the picture at 15:26 but without all the writing at the bottom. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, man.
The game I personally was obsessing over due to ads was Rayman 3. For the longest time all I had was a few small screenshots and artwork. I got to play the game in 2005. Luckily I was not disappointed. Come to think of it, 2005 was also the first time I got to play Beyond Good & Evil.
15:50 "Hey man that was just a rhetorical question please don't write me a 5 page essay in the comments section about how artwork on the cover is supposed to sell the game and doesn't necessarily have to perfectly represent the game's actual graphics, especially back in 2002 when this game came out I know already. Thank you."
I actually like turret sections in platformers, whether it be Ratchet & Clank series, the Jak & Daxter series or even those in Rayman 3. A turret section that lasts half-hour is excessive though, I'll agree with you on that.
Honestly, I'd like a turret segment where you're given a chance to go all out and blow everything up. No danger, no time limit, just blowing everything up.
The sheer level of rage I feel at not being able to precisely pause and read that 1/2 second of text at 15:50 is unreasonable and I'm having an existential crisis as a result lol
Just recently discovered your channel. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that you’ve covered a lot of mascot platformers from the PS2 era that I always used to see on the store shelves and on magazine adds. The ones I was always curious about but for monetary reasons or because by the 2000’s I was getting on that phase of turning my nose up at these colorful “childish games” (meanwhile I was a big Jak and Daxter fan, go figure). So thank you for covering them and giving me a glimpse at what I’ve missed out on
Holy shit I just came across this video and even though this game isn't a huge part of my childhood, I had some good memories and always wanted to play it again, however I could never remember the title so there was no way for me to find it. But thanks to you I have a reference point so I'm giving a huge thanks to you for finally ending a mystery that I occasionally think about and have wanted solved for a while now. Thank you. Edit: that joke about Haven remembering something good as he picks up something made me chuckle thinking I had that reaction to this video.
Ah, No Man Sky before No Man Sky? Joking aside, I like ambitious titles. While they may not always hit the mark, when they do, they show how great a game can truly be as a master of it's craft. Hell, with the No Man Sky example, as much as I think that game was overhyped as hell, I can see these ideas come to life somewhat. And i'll give HAVEN one thing. It's one hell of an interesting game.
@@machina5 It was good since day one, it just the game was never worth 60 bucks. 20 and nobody would have complained. Right now with all the content it's a solid 40 bucks worth. Only the self entitled kids ever believed the Sony pressure statements as anything but that.
Completely random fun fact: That same Jon Burton directed Toy Story 2 (PSX/N64) and Sonic 3D Blast (the latter which he even did a "director's cut" romhack of) and even has a channel called 'GameHut' talking about some coding of past projects in TT and such. Pretty cool.
Great review, as always! After seeing Jon Burton's (from Travelers' Tales) video about how this game resembles No Man's Sky, I was blown away and went out to buy the game. I also watched this review before buying it, so I knew it wasn't going to be a great game. But, the part I was most disappointed with is how long it is before you get to have that "No Man's Sky" experience of traveling to other planets. I thought I'd be able to do it in just an hour or two. God no, it was horrible. Trying to speed through this game as quickly as possible, I had all the same problems you described (except the story that I skipped and paid no attention to). I just wanted to get a save game where I could show my friends how ambitious this game was and compare it to No Man's Sky. By the time I unlocked the space travel, I was already far enough in I just went ahead and beat it. This is definitely one of the most flawed games I've ever finished.
It was actually initially supposed to be a Mac game, but after Microsoft bought Nintendo in the early 2000s, it became a PlayStation exclusive instead.
That was just a placeholder. They hadn’t decided what the main character would look like yet so they used the logo character while they were testing the gameplay.
How many fucking early to mid-00s platforming adventure games can you find, Jesus. You've reviewed like five times as many as I ever knew existed. And wow, that is one seriously annoying secret quest. Why even go through the trouble of implementing it into the game if you could just put the reward over the regular ending?
A friend and I played this years ago, in an attempt at a Let's Play channel, and we kept joking about having to eat ice cream balls so we don't die of cancer... I can't believe we were basically right!
I'll give Haven this: while I haven't played it, I really dig the soundtrack. (Then again, the composers they had working at Traveller's Tales at the time were generally really good, as shown by their stuff in Wrath of Cortex and, of all things, the Bug's Life game).
A part of me actually wished that they intended to have the story end like that all along (or something similar, anyway). A platformer in which the hero loses?? Don't see that every day.
Eh I got a fun story about this game: I was with my mother and we went to the game corner of the shop - we didn't have game shops around the area - and she saw this game, while In reality i was looking at vice city: I said that I wanted VC for christmas. Anyway, christmas come and I was waiting for my game and once I get the package, here comes Haven instead. I still thanked but I also said "but i kind of wanted that other game". Her answer was "Oh but I thought you wanted this, you looked interested into this one!" I played for a few days and then quit and a few months later I bought Vice City on my own (after reassuring my mother that I wouldn't go crazy, since I was 13 years old). PS: speaking of the bad dubbing...well in my language (italian) it feels like they hired some turkish people or romani and told them to voice act for a couple of euros: it's so bad it's not even funny.
You know, that "super monkey ball section" reminded me that there was a Super Monkey Ball Platformer back in that gen. One of these days, you gotta investigate Super Monkey Ball Adventure... and hey, isn't that another one by Traveler's Tales too? They also did Crash Twinsanity... which also had those roll-y parts. Hmmm.... Wonder if they're still up to it? I bet there's roll-y segments somewhere in LEGO Dimensions :P Great review. Man, that ending... oh boy :v
6:31 I cannot begin to count how many times I've seen variations of this joke over and over and over again, and this is one of the funniest takes on it I've ever seen. The fact that he's TECHNICALLY correct (or at least I assume; I've never played this game), along with the radically-different, unceremonious reactions they have to this massive explosion. He does even wanna look at it, and she just casually looks at it like it's just a bird flying by or something. There's so many layers meshing together that it just had me burst out laughing!
I remember being 10 years old trying to beat this game and how much I spazzed out during the whole summer to beat it...... And then that depressing ending. Now thinking back on it, it was indeed an ambitious game that provided months of entertainment I played it exclusively just to complete it. Who knows how far they could have taken it if only it had caught on.
One of the developers who worked on this game at Travellers Tales has a UA-cam channel called Game Hut. In one of his videos he explains that the character design and artstyle were radically different at first, but the publisher forced them to redesign everything after focus testing. He really detested the way the character models turned out in the end but they had little say in the matter.
The lore and story seem very interesting, I mean if the creators don't want their story to go to waste they could make a book series. I would read it as it seems like this story and its lore have so much potential
Eh, I wanted to like it but it was underwhelming to me. Gameplay was very simplistic and the story wasn't much to remark on. Though I can see how people love the story if they've never seen many narratives with those themes.
Indeed a good game, but I think the Fanbase see it as the masterpiece that, for my taste, truly isnt. Again, a good game with several flaws (Gameplay was sure not the Platinum best, Graphics and Technically was kinda meh, and the story is truly not that deep if you are an adult), but I had fun with it, and the music is outstanding! I think anyway that, if the cast was not for its 2/3 made of sexy androids, it would had been WAY less popular
You make it sound like 2002 was the dark ages. This game came out in November, and by January of 2003 there was already an in depth guide in gamefaqs including the locations of the towers and the black diamonds. There were plenty of forums where you could have gone to talk about the game and learn about the secrets earlier as well. You can't play that "left in the dark" card with games from the PS2 generation, when the internet was already widespread.
@@StephaneLevs I had it in my house but it was very slow and we only had one computer for my moms work so it was extremely rare I'd get to use it and when I did it took a couple minutes or so to load up a webpage. The handful of times I did get to use it my first priority was usually either looking up video game news or to enter some contest I saw on nickaloneon or 4kids and it'd quickly be time to hand it back to my parents. The only time I ever used it to look up a walkthrough was for a spongebob game my parents got tired of trying to help me with
@@CrazyRiverOtter I love that your personal story of when you got the internet is your measure of when you think the internet became popular. Ever heard of the dot-com bubble? The internet was so big then that it had already gone through its own recession! Websites were really popular in the early 2000s. Every advert on TV was mentioning that they had a website. Movies were using the internet for their marketing, like the Matrix and Blair Witch Project. Broadband internet was in people's homes for a few years by then. Internet forums were massive in those days. Napster was in the news constantly, and scaring the shit out of record companies. The internet was definitely mainstream back in the early 2000s!
And now for my 5 page essay on how the artwork on the cover is supposed to sell the game as opposed to representing how the game actually looks, especially back in 2002 when this game came out...
Oh, wow! Seeing this game's logo in the thumbnail reminded me of this game! I never played it, but I saw the game all the time as a kid. If you feel the North America cover is misleading, I think you should see the EU cover (the version I saw in Ireland, growing up) and see if you think it represents the game better (I do). This was my first time seeing gameplay, and it looked a lot like the first Jak and Daxter, with the vehicles looking like the ones you ride in Jak 3. Also, the spaceship battles remind of the Gummi Ship section from Kingdom Hearts.
“Half an hour”, lol, I did that exact same level on stream recently and it took me almost *2 hours* to complete. And that’s after having never finished the game as a kid because I literally couldn’t get past it back then!
Something tells me they would have done it trilogy similar to Jak and Daxter. Hes rescued by some kind of rebellion. I just imagine a long-drawn-out story with him ending up as King.
Another childhood game. I was hoping you'd do this one. As a kid I thought it was glitched cuz I couldn't pass the first escape scene but now I know why I was fucking poisoned. As far as I know it never told me. After watching it seems like a combo of the jak and daxter series and beyond good and evil. Even has the same jak pause menu lol. Dope reviews. Would love to see a dr. Muto or herdy gerdy one next.
Wow that takes me back. I'm not sure when it was but I rented this game for a weekend from the local blockbuster at some point during my high school days. I had a similar reaction to yours when I saw the ending. I remember thinking it was pretty tedious and that I got super frustrated at parts but stubborn as always I finished it. Ultimately I kind of enjoyed myself but it's the type of thing you'll only do once me thinks. Either way great video dude. I think I'll check out the rest of your content while I'm here.
Yeah it kinda dose but it's definitely worth a go if u can find it I loved it as a kid and just picked it up from CEX for just 0.50p and it's still really good
Man, I remember how hyped up I was for this. The previews painted it to be this multi-genre epic experience. Sadly, it didn’t turn out as well as it was advertised. Thorough review and I admire you sticking with it to 100%. That planet scale is the only very impressive element from what I'm seeing.
Nitro, you manage to cover so many different obscure games that I had an enjoyable time playing back in the day. More often than not, I stumbled upon these at blockbuster or rented them from gamefly in its early days. Thanks for bringing back those memories, haha.
Thankyou for this vid! As a kid I played this game and spent so long searching for what the towers were!!! nowadays its impossible to find evidence of the whole Rune side quest! Now all my questions have been answered!
Great review. I had no idea that the Lego developers made anything other than that. Its sad to hear them create something as ambitious as this and it not work out. Now they are stuck making endless Lego movie tie-in games. :(
Sailor Mercury TT has been making games since around 1991. They used to partner with Disney and other companies back in the 32 bit era, and made games from Sega Genesis-Playstation 1 and obviously until this day. One of the few early developers still around to this day.
Nitro Rad briefly mentioned the allegory in _Haven: Call of the King_ in the video. In case anyone wants a full analysis of the game, search for my UA-cam-video in search bar: *Haven Call of the King & Christianity (a Harry Stark Production)* My video has fully outlines all allegories in the game.
Nitro. I just want to say thank you for playing these games on their original hardware. I seen some youtubers that play games on emulators so they can get a better resolution but when they encounter graphical glitches that don't happen on real hardware they complain that it's the game's fault and not their setup.
FormattedCompatible I feel like something is lost when emulating stuff, I still play Mario 64 on my N64 every year for that original feeling
Alexander Becker ,probably the fact that your brain knows itsnt the original hardware and that it's on a computer
FormattedCompatible | I think a good example of this was Caddy's Net Yaroze video. I'm pretty sure some of those glitches and oddities in that video (e.g. some of the games had no music) were due to the emulators used. True, emulation was probably the only way to play those games, so what can ya do, but he still judged the games based on those glitches and didn't mention that possibility.
Being that that was PS1, he shouldn't have had much of a problem getting them to play on original hardware, even if he had to burn a CD to do it. Granted, at that point it's not an original print, but it's not like the Dreamcast where a CD was a different format from a GD-ROM, causing problems with the read/write heads on them over repeated plays of burned games because the file locations didn't match from the GD-ROM, it should be a lot closer and cause less problems in theory. I haven't researched that particular topic, but I also haven't heard of that in my years of watching people like Adam Koralik, MyLifeInGaming, HappyConsoleGamer and the like. Generally if it's a problem, they'll try and warn people, like Adam K adamantly (no pun or alliteration intended) does about the CD-ROM's in place of GD-ROM's.
On the topic of emulation, while I will admit that it's true that emulation does have its glitches, the higher resolutions, especially in games in the Xbox/PS2/GC/DC generation, reveals a ton of detail that was impossible to show on native hardware. You see a lot of that kind of polish in first-party Nintendo Gamecube and Wii games particularly (SSBM, SSBB, F-Zero GX, Mario Kart Double Dash/Wii, Pikmin (All games I own & systems I own)), but one that I find incredible to see in an emulator is Dokapon Kingdom (EXPENSIVE game, emulation is the most viable method for most people (unless you're willing to shell out unreasonable amounts of money to scalpers on eBay for just a disc to play it as cheap as possible) since it's not digitally available, and it was a limited print since it's an Atlus game) on PCSX2 using widescreen patches. Graned, certain animations end on-screen where they would have cut off in 4:3, but that's fine, in some cases it adds to the hilarity of a good time w/ friends in that game. :D
Always remember this people. These are UA-camrs expressing their feelings about then and there using whatever to play the chosen media, not game developers reviewing other competitors products. in short that means most of the time you won't get the correct output of things. For example the complexities of making that particular scene or mechanic fun and believeable at the same exact time like you yourself where there. CONSUMERS (Almost every UA-camr) will never know how to do this by themselves
Ask every popular youtuber if they can program. and see where it goes. Most of them will not know a single shit about making a game. they only know how to voice opinions. and in the very few instances where they tried (For example the Yogscast minecraft-like game) they often times fail miserably.
however. There is always that one that grasps the challenges. the one who understands, but does not know how to perform it himself. he is known as the Nitro Rad.
i believe this is the very factor why he is so obscured. sounds kind of theoretical i know, but i believe in it. He might be the one who knows too much, who doesn't get the attention he deserves. For he alone delivers far better content than the majority of youtube when it comes to gaming. For me he is the one who can speak for almost all, and not only the dick sucking fans, pardon my language
Moral of the story. Don't put cliffhangers into your experimental 3D platform... it's likely to not go anywhere.
Especially if your main character was fished from the bowels of the uncanny valley.
AesculapiusPiranha someone here because of gamehut xD
Not that I would ever say every game needs a happy ending, but the fact Haven kind of had a downer ending probably didn't help alongside it being a cliffhanger.
(Sigh.) I feel so sorry for the people who made this game. I wonder if they could re-work it into a one-time trilogy, though.
Cough cough kh1 cough
The main character looks like he's from an early 2000s nu metal band.
He looks like Daron from S.O.A.D lmao
Legend has it that Haven is chained to that rock to this day.
Megaman Legends III:Lost Haven.
And there he will remain as a sequel will never happen. Poor guy.
They should have had a better ending. I played and beat this game over and over. They should have never ended the game like that. They were so sure that they would get the trilogy. Smh.
Do you think he's going to escape?
This game's interface reminds me of the Jak games.
Traveller's Tales games are almost always technically solid but never perfect, I've noticed.
@Quivame I just wander what Jon Burton is up to.
@Quivame I'm so hungry, I could eat a TT Logo Guy.
Their lego games are quite solid.
It looks a lot like the bud from jak3
I wonder if Haven would hve sold better if the game developers said tht Haven was kind of like the Jak games but more expressive. I think it would hve sold better. It’s better thn saying “Haven is like nothin u ever played before!” And then the finished product reminds players of the Jak games… *face palm*
That hidden ending................That seems like something an Inde developer would do
Uncle Rocko what did they say?
All they needed left was the narrator from the Adam West batman series.
EmAiL uS
Knowing the guy who lead the project you'd think he was an indie dev.
My parents bought me this game, when I was 8 or 9 and I gotta tell you, that it took all my brainpower and some months to figure out, how to complete the puzzles to progress. Also the language barrier made it almost impossible to gather clues from dialogs or game tips, which sometimes led me to discover glitches in the game, instead of the developer's original intention towards solving the puzzle. I thought I had it 100% completed, until I heard just now, that it had a secret ending. Guess I never discovered those hidden temples as a kid. Exploring the planets with my spaceship was a thing I quickly grew tired of. I bet my younger self would scour every inch of those planets in search of those temples(if I managed to stumble upon one)
It might have not been mainstream, but it still had its fair share of fans. I would definetely buy its sequels, if they ever decide to revive the project.
Always feels a mixture of heart-touching and heartbreaking when developers pour their soul into an idea that doesn't quite land.
Jon Burton attributes full transparency to so many of his projects. Crash 4 and 5, Haven, Sonic 3D Blast... his honesty is really pure.
Great review! You're very good at breaking down a game's strong and weak points, and detailing exactly what you like/dislike about it. :)
Though as for the email thing: Yeah, it's kind of lame to us nowadays in 2017 to just see "sequel hook" questions and then the dev's email for 100%ing the game. But if I played this game when it came out and saw that, it would've blown my mind. Today with social media and stuff we can talk to developers and creators whenever. But a kinda-major game developer asking fans to talk to them in **2002**, when windows of communication to the creators we loved were small, if they existed at all? Their email would have been a great reward, asking true fans of the game to send input, because they _earned_ that window of communication by 100%ing the game.
Still love your review, just wanted to point that out. Thanks for doing what you do; you're a wonderful reviewer and a great UA-camr. Keep up the awesomeness, NitroRad. :)
Oh man, this was one of the earliest games I ever owned for PS2. Such nostalgia. It's funny seeing all of the criticisms against the game because as a kid I just plowed through and sank hours in. Honestly, the pirate ship turret section felt like hours, because I think it actually took me like an hour or two to complete haha. It's sad that the series ended, I think an expansion of the story and improvements to the gameplay would boost this series to new heights. All in all, thanks for reviewing this classic.
The requirements to get the true ending in this game puts the Triforce Quest from Wind Waker to shame.
This game is so insanely impressive from a technical perspective. The large detailed environments, cool particle/post effects, huge draw distances, explorable planets/space w/ terrain generated on the fly, etc. all at a stable 60fps and seamlessly streamed in without load screens.
I just really wish this tech was used in a better game. There really wasn't anything like it at the time.
That after-credits thing made me laugh so hard for some reason. Imagine if a post-credit scene in a Marvel movie is Kevin Feige's email where you can send suggestions for future movies.
Either way, great review!
This games ending actually made me cry when I was 6
It is actually a pretty depressing ending.
This ending gets a 😔/10
Cool
I’m surprised you were able to beat it at age 6. This is a fairly difficult game.
@@jimmymackinnon8474 I don´t think so, I just beat it today, the game features a hidden checkpoint system that allows you to respawn infinite times next to the part you die. You barely has to replay entire sections just as it was the norm back in the day.
E-mail them now
Is pee pee poo poo an ok thing to email them?
@@matthewlong7547 yes
@@gaspardsavoureux8680 Nice. I already emailed them. I'll check for e response.
They returned my mail with no reply. :(
@@matthewlong7547 Dang it that's disapointing
Interesting, it seems to me that this game was heavily inspired by the first Jak and Daxter, and then Naughty Dog borrowed some ideas from this game for Jak 2 and 3. Especially the colour palette, hud elements and the non-platforming missions give me strong Jak 3 vibes.
Haven II. Haven escapes to New Jak City 😆
It's funny since the city in Jak 2 is called Haven City.
@@Magitek1112 That would be like Days Gone having a city called Joel City 😆
@@Magitek1112 yeah, actually that's quite an insane coincidence.
Haven also has a similar run animation cycle to Jak.
I remember my dad bought me this game for Christmas because the title is one letter different from my name. I actually enjoyed this game.
Javen: Call of Your Dad
what kind of fucking name is javen
Which letter??? Let us know Javen, don't leave us hanging bruv
:-)
Hahaha! That is actually a really charming story.
Cool story, bro.Raven is a badass sounding name by the way.
"Freeformer" or also known as "We really didn't know what we wanted to do with our game so we put a little bit of everything in it."
Why does the HUD look like it was ripped from Jak and Daxter?
Gone Awol. Yea that and I think Haven looks like a low budget Jax
Akko Kagari I was thinking the same thing xD the open world collecting , vehicles , turrets and hand gliders etc
Jak and Daxter came out in 2001; the HUD is from the first game. Not only that, but the general style is very reminiscent of Jak and Daxter, all the way down to the font.
The two games do look similar but if you think about it, Haven was developed by Travelers Tales(who developed Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Jak was developed by Naughty Dog (who developed Crash 1, 2 and Warped. So both developers share the same elements.
That doesn't excuse them from ripping it off
This is a game I LOVED as a kid and still own for my PS2. Faults and all. I do appreciate you’re attempt to cover both the good and the bad of this game. You were very fair covering this.
This game should have been open world. The proof of concept build is incredible and the planets ARE being rendered in real time. The day and night is also real and the platforms are curved with the planets. The dev even said himself that it could be procedurally generated.
Since you're the "I review the games no one else reviews" guy, have you ever played I-Ninja? I thought it was actually really good when I was a kid.
I dont know why, but there is just something about this games style that is so interesting, ever since i 100% played the game, i saw it in a new light
seeing human like characters in platformers just doesn't look right to me, at least Jak looked kind of like an elf with super sayian hair, so him doing over the top jumps seems more believable to me. Haven and the other human characters look almost like people out of a Gamecube Harvest Moon game, not an action/platformer.
ya one of the devs showed a prototype of the game (look up GamHut if interested) and it originally had an animal looking thing you controlled, which looked better in my opinion.
Even though the most iconic platforming character of all time is human...?
@@SatoshiKong I think he meant the style. Of course Mario is human, but he would look off if he was designed somewhat real like Haven. That's what he's trying to get say.
I'm guessing you don't like Mario games then.
@@lasarousi read the comment above you.
5:37 That doctor sounds like a joke Oney would come up with.
He sounds like a combination of Oney and Cartman.
That's why I immediately disliked the dude.
Whats wrong with oney ?
Now, how many angry e-mails did T-Tales get after that, is what I wanna know?
Hearing 'Home Sweet Home' from Beyond Good & Evil at the end gives me hope that you may make a video on that gem of a game in the future.
Wonderful video as always Nitro!
When BGE2 has a release date I'll be doing Beyond Good and Evil a week or so before it launches.
BG&E probably would've shared Haven's fate if the devs didn't cut out massive chunks of the game and polished up what they did have ready. They gave up on their ambitions to deliver a game that's simply good.
Space exploration was meant to be a big part of the game but in the end we only got one planet and the moon base.
Still kinda mad that Beyond Good and Evil "2" is going to be a prequel, ergo, they're _not_ going to resolve that agonizing post credits cliffhanger from the first.
>when BGE2 gets a release date
Well. Shit.
Yeah, maybe rethink that criteria?
No Man's Sky: 2002 edition
Believe it'd more appropriate to call it Spore: 2002
I was JUST thinking that lmao. I wonder if they were fans and got the idea / technique from them? Or if one of the devs from No Man's Sky was a former Haven dev.
@@SirBlackReeds As much as people (even myself included) complain about modern games constantly needing patches and updates, I bet there were a ton from the ps2 era that would've greatly benefited from having the ability to update be more regularly available.
@@SirBlackReeds at first I didn't know what you meant by the climbing segment in God of War, but with a bit of googling I found the part with the spinning spikes in Hades! I must have repressed that, that was an awful section.
I remember this game having a 2 page ad in (I think) EGM that I would obsess over when I was younger. They were still advertising a gamecube release at that point. I'm kinda glad to see that it wasn't a great game, but a part of me still wants to play it.
Edit: The ad in question was the picture at 15:26 but without all the writing at the bottom. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, man.
The game I personally was obsessing over due to ads was Rayman 3. For the longest time all I had was a few small screenshots and artwork. I got to play the game in 2005. Luckily I was not disappointed.
Come to think of it, 2005 was also the first time I got to play Beyond Good & Evil.
I still love this game even though it has so many faults. I wish it was rebooted or remastered. Hopefully we get it on PS4 /PS5.
6:46 that's a good reaction to remembering that pizza is left
15:50
"Hey man that was just a rhetorical question please don't write me a 5 page essay in the comments section about how artwork on the cover is supposed to sell the game and doesn't necessarily have to perfectly represent the game's actual graphics, especially back in 2002 when this game came out I know already. Thank you."
I legit laughed at "PSTooth". XD
Holy god the platformers never stop - somebody put them out of their misery.
I actually like turret sections in platformers, whether it be Ratchet & Clank series, the Jak & Daxter series or even those in Rayman 3. A turret section that lasts half-hour is excessive though, I'll agree with you on that.
Ever noticed how the Jak games seem to be the only platformer games that strayed from basic platforming gameplay and succeeded at it?
They never bug me
Honestly, I'd like a turret segment where you're given a chance to go all out and blow everything up. No danger, no time limit, just blowing everything up.
The sheer level of rage I feel at not being able to precisely pause and read that 1/2 second of text at 15:50 is unreasonable and I'm having an existential crisis as a result lol
Just recently discovered your channel. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that you’ve covered a lot of mascot platformers from the PS2 era that I always used to see on the store shelves and on magazine adds. The ones I was always curious about but for monetary reasons or because by the 2000’s I was getting on that phase of turning my nose up at these colorful “childish games” (meanwhile I was a big Jak and Daxter fan, go figure). So thank you for covering them and giving me a glimpse at what I’ve missed out on
Holy shit I just came across this video and even though this game isn't a huge part of my childhood, I had some good memories and always wanted to play it again, however I could never remember the title so there was no way for me to find it. But thanks to you I have a reference point so I'm giving a huge thanks to you for finally ending a mystery that I occasionally think about and have wanted solved for a while now. Thank you.
Edit: that joke about Haven remembering something good as he picks up something made me chuckle thinking I had that reaction to this video.
Ah, No Man Sky before No Man Sky? Joking aside, I like ambitious titles. While they may not always hit the mark, when they do, they show how great a game can truly be as a master of it's craft. Hell, with the No Man Sky example, as much as I think that game was overhyped as hell, I can see these ideas come to life somewhat. And i'll give HAVEN one thing. It's one hell of an interesting game.
@@SirBlackReeds Oh cool! When in the future will it be good?
@@machina5 It was good since day one, it just the game was never worth 60 bucks.
20 and nobody would have complained. Right now with all the content it's a solid 40 bucks worth. Only the self entitled kids ever believed the Sony pressure statements as anything but that.
Completely random fun fact: That same Jon Burton directed Toy Story 2 (PSX/N64) and Sonic 3D Blast (the latter which he even did a "director's cut" romhack of) and even has a channel called 'GameHut' talking about some coding of past projects in TT and such. Pretty cool.
10:08 is a very interesting way of pronouncing “simultaneously.”
Vetch said "Haven, I'll imprison you on this planet forever."
-And he FUCKING MEANT IT.
if I where a millionaire would I give this crew of game developer a new chance. this game has so much potential and a sequel could make this big.
Great review, as always!
After seeing Jon Burton's (from Travelers' Tales) video about how this game resembles No Man's Sky, I was blown away and went out to buy the game. I also watched this review before buying it, so I knew it wasn't going to be a great game. But, the part I was most disappointed with is how long it is before you get to have that "No Man's Sky" experience of traveling to other planets. I thought I'd be able to do it in just an hour or two. God no, it was horrible. Trying to speed through this game as quickly as possible, I had all the same problems you described (except the story that I skipped and paid no attention to). I just wanted to get a save game where I could show my friends how ambitious this game was and compare it to No Man's Sky. By the time I unlocked the space travel, I was already far enough in I just went ahead and beat it. This is definitely one of the most flawed games I've ever finished.
0:20 Not sure if you know this but in North America, Doki Doki Panic was localized as Bionicle Heroes.
And during the development of the game, it was nicknamed "Sonic's Ass Game"!
Also, the name of the game's main character was originally going to be Mr. Needlemouse.
It was actually initially supposed to be a Mac game, but after Microsoft bought Nintendo in the early 2000s, it became a PlayStation exclusive instead.
You were also supposed to be able to plant a seed in game and if you came back later that tree would be fully grown
I was waiting so much for your Haven review. Thanks for the in-depth video! Great job!
Actually this game was going to be about the character that appears in the TT logo
That was just a placeholder. They hadn’t decided what the main character would look like yet so they used the logo character while they were testing the gameplay.
2:17 Sauron?
This game is pretty much Lord Of The Rings set in the future, not that that's a bad thing
How many fucking early to mid-00s platforming adventure games can you find, Jesus. You've reviewed like five times as many as I ever knew existed.
And wow, that is one seriously annoying secret quest. Why even go through the trouble of implementing it into the game if you could just put the reward over the regular ending?
That's his main focus, obscure platformer games nobody seems to remember.
I recently bought a PS2 and Nitro's been a big help to find stuff I hadn't noticed before.
A friend and I played this years ago, in an attempt at a Let's Play channel, and we kept joking about having to eat ice cream balls so we don't die of cancer... I can't believe we were basically right!
I'll give Haven this: while I haven't played it, I really dig the soundtrack.
(Then again, the composers they had working at Traveller's Tales at the time were generally really good, as shown by their stuff in Wrath of Cortex and, of all things, the Bug's Life game).
Man,you have a really good talent to find these underrated and unknown games and doing good videos on it!
I always thought that the traveler's tales logo was from a game they made because of how cool it was.
So the ruler hears haven will overthrow him so he... kidnaps his girlfriend. Brilliant plan.
GameHut just showed a prototype of this that starred TT's mascot creature. Woulda liked to see that version come out
Meanwhile, in an alternate universe...
"The Traveler's Tales: Call of the King - Nitro Rad"
I loved this game and I'm glad you covered it. The sound track is something I still actively listen to and love
A part of me actually wished that they intended to have the story end like that all along (or something similar, anyway). A platformer in which the hero loses?? Don't see that every day.
Eh I got a fun story about this game: I was with my mother and we went to the game corner of the shop - we didn't have game shops around the area - and she saw this game, while In reality i was looking at vice city: I said that I wanted VC for christmas. Anyway, christmas come and I was waiting for my game and once I get the package, here comes Haven instead. I still thanked but I also said "but i kind of wanted that other game".
Her answer was "Oh but I thought you wanted this, you looked interested into this one!"
I played for a few days and then quit and a few months later I bought Vice City on my own (after reassuring my mother that I wouldn't go crazy, since I was 13 years old).
PS: speaking of the bad dubbing...well in my language (italian) it feels like they hired some turkish people or romani and told them to voice act for a couple of euros: it's so bad it's not even funny.
You know, that "super monkey ball section" reminded me that there was a Super Monkey Ball Platformer back in that gen. One of these days, you gotta investigate Super Monkey Ball Adventure... and hey, isn't that another one by Traveler's Tales too? They also did Crash Twinsanity... which also had those roll-y parts. Hmmm....
Wonder if they're still up to it? I bet there's roll-y segments somewhere in LEGO Dimensions :P
Great review. Man, that ending... oh boy :v
6:31 I cannot begin to count how many times I've seen variations of this joke over and over and over again, and this is one of the funniest takes on it I've ever seen. The fact that he's TECHNICALLY correct (or at least I assume; I've never played this game), along with the radically-different, unceremonious reactions they have to this massive explosion. He does even wanna look at it, and she just casually looks at it like it's just a bird flying by or something. There's so many layers meshing together that it just had me burst out laughing!
I remember being 10 years old trying to beat this game and how much I spazzed out during the whole summer to beat it...... And then that depressing ending. Now thinking back on it, it was indeed an ambitious game that provided months of entertainment I played it exclusively just to complete it. Who knows how far they could have taken it if only it had caught on.
christ, i loved this game as a kid, and i won't lie i still like it now
I had a copy of Haven ages ago. I remember playing it and getting stuck. It looked fairly cool at that time at least.
One of the developers who worked on this game at Travellers Tales has a UA-cam channel called Game Hut. In one of his videos he explains that the character design and artstyle were radically different at first, but the publisher forced them to redesign everything after focus testing. He really detested the way the character models turned out in the end but they had little say in the matter.
He just made a video about this game(thats why im here btw)
I just saw that video. Gamehut never ceases to amaze me with programming skills.
@@masterbawler
I got a nice giggle out of that bit at 24:26
The game is much more diverse and complete than I thought it would be at the time.
The lore and story seem very interesting, I mean if the creators don't want their story to go to waste they could make a book series. I would read it as it seems like this story and its lore have so much potential
Man, the health/shield/minimap display and the pause screen are giving me real Jak & Daxter vibes, specifically Jak 3
You're a very good Announcer at 11:32 - 11:34 , Nitro Rad!
This game really reminds me of Advent Rising: an ambitious and inventive concept that didn’t find its footing but left an interesting experience
is that a 2B poster in the back?
Russell Gilbert yes
ah, I see that Nitro Rad is a man of culture as well
I had high exceptions for Automata, and it STILL blew them away, imho NieR Automata should be game of the year, but I sadly know it'll never win ;-;
Eh, I wanted to like it but it was underwhelming to me. Gameplay was very simplistic and the story wasn't much to remark on. Though I can see how people love the story if they've never seen many narratives with those themes.
Indeed a good game, but I think the Fanbase see it as the masterpiece that, for my taste, truly isnt.
Again, a good game with several flaws (Gameplay was sure not the Platinum best, Graphics and Technically was kinda meh, and the story is truly not that deep if you are an adult), but I had fun with it, and the music is outstanding!
I think anyway that, if the cast was not for its 2/3 made of sexy androids, it would had been WAY less popular
To be fair if it did have a sequel he most likely would of been freed by someone and continued to try and beat the overlord
You make it sound like 2002 was the dark ages. This game came out in November, and by January of 2003 there was already an in depth guide in gamefaqs including the locations of the towers and the black diamonds. There were plenty of forums where you could have gone to talk about the game and learn about the secrets earlier as well. You can't play that "left in the dark" card with games from the PS2 generation, when the internet was already widespread.
It was widespread, but not "that" widespread. I didn't get internet till way later.
Yes and no. Not everybody used the internet especially not for walkthrough and such back then.
@@StephaneLevs I had it in my house but it was very slow and we only had one computer for my moms work so it was extremely rare I'd get to use it and when I did it took a couple minutes or so to load up a webpage. The handful of times I did get to use it my first priority was usually either looking up video game news or to enter some contest I saw on nickaloneon or 4kids and it'd quickly be time to hand it back to my parents. The only time I ever used it to look up a walkthrough was for a spongebob game my parents got tired of trying to help me with
@@CrazyRiverOtter I love that your personal story of when you got the internet is your measure of when you think the internet became popular.
Ever heard of the dot-com bubble? The internet was so big then that it had already gone through its own recession! Websites were really popular in the early 2000s. Every advert on TV was mentioning that they had a website. Movies were using the internet for their marketing, like the Matrix and Blair Witch Project. Broadband internet was in people's homes for a few years by then. Internet forums were massive in those days. Napster was in the news constantly, and scaring the shit out of record companies. The internet was definitely mainstream back in the early 2000s!
Serious nostalgia from this game, put hours and hours into this and finally got that secret ending! I felt betrayed when there was no sequel 😔😔
I remember seeing an ad for this game in a magazine a long time ago. Always wanted to play it but never found a copy anywhere.
You telling me this game did no man's sky before no man's sky.
And now for my 5 page essay on how the artwork on the cover is supposed to sell the game as opposed to representing how the game actually looks, especially back in 2002 when this game came out...
Don't forget, Travelers Tales also made Sonic 3D Blast.
Oh, wow! Seeing this game's logo in the thumbnail reminded me of this game! I never played it, but I saw the game all the time as a kid.
If you feel the North America cover is misleading, I think you should see the EU cover (the version I saw in Ireland, growing up) and see if you think it represents the game better (I do).
This was my first time seeing gameplay, and it looked a lot like the first Jak and Daxter, with the vehicles looking like the ones you ride in Jak 3. Also, the spaceship battles remind of the Gummi Ship section from Kingdom Hearts.
“Half an hour”, lol, I did that exact same level on stream recently and it took me almost *2 hours* to complete. And that’s after having never finished the game as a kid because I literally couldn’t get past it back then!
Something tells me they would have done it trilogy similar to Jak and Daxter. Hes rescued by some kind of rebellion. I just imagine a long-drawn-out story with him ending up as King.
My dumb dad's favorite part of Jak and Daxter was the turret segment with the rats, so that's at least one person who likes them lol
I want to see that scale again in current gen game
bob legura no mans sky
I feel like the jack & daxter series pulled some ideas from this game in terms of mechanics and aesthetics
Another childhood game. I was hoping you'd do this one. As a kid I thought it was glitched cuz I couldn't pass the first escape scene but now I know why I was fucking poisoned. As far as I know it never told me. After watching it seems like a combo of the jak and daxter series and beyond good and evil. Even has the same jak pause menu lol. Dope reviews. Would love to see a dr. Muto or herdy gerdy one next.
Man your reviews are so enjoyable to watch eventhough i didn't play most of these games.
One of the most underrated games in gaming history.
Wow that takes me back. I'm not sure when it was but I rented this game for a weekend from the local blockbuster at some point during my high school days. I had a similar reaction to yours when I saw the ending. I remember thinking it was pretty tedious and that I got super frustrated at parts but stubborn as always I finished it. Ultimately I kind of enjoyed myself but it's the type of thing you'll only do once me thinks.
Either way great video dude. I think I'll check out the rest of your content while I'm here.
This just looks like a reskinned Jak and Daxter.
Pretty much
Was thinking the same thing. There's way too many similarities to be a coincidence.
Ya know what, this game in terms of plot elements SOMEWHAT feels like an earlier version of Destiny 2. I don't know, just noticed that.
Yeah it kinda dose but it's definitely worth a go if u can find it I loved it as a kid and just picked it up from CEX for just 0.50p and it's still really good
jak and daxter's overworld was way prettier then this
Man, I remember how hyped up I was for this. The previews painted it to be this multi-genre epic experience. Sadly, it didn’t turn out as well as it was advertised. Thorough review and I admire you sticking with it to 100%. That planet scale is the only very impressive element from what I'm seeing.
Has there ever been any information released on how the story for rest of the trilogy would have played out? I’m honestly kind of curious.
Nitro, you manage to cover so many different obscure games that I had an enjoyable time playing back in the day. More often than not, I stumbled upon these at blockbuster or rented them from gamefly in its early days. Thanks for bringing back those memories, haha.
Hey Nitro, ever heard of a game called Standstill Girl? I'd love to see you do a review of it.
Thankyou for this vid! As a kid I played this game and spent so long searching for what the towers were!!! nowadays its impossible to find evidence of the whole Rune side quest! Now all my questions have been answered!
where. the HELL have I been?? how have I never seen you before? Nitro you are amazing man!
This game is like a comic that got canceled in its first issue. Like i wanna know what happens next but can't cause it was canceled.
Great review. I had no idea that the Lego developers made anything other than that.
Its sad to hear them create something as ambitious as this and it not work out. Now they are stuck making endless Lego movie tie-in games. :(
Sailor Mercury
TT has been making games since around 1991. They used to partner with Disney and other companies back in the 32 bit era, and made games from Sega Genesis-Playstation 1 and obviously until this day. One of the few early developers still around to this day.
Sometimes the game's that they make are really good like toy story 2 on ps1 and those Lego games
They made a lot of the early Sonic spinoffs
@@Sad-Lesbian They also made one mainline _Sonic_ game: Sonic 3D Blast.
Nitro Rad briefly mentioned the allegory in _Haven: Call of the King_ in the video.
In case anyone wants a full analysis of the game, search for my UA-cam-video in search bar:
*Haven Call of the King & Christianity (a Harry Stark Production)*
My video has fully outlines all allegories in the game.
The art style on the cover reminds me of those Mega Man covers !
Finally a well developed video, i kinda thought you rushed some videos,like the kao vids but this one was really good,one of your best.