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Haven: Call Of the King

EMAILPRINTps2

Haven: Call Of the King
69
6.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
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Game Info

Publisher: Midway

Developer: Traveller's Tales

Genre(s): Action, Platform

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 18, 2002

Summary

Played out through an epic tale of a hero who seeks to liberate his people from the tyranny of enslavement, Haven: Call of the King provides total freedom to move anywhere both on foot or vehicle and spans seamless transitions between turret-based shooting, boat racing, bike battles, plane flight, gladiator arena combat and space exploration. [Midway]

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

Play Magazine

A spectacular, inventive, wondrous adventure. The lead is a bit of an odd-ball, but everything else is the stuff of dreams. [Jan 2003, p.68]

86

Absolute Playstation

Every level has to be earned…every damn level…but there is also a distinct feeling of accomplishment that comes with this type of challenge and I certainly welcomed it every step of the way.

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83

Game Informer

A trend-setting effort and an absolute must-have for platforming fanatics. [Jan 2003, p.91]

82

TotalGames.net

Quite involving after a while with some excellent puzzles for you to solve and many strange people to talk to, but it does take quite a while to get into.

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78

Media and Games Online Network

A down side to this game setup is that there is no real big picture to your accomplishments.

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78

GameZone

The free-form style of play keeps things fresh but don’t go into this one expecting to be blown away.

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76

GameSpot

The fast-paced, quickly changing gameplay is refreshingly unordinary.

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76

GamingWorld X

With a bit more polish, the gameplay in Haven: Call of the King could have matched the brilliant ideas that fueled the game's creation.

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74

IGN

At certain points it's great, but at others it can be either frustrating or very boring.

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70

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

A great choice for hardcore types who found the recent slate of platformers too easy - this is one of the toughest titles in its genre. [Jan 2003, p.124]

70

GamerWeb Sony

The biggest problem here is how tedious some of the objectives can be, but the story is interesting enough to keep you playing, and it's a decently long experience as well.

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70

GamePro

Despite the intended scope of the game, Haven’s sights and sounds are barely average.

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70

Electronic Gaming Monthly

In the attempt to be all things for all kinds of gamer, each little mode lacks polish. [Jan 2003, p.173]

70

Gamer's Pulse

Despite the great gameplay, graphics, and sound, there is one factor that cripples the entire game. Many copies of the game have a bug that causes the save feature to not work properly.

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70

Eurogamer

A better than average platformer with cleverly interspersed mini games to present the illusion of expansiveness and freedom.

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67

XenGamers

While not perfect, Haven: Call of the King works on many levels—as a platformer, as vehicular racing title, as a centerpiece for fine soundtrack work.

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67

Gamers' Temple

Some tweaks to the gameplay and a better weapon system would go a long way towards helping this ambitious title achieve greatness.

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61

GameSpy

Haven tries to go in several directions at once. Alas, rather than excelling, it ends up doing a fairly mediocre job of almost everything.

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60

GMR Magazine

Not much more than a so-so platformer with a problematic camera. [Feb 2003, p.69]

60

PSX Nation

What we have here is a great engine and design screaming for some character and story help.

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60

G4 TV

The downside to the game's ambitious design is that the individual parts don't fare nearly as well alone as they do being part of a larger experience.

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58

Into Liquid Sky

One of the biggest complaints I have about the game is that very little of the gameplay is explained or even given much in the way of reason. You seem to just be doing stuff to keep from being bored to death.

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58

GameNow

So-so platform elements. [Feb 2003, p.43]

50

PSM Magazine

Objectives that are generally unexciting or that go on for far too long. Even worse, in some instances, you'll find yourself wandering around trying to figure out what to do next. [Jan 2003, p.30]

50

Game Revolution

It would have worked better had the game allowed you to switch from any of these game styles at will. I think that was the original idea, but sadly it all turns out overly scripted and directed.

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50

GameCritics

The game, like a movie trailer, provides various disjointed snippets of action without delivering the complete picture.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe G. gave it a 0:
i cant rate it cos i cant play it..i got stuck at darkwater village at those damn fires.38!fires thats fun for you..ha ,and very early in the game.also my fingers are quite sore..i think rachet and clank is better...right level of difficulty for people who are attracted to ps2. i dont like hop,hoppity ,boss,bigger boss,bigger pain games much.must try riven or myst

D. J. gave it a 2:
Wow, this game is bad. It seems to fail on almost every level (layout, gameplay, character design, etc.) and is unpleasant to play. Now you might find this game for $10 but don't waste your money. Why do you think the game is so cheap when its not that old, hmmm. And for those who gave it anything higher than 5 should have their head inspected, or at least shown what a good game really is. To paraphrase AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Ryan M. gave it a 4:
I didn't like this game very much. It was your basic platformer. My favorite part was the very beginning, and that's the only part that kept me interested for over 20 minutes. But you'll find better games out their and you'll realize this is not worth wasting your time.

Bruce M. gave it a 10:
Terrific...everything you want from a game...this really is a must have for all PS2 gamers.

James C. gave it a 10:
Simply astounding. Traveller's Tales gamble on this game is surely worth it. Those who say "Ratchet is the superior game" don't know what they're missing out on. The comparrison is totally unfair on either game, as they both do different things. Haven deserves either a 9 or 10 from any reviewer, as any score lower is a crime against the gaming world and humanity!

Jeremy S. gave it a 10:
Fan-flippin-tastic.

Matthew C. gave it a 10:
It is amazing, people that dont give this game 8 or more have no idea what makes a great game, the sheer scale of the game is overwhelming and with no signs of loading between different parts of the game you can play it for hours with no interference from loading screens.

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