Haven: Call of The King (PS2)

Haven: Call to the King (PS2)

So, you think platform games are boring? Do you need some change from all the jumping around? Well, now Midway and Travellers Tale (the guys who did the old Crash Bandicoot) have done something about it. It’s a futuristic platformer with elements from popular game genres such as shooting, racing and flying games. All of this has been mixed with classic elements from the world of platform gaming. And knowing the good old Crash guys are behind it, it certainly seems to promise quite a bit.

The story is a grand old one: The King’s travels takes him out of his Kingdom, and the evil step-king enslaves the people and kidnaps our hero’s girlfriend. So now, of course, your job is to save your people, and your dear girlfriend, nonetheless. This is approximately how the story goes in Haven: Call of The King. Our red haired hero Haven embarks on this epic quest deep in the mines of Lord Vetch.

Power Yoyo

Haven: Call to the King (PS2)

And already at this stage the problems begin, because getting out of the charring hot lava mine is not as easy as it may seem. So, it’s just a lucky, lucky thing, that Haven possesses all of these wonderful platforming skills, to get him to the surface and get to his dear, kidnapped Chess.

Keeping in spirit with the platform genre, Haven has a standard weapon on him at all times: a yoyo. Although a yoyo might not be perceived as being a weapon at all, in this game it actually does quite a good job of keeping your path clear of monsters and other obstacles. You can pick up other weapons along the way, such as guns and rifles, all of them working for a limited time period only, though.

But in Haven: Call of The King it’s not at all sufficient to simply be a master of the yoyo and a few guns, because only so soon after emerging from the mines, you have to take control of a huge anti air cannon, and send everything that twitches far into space.

You pay for your mistakes

Unfortunately your trigger happy fingers have consequences. You realize this after having shot down a large spaceship, that crashes in the middle of a village, which immediately erupts in a ball of flame. But being a nice hero, you get into your fireman’s gear, strap on a jetpack and a water cannon to better his brutal mistake.

Your job is now to fly around over the burning village, putting out fires, before the citizens lose their livelihoods. This all may sounds very easy, but the jetpack needs a little getting used to. But of course, once your master the moves, being the hero of the day in the little town comes as easy as sunrise in the morning.

Big is good

Haven: Call to the King (PS2)

The levels in Haven are of a considerate size, each of them not just a breeze to complete. The legacy of Crash Bandicoot is evident here. Of course jumping, running and gathering of small objects is required to a certain. As seen so often in Crash, you also need your running skills to evade danger, which in Haven’s case is molten lava chasing you. Running from the lava is done towards the screen, whilst avoiding obstacles, so you don’t end up as fried meat.

Big promises

The levels in Haven are quite big and very pleasing to the eye. But still it seems there’s something missing, some life around you. If you take away your foes that need shooting and the few confused villagers, there’s actually not a lot else to give life to the scenery. Here I am referring to games like Ratchet & Clank, whose surroundings are great and lively, as well as all the wacky characters found in Jak & Daxter. Because even though it has no direct impact on the game, it would have just been nice for atmosphere if the surroundings were a little more alive.