RAGE... Good, but really not awesome at all!

[ibex333]

So I started playing Rage, and WTF? It feels... DATED. I feel like I am playing Doom 3 which was modified and retouched. Sure the graphics are nice, and the gameplay somewhat fun but what really pisses me off is lack of attention to detail! It's an insult to me and to every gamer out there, when devs ASSUME that a player will not care about certain things when they play.

As soon as I started playing I walked into a what looked like some sort of a bar, or a house and started shooting at cans, boxes and other stuff that was on the shelves. Oh horror! None of it would move or get destroyed! Some of the items would develop holes in them when shot and others didn't respond at all, like the ceiling fan... WTF Carmack?! We are not in the 90s anymore. Back then it was fine. Now it ISN'T. Not after Fallout 3 it's not. Hell even in the original Deus Ex you could toss around certain items and shoot some of them up. I hate dead environments.
And no, I am not nitpicking, and I am not whining about something minor and insignificant!
Just like in the older games, I cannot shoot at an NPC up-close, and when I shoot him from afar, bullets dont affect him.. In Fallout 3, if I shoot an NPC everyone becomes hostile and tries to kill me. And it should be so. The game should respond to my actions, not hope I will just follow the main storyline!

The damn headlight on my ATV, not only doesn't work(which is ok) but looks like a dead piece of plastic that was put there as an afterthought. It just doesn't look like a headlight with a busted lamp - just a dead piece of plastic.

Also there is something very peculiar going on with the gfx. When I look at the canyons or rocks around me, and then turn in a different direction, it is all blurry for a sec, then redraws and becomes sharper right before my eyes... I thought things like that were supposed to be too subtle to notice?

And whats up with the bandits in this game? On normal diff, I have to pump like 5 pistol bullets into them to get them to stay down, even with head-shots I have to score 2 or 3, and aiming is very suspect too. I could have sworn I was aiming in the head a few times when in fact I hit another body part...

I am not giving up on the game just yet. The story is fun, and the gameplay is overall descent but...

ID, you are just not up to snuff anymore.

UPDATE

So after a few days of playing, I like the game somewhat more because of some nice things the devs included, but all the problems I mentioned are very much there and are very much bothersome. Plus, I noticed new issues:

1)Many quests have you revisiting the same areas again and again. I absolutely despised that. And it's very lame the way they do it too! Like for example if one quests had you killing some mutants down in the sewers, then the next one after that says somethign like: "The mutants have returned, so go kill them again!" lol

2)Cetain things just dont make sense. I know it's a game, but there is this boss fight where you are given a rocket launcher to kill him. and next to you there is a "vending machine" that dispenses free rocket ammo. So in theory you could just run around in that area and keep replentishing your ammo forever and ever as long as the boss is still alive. Again, I understand it's just a game, but they could at least TRY to make things semi realistic.

3)Oddities... There is this gambling game you can play, where you roll the dice and win money. Well The devs made it such that you win, a lot more thna you lose. so in theory, with enough patience you can make a large amount of money in a few hours which will allow you to buy literally AL the best upgrades available i nthis stage of the game. That takes the challenge out and make the game less fun.

4)Under a specific quest, one vendor gives you a choice of armors which are all FREE and each has their own sets of unique stats. But one of these armors he offers you combines the characteristics of ALL these other armors you can pick! So I was like.. WTF? Whats the point of the other armors then? Obviously everyone will go for the best one!



Now for the good stuff...

1)The main storyline is overall quite fun.
2)Some fo the fights feel epic and build up tenseness.
3)I notice how the devs took ideas from many various games and put them in here. That is a very good thing. For example, in a certain Star Wars game you could remotely controll a tiny robot which could go in places you couldt, and this would allow you to press switches and solve puzzles in otherwise inaccessible areas. Here, you have something like that too. I wont get into the details. And it works in a very cool way.
4)You have things to do outside of the main story which are all very fun. There is a game resembling Magic the Gathering, and there are driving events which are not just a gimmick but a signifficant part of the game. I nthese driving events you have what is essentially a game within a game, where you race other cars, beat the best time, or drive and shoot to survive the races.
5)There is crafting in this game, where you can construct various useful items, and many types of various ammo, each bith it's own benefits.


Overall, I'd say if you can get this game for $5-20, definitely give it a try. But if it costs more, it is just not worth it IMO.

 

[shortylickens]

Thats what Yahtzee said.

 

[Nintendesert]

ID should just make graphics engines and let other developers make the actual games.

 

[sandorski]

I watched a few Playthroughs and wasn't impressed. Hell, those doing the Playthroughs didn't seem too impressed either as they only played about an hour into it then went on to other games.

 

[Lumathix]

I didnt like the predetermined paths it forced you to take. Way too linear. Yeh I realize ID does this, but still.
I won't be finishing the game probably, which sucks.

 

[coloumb]

The problem is id tried to make a brightly lit game where you had to think AND run quests [which weren't really very interesting anyhow]. I honestly couldn't get any further than the 1st town after you get your buggy.

They should've stuck with the dark scary mindless combat against hordes of monsters which has always worked for them in the past.

 

[HeXen]

ID should just make graphics engines and let other developers make the actual games.

agree.
Though if you watch the TV ads, it looks epic, especially seeing that huge boss. But they screwed the gameplay and really this just isnt the type of game they should have went all out for. hard to believe they spent sooo long on this crap.

Carmak needs to fire his team and be in charge of Bethesda's engines

 

[wuliheron]

I've heard every complaint about Rage imaginable. Id specializes in fast paced corridor shooters where a million monsters come at you all at once. Things like physics that might cut down on the fps or number of monsters gets left out. Rage is just the consolized version where they deliberately cut back on the number of monsters to get 60fps on consoles and wimpy computers.

Anyone expecting something different has only themselves to blame. This is what they do, its what they've always done, and its what their dedicated fans still love to this day. Many of their more dedicated fans deliberately chose not to buy this game knowing in advance it would be a consolized version of their work. Carmack even admitted it was biased towards consoles and would have fewer monsters well before its release.

In fact, it was Carmack who insisted they keep the 60fps and reduce the number of monsters, so its pointless to fire "the team". "The team" is largely composed of the original people who formed id software and deliberately kept the company small so they could pursue what they love instead of catering to whinny little boys insisting every game should have exactly what they want in it and publishers only interested in a fast buck. Its allowed Carmack to pursue developing cutting edge engines that other developers can later add things like physics to (Half Life 2, Portal) once computers are powerful enough to use them without slowing to a crawl.

 

[JSt0rm]

I agree but I will say this

Id has the best art direction in the industry. The art assets in rage are the best I have seen to date and I can't discount that aspect. I think the problem with the game isn't carmacks crew but carmacks intelligence. I think carmacks said "ok, I need to make a console game. How can I make the best looking console game."

And then he set out down a path for 6 years doing just that. The consoles give him direct access to memory that doesn't happen on the pc and I think his genius moment was to say aha! Let's stream in the textures and create a entire world that is different.

That's really amazing however in execution it was fucking retarded. I think the whole thing is just a big mental exercise for carmack.

 

[Childs]

Personally, I think Carmack has too much influence at id. They need a designer who knows how to make modern games. Not an engine designer dictating game design. When Romero left, it seems like id does whatever Carmack wants to do, which led to uninspiring game play in all their games. Even tech wise, the paths he choose to pursue seem like poor choices, especially on PC. Its really not a bad game, but not a particularly good or interesting one either. At least they got their money from Zenimax when they did.

 

[Obsoleet]

The game isn't any good. I can't even say the engine is any good. I'd rather use and prefer the graphics of the Unreal3 engine, great cross platform support, works great on PC.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The game isn't any good. I can't even say the engine is any good. I'd rather use and prefer the graphics of the Unreal3 engine, great cross platform support, works great on PC.

The engine works really well on the consoles. As a PC engine it isn't good.

 

[wuliheron]

I agree but I will say this

Id has the best art direction in the industry. The art assets in rage are the best I have seen to date and I can't discount that aspect. I think the problem with the game isn't carmacks crew but carmacks intelligence. I think carmacks said "ok, I need to make a console game. How can I make the best looking console game."

The art assets are so good because the engine was designed to allow the artists to draw whatever they want. No repeated textures, no messing around with individual textures, just draw whatever they feel like and at worst whatever they draw gets reduced in resolution. In fact, the engine dynamically adjusts the resolution of the textures according to the needs of the computer at any given moment.

 

[nitromullet]

other developers can later add things like physics to (Half Life 2, Portal) once computers are powerful enough to use them without slowing to a crawl.

Valve used id's engine for HL1. HL2 (and I think every subsequent Valve game to date) has used the Source engine.

 

[wuliheron]

The engine works really well on the consoles. As a PC engine it isn't good.

That's not the engine, its the game.

The id tech 5 is merely a taste of the future and several major game developers are already experimenting with similar technology. Its a game engine that can play on something as wimpy as an iPhone or as powerful as a desktop. Rage was developed more for consoles, but the engine itself can run on a supercomputer with resolution that will blow you away. If anything the problem is that current PCs just are not powerful enough to run the game in its full glory much less with a lot of bells and whistles added.

 

[wuliheron]

Valve used id's engine for HL1. HL2 (and I think every subsequent Valve game to date) has used the Source engine.

The source engine still has some old Quake code floating around in it and still relies heavily on the lessons learned. Its not like each new program has be designed from the ground up without any reference to what came before.

 

[nitromullet]

The story is fun, and the gameplay is overall descent but...

Yeah, IMO the actual combat missions are fun, the races are ok if you're into arcade style racing, but the RPG elements feel tacked on and pointless.

They really could have skipped making the cities and the wasteland. The game would have been just as good if they started it off by dropping you into a sewer and letting you out again 10-12 hours later after you killed all the bad guys.

Of course, even if someone makes the best linear shooter ever the reviewers would totally destroy it because everything has to be a sandbox or have a huge multi-player competent nowadays. Sort of a sad time for gamers like me that enjoy a well constructed, well paced linear single player game.

 

[nitromullet]

The source engine still has some old Quake code floating around in it and still relies heavily on the lessons learned. Its not like each new program has be designed from the ground up without any reference to what came before.

I'm not a game developer, but I'm not sure that's how that works...

There is a big technical and legal difference between, "Carmack invented a new way of looking and solving this problem, we should adopt a similar approach", and "We just copied/pasted Carmack's code into our own engine, added some stuff, changed the name, and now we license it as our own engine!".

 

[HeXen]

I've heard every complaint about Rage imaginable. Id specializes in fast paced corridor shooters where a million monsters come at you all at once. Things like physics that might cut down on the fps or number of monsters gets left out. Rage is just the consolized version where they deliberately cut back on the number of monsters to get 60fps on consoles and wimpy computers.

Anyone expecting something different has only themselves to blame. This is what they do, its what they've always done, and its what their dedicated fans still love to this day. Many of their more dedicated fans deliberately chose not to buy this game knowing in advance it would be a consolized version of their work. Carmack even admitted it was biased towards consoles and would have fewer monsters well before its release.

In fact, it was Carmack who insisted they keep the 60fps and reduce the number of monsters, so its pointless to fire "the team". "The team" is largely composed of the original people who formed id software and deliberately kept the company small so they could pursue what they love instead of catering to whinny little boys insisting every game should have exactly what they want in it and publishers only interested in a fast buck. Its allowed Carmack to pursue developing cutting edge engines that other developers can later add things like physics to (Half Life 2, Portal) once computers are powerful enough to use them without slowing to a crawl.

well smart one then why not they just make a Painkiller or Serious Sam style game? the whole questing back n forth is not typical of ID.
and their company is still not as small as it was previously. Though size really doesnt have much to do with it other than time it takes.

Besides, This game was not Carmacks idea, as he stated, its some of his other guys telling him that corridoor shooters are not what todays generation wants to play, so this is why they ended up this direction.

The largest failure imo here is the questing. shooting and racing parts were fine, they should have kept that pace and instead they threw in quests and pointless babble with cardboard NPC's.
No a game like this needs some Painkiller gameplay with epic bosse's, it still fits in ID's tradition and if done right can be loads of fun still.

 

[wuliheron]

I'm not a game developer, but I'm not sure that's how that works...

There is a big technical and legal difference between, "Carmack invented a new way of looking and solving this problem, we should adopt a similar approach", and "We just copied/pasted Carmack's code into our own engine, added some stuff, changed the name, and now we license it as our own engine!".

They had already bought the rights to use the Quake engine and do whatever they wanted with it.

I'm no expert on patent rights either, but I do know you don't have to pay someone every time you use a wheel and you don't have to totally reinvent the wheel either. It just has to be different enough to satisfy the law.

 

[JSt0rm]

The art assets are so good because the engine was designed to allow the artists to draw whatever they want. No repeated textures, no messing around with individual textures, just draw whatever they feel like and at worst whatever they draw gets reduced in resolution. In fact, the engine dynamically adjusts the resolution of the textures according to the needs of the computer at any given moment.

I agree with all of your points but none of that has to do with art DIRECTION. Games with limited texture budgets can still have great art DIRECTION and games with huge texture budgets can have horrible art DIRECTION.

 

[Texashiker]

ID, you are just not up to snuff anymore.

id lost their "snuff" after the release of quake 2.

Quake 3 was good for a multiplayer game, but that is all it was, multiplayer.

As far as I am concerned, id has not released a good game in over a decade. I had high hopes in doom 3, but it was pretty bad.

 

[nitromullet]

They had already bought the rights to use the Quake engine and do whatever they wanted with it.

I'm no expert on patent rights either, but I do know you don't have to pay someone every time you use a wheel and you don't have to totally reinvent the wheel either. It just has to be different enough to satisfy the law.

I believe you are correct about not re-inventing the wheel, however, I doubt that any licensing agreement would allow the customer to "do whatever they wanted to" with licensed technology, especially re-selling the tech to third parties.

I'm not sure if the customer even has the code to begin with. I imagine when you purchase the license to use an engine/technology you get the pre-compiled engine and an SDK. Then again, back in the Quake days things might have been different.

What the actual code is in the Source Engine you and I will probably never know, but I don't think it's a fair statement to say that Valve simply added physics and a few other features to id's technology to create the Source Engine.

edit: we've also been ignoring the fact that the Quake engine is OpenGL and the Source Engine is DirectX, so the code in the Quake engine would probably not call the correct functions/libraries anyway.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

That's not the engine, its the game.

The id tech 5 is merely a taste of the future and several major game developers are already experimenting with similar technology. Its a game engine that can play on something as wimpy as an iPhone or as powerful as a desktop. Rage was developed more for consoles, but the engine itself can run on a supercomputer with resolution that will blow you away. If anything the problem is that current PCs just are not powerful enough to run the game in its full glory much less with a lot of bells and whistles added.

Yes they are, the game was programmed for the lowest common denominator and it runs almost identically on a HD 4200 or a HD 6990.

 

[wuliheron]

well smart one then why not they just make a Painkiller or Serious Sam style game? the whole questing back n forth is not typical of ID.
and their company is still not as small as it was previously. Though size really doesnt have much to do with it other than time it takes.

Besides, This game was not Carmacks idea, as he stated, its some of his other guys telling him that corridoor shooters are not what todays generation wants to play, so this is why they ended up this direction.

The largest failure imo here is the questing. shooting and racing parts were fine, they should have kept that pace and instead they threw in quests and pointless babble with cardboard NPC's.
No a game like this needs some Painkiller gameplay with epic bosse's, it still fits in ID's tradition and if done right can be loads of fun still.

My first impression of the game was that id bought the rights to some little kid's racing game and added their usual shotguns and monsters. However, on closer examination it seems like they threw everything but the kitchen sink into the game and stirred it until they got something that worked. Like I said, they kept the company small so they could do whatever they wanted and with Rage they wanted to do something really different.

Personally I think id really needed to explore new ideas. Along with improved graphics they needed to figure out some new basic dynamics or they risked the next versions of Doom and Quake starting to resemble a ray traced version of pong. Perhaps they over reached a bit, but hopefully they can take the lessons learned and apply them in the future.

There's a group at id now pushing for a return to the original Quake with all the monsters (which would look great with the id tech 5 engine). They could make a real classic if they do it right, or a real boner if they flub the plot, dialogue, and pacing. Its the same problem most AAA games face with the next generation consoles. As the graphics begin to approach cinematic quality audiences begin to expect cinematic quality dialogue and plot development. Just running down the corridor shooting everything in sight isn't enough anymore.