ID's Rage (9.13.11)

[DangerousK]

I finished the game last night. There're so many words that sum up the game for me. Underwhelmed, disappointed, saddened, those are a few that come to mind. Rage is the least enjoyable high profile game I've played so far this year.

First and foremost, Rage suffers from an identity crisis. It doesn't know if it wants to be an FPS or a racing game, because both offerings in Rage are average at best. As an FPS Rage falls flat. The story is mundane, run of the mill, you're the savior...go shoot stuff...dude. There isn't a clear antagostist, you really have no clue who you're up against in Rage, save for one name (whom you never see) briefly mentioned at the start of disc 2.

The core gameplay is functional, but the lauded retooled enemy AI failed to impress. The enemies I faced on nightmare difficulty either ran directly at me or spent most of their time blind-firing from cover. If the enemy AI can take cover, why can't I? Whatever. Atleast the old FPS standbyes of working angles and circle strafing worked well enough.

Graphics? Rage is most certainly not the best FPS I have ever seen. Most of the "mega textures" in the game were muddy and lacked detail. Although the liquid physics and character models are quite nice.

Then the game's average FPS offering is lessened by this unruly focus on vehicle combat. I liken the racing in Rage to RC Pro Am, it's just as over the top, and just as ridiculous. But by the time I reached Subway Town, I had enough of the vehicle sections of the game.

Then there's Rage's climax...well, that's to say there isn't one. The game ends...on a whimper. As it stands, Rage is at the top of my list for most disappointing title of 2011. It's a good FPS with neither something special nor memorable to experience within.

The one thing I have learned with id Software over the past 2 decades is they will never be mistaken for writing strong stories for games. But this is 2011...one would think they could at least make an effort by now.

 

[BigTinz]

new patch fixed most of the technical problems.....game is still boring shite.

 

[Curt]

Bullshit!

Nice:

 

[elixir]

The first picture is actually of Borderlands.

 

[Late]

Rage maybe a meh game, but the engine looks quite promising concidering Doom 4, or maybe even a possible future Quake.

Yeah baby yeah.

 

[GregN]

A friend played this and said it only took 10 hours to beat. Pass. Just another (F/T?)PS. Nothing to see here.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

A friend played this and said it only took 10 hours to beat. Pass. Just another (F/T?)PS. Nothing to see here.

I'm about 11 hours in and about 3/4 done, as near as I can tell. I play a bit slower than most, mind you.

I'm also getting very frustrated with some of the races... Rocket Rally can suck my fucking dick.

 

[Dr Shroom]

dat ass?

 

[HeartlessNinny]

dat ass?

teh hawtness

 

[Dr Shroom]

Seriously, this is the first Bethesda-related game where the females don't look like trannies or just like shit.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Seriously, this is the first Bethesda-related game where the females don't look like trannies or just like shit.

To be fair, this is just published by Bethesda. They have yet to actually make a game themselves where the women don't look like trannies (or just like shit).

 

[Dr Shroom]

Yeah but Bethesda owns id so...yeah whatever. Just play a male character in Skyrim.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

They do..? Didn't know that.

id still develops independently, though, right? I thought they did.

 

[Dr Shroom]

On June 24, 2009, it was announced that id Software had been acquired by ZeniMax Media. The deal would eventually affect publishing deals id Software had before the acquisition, namely Rage, which was being published through Electronic Arts

Not sure but I guess Zenimax/Bethesda has some sort of influence in their works now.

My bad, just replace any Bethesda I wrote with Zenimax

 

[HeartlessNinny]

I dunno man. Rage really feels like an id game. Their fingerprints are all over it.

I bet Zenimax/Bethesda has about as much influence on them as Disney does on Pixar.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Okay, so I beat the game tonight. I guess it did end a bit abruptly, but it wasn't out of left field or anything. It's clear you're on the final mission -- the guys you talk to say stuff like, "It all comes down to this!" It's just that the final mission is a bit on the short side, and (slight spoiler) there's no final boss. Well, there aren't any bosses at all, really.

I still had a lot of fun with this one. It was just plain fun to play. There were a few things that really pissed me off (enraged me, if you will), but only because I'm a completist: the five finger fillet is fucking impossible on the final round. Seriously. The pattern is seemingly random each time you get to it. I can get to the final round with nary a mistake, but I've never even come close to beating it. Fucking infuriating.

The races are severely unbalanced, too. I can win the conventional races easily, but the rocket rallies? What the fuck are you supposed to do? The final set are fucking ridiculous. I've almost won many of them several times, only to have victory snatched away at the last second. Again and again and again. Thank fuck that shit isn't mandatory, or I'd want to kill some people.

My final time was about 15 1/2 hours of gameplay. I take my time and explore, and do all the side missions I can find. I really don't think this game was short -- anyone who says so must have been rushing ahead like a motherfucker the whole time. A 5 or 6 hour game is short. Ten plus hours? I don't think so.

Anyway. Thumbs up. Not game of the year material, but worth one's time. Can't ask for much more than that.

 

[jeffkun34]

HN, did you complete the legends of the wasteland yet? Those were more fun than the main game was since you got to shoot it out with a buddy. Id should have designed the whole game around that system.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

HN, did you complete the legends of the wasteland yet? Those were more fun than the main game was since you got to shoot it out with a buddy. Id should have designed the whole game around that system.

Nope. I'd love to try some co-op with somebody, if anyone's down. I got the PS3 version, and my handle's HeartlessNinny (natch). Just let me know.

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

If anyone's messing with the PC version, I have an easy fix to unlock all the CVARs that they "protected" from the retail release. Fun fact, they've just commented out the function that was supposed to tell you "%s CANNOT be set in retail!". Nice of them.

Open up the SKIDROW patch-1 Rage.exe with a hex editor. Go to address 0x283413. You should see a 0 there. Change it to a 1. (Preceding bytes are 08 00 83 3d b8 b7 5b 01 if you're unsure.) Bingo, you can now change the locked cvars. I'm not sure if the non-cracked executable is encrypted or packed or something, so it may not work while still tied to Steam.

 

[Blue Steel]

Ninny, my cousin told me he got the game, and he said it's the, "best game he's ever played" and so today I decided to get it on PS3 (mostly so I don't have to deal with disc swapping). Anyhow, I'll message you if I see you on, and we can do co-op if you haven't finished it yet.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Ninny, my cousin told me he got the game, and he said it's the, "best game he's ever played" and so today I decided to get it on PS3 (mostly so I don't have to deal with disc swapping). Anyhow, I'll message you if I see you on, and we can do co-op if you haven't finished it yet.

I have yet to even touch the co-op, so hit me up any time. What's your PSN ID, so I know who to look out for?