Known for recent classics like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, Bethesda excels in creating intense, visually impressive games that suck the player into huge, expansive worlds. Adjectives aside, the games have that specific polish that the company is known for.
Rage is no different.
We had the opportunity to sit in on a hands-off demo of the upcoming PS3/360/PC game, with the development team members showing off three stages and the combat mechanic. Set in the now seemingly-standard distant, post-apocalyptic future, Rage’s world is the vast Wasteland. Prior to a massive asteroid impact, the governments of the world selected individuals to be placed underground in 12-person “Arks” to survive the disaster. After a mishap, the lead character in the game is the only survivor of one of these Arks.
Story-wise, it’s not anything excitingly new. The style, however, goes well beyond the atypical gray and brown design of games in similar settings. Featuring an almost “steampunk-meets futuristic Western” fusion, the game is much more colorful than what we would expect. This is part in thanks to the use of ID’s new “Tech 5” world-mapping system, which allows for unique and varied texture effects along the terrain. No tiling here, no repeating topography.
The initial town we saw included a cast of colorful characters with extremely smooth and life-like animation; I don’t think I saw one person standing upright and stiff. The NPCs appeared “comfortable”, as if they were tending to their own business instead of being informational kiosks waiting for interaction. They would often shift their weight, causing their clothing and accessories to move and make noise – the ruffling of shirts, jingling of tools, and the tap of a foot against the ground were apparent. The effect does much to add an entire new layer of depth to the interactions.
The next part of the game we viewed was vehicle use, which includes not only combat with enemies but also races that pop up around towns. The effect was reminiscent of Red Faction: Guerrilla’s often-fun (and bumpy) vehicle traversion around the Martian landscape.
To showcase the on-foot combat, we witnessed a raid on an enemy gang’s base. The ability to set automated turrets, room-clearing bots, and even an RC car with a bomb attached to it (yay!) showcased the variety of “engineering-based” weapons available besides the standard rifles and guns. The game, though not complete, did seem to fall victim to one ages-old game design issue: when clearing out an entire room of enemies using massive amounts of gunfire and explosions, the gang members in the room right next door were oblivious to the sounds. Those must be some pretty impressive soundproof walls.
The final section we saw was based in a crumbling city with collapsed skyscrapers forming obstacles and ramps. Yes, still post-apocalyptic, but at least the design of the buckled structures seemed fresh. We witnessed an attack by mutants which, once cleared out, lead to a giant ogre-like creature ripping around a corner. The sizable enemies didn’t stop there. As soon as the ogre mutant was defeated, a giant of Cloverfield-proportions appeared from behind a skyscraper. It reminded me of the stackable Russian dolls, but with more chipped teeth and hair.
The developers assured us that Rage wouldn’t be a 300-hour epic, but would still be a sizable experience once it releases. And though the name “Rage” is pretty generic, it may have just enough variety and design polish to separate it from the growing crowd of post-apocalyptic FPSes.
[Images courtesy Bethesda Softworks]
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