Put in a fair three hours with this game on X360. A local store in LA broke the embargo.
So far, I'm loving it. Then again, I loved Doom 3, so take my opinion for what it is.
The Good:
1. The game moves FAST. 60fps makes all the difference. Also, it looks stunning. RAGE made it very difficult to enjoy any of the Battlefield 3 beta because the tech in RAGE is extremely impressive. I'm no programmer and don't know much about tech, but i can say that:
a. there is texture pop in when you quick turn, but it's minimal and hardly distracting
b. This doesn't have the real-time lighting of DOOM 3. It's tough to tell whether the lighting is baked in or not. During the intro scene where you're doing the half-life/Modern Warfare on-rails tour, there's a point where your driver (you're seated beside him) goes under the shadow of a rock overpass, and the light fades off and onto him as if it was scripted, but not like there's a hard light source that's in real time. Looks good, but this isn't Doom 3.
c. And speaking of tech, the game sacrifices things like Day/night cycle and moving sky (the sky is static). However, the texture for that sky is gorgeous, so you don't really care. People complain about the muddy textures when you get close to objects, and while it's true that objects don't have much detail when you're close - it makes no difference.
2. I can't stress enough how how well the game PLAYS, which impressed me more than how it looks, although I understand that by simply being 60fps, the smoothness of the experience comes with the territory. The only comparison that i can think of is Modern Warfare 2. Again, I'm a console guy so my frame of reference is limited.
What impressed me more is the design decision in how it controls and how you interact with the world. Because of the A.I. routines, every battle feels like a great deal of fun. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of early HALO. Each of the enemy types have various reaction routines which keep every fight interesting. So far, they haven't done much to mix up the enemy types (yet), but when you're fighting these guys, expect them to do crazy shit like:
a. run, randomly dive roll, then charge at you aggressively.
b. run, leap to a wall, leap off walls, charge at you aggressively.
c. duck and cover, blind fire, work their way up towards you while constantly searching for cover.
d. Fill up a room with various enemies MIXING UP the above routines, ie, various enemies in the same skirmish will mix and match these routines.
e. Shotgun enemies and close range enemies will not hesitate to charge.
More on the design: I'd forgotten how much the gameplay is affected by taking away auto-aim or aim assist. This is what RAGE does, and feels more like QUAKE because using EVERY weapon is challenging and fun now. Where you shoot enemies is as important as killing them quickly. Various animations happen depending on where you shoot:
a. Shoot in the legs, and they'll stagger or tumble, which gives you a second to shoot again or reload.
b. Shoot in the arm and they'll stagger and go for cover, momentarily disabled.
c. Headshots on enemies without helmets is a solid kill.
d. Headshots on enemies with helmets knocks off the helmet, but they're still a threat. They'll now shoot from cover.
e. Shoot an enemy in the gut, and they'll stagger, fall, then pull a COD "last man standing" perk and keep shooting. They're actually still dangerous. you have to kill them because It seems like sometimes they recover.
I'm currently playing it on normal and about to crank it up to hard. The actual interaction of gunplay is a BLAST and is the most fun I've had in an FPS in forever. The battles, so far, as well as the lasting visual impression, remind me of why ID really is the best in show when it comes to this stuff. They know their classic gaming structures, and it shows. There are audio cues for when enemies are about to attack with things like Grenades, etc. Still, it's all very exciting and very well designed.
4. I forgot to mention very specific animations. There's an early assault on a Wasteland Garage where one of the charging enemy types will take a stick, charge towards you, dip it in a flame barrel, and run full bore with this awesome flaming stick swinging at you. He's something of a tank when it comes to damage, but it looks amazing. Mixing that up with the other enemy routines is what makes the combat in RAGE, so far, amazing.
5. A minor point, but worth noting: the in game realtime mini map is spectacular and possibly the most accurate I've ever played. This is probably nothing to some people, but I've just grown to accept that the mini-map will 'roughly' get you where you have to go in most games. Some games are better, some are worse. Some will take you on some off-path to get you to your goal where you just assume that the A.I. went wonky, and some hardly try. RAGE easily has the best mini map I've ever used. it's so accurate that you can navigate corridors with it as it will display EXACTLY where to turn with clarity. I was amazed by the pathfinding. It's the little things.
6. controlling your buggy is fun. There isn't much love for physics, but there is some. You have something like power sliding. There's boosting. Think more Mario Kart than Halo Warthog. I'm about to do my first race, so we'll see.
THE BAD
1. As gorgeous as the game looks, it's not really REALLY open world sandbox. There are crazy invisible walls all over the place. It's irksome to see things that you think that you can jump over, but you cannot. For those that feel that the engine would be ideal for THE ELDER SCROLLS, be prepared to be disappointed. While things look great and it's very LINEAR. Unlike Oblivion, you can't force climb anything in order to explore. If there's no path, you're not going there. It's a lot closer to BORDERLANDS in this regard. Again, i'm only 3 hours in, but it's more like a series of hub areas, with an open dune buggy area in-between. Apparently, you can battle in your dune buggy. I haven't tricked mine out yet.
2. Again with the invisible walls ... WTF?! I just finished a mission where you've opened up the gate to the next town. This *might* be a glitch, I dunno, but I'm going through the gate with my dune buggy and once you get to an exact invisible point passing through the gate, you're VIOLENTLY LAUNCHED FROM YOUR VEHICLE, and have to continue on foot. Again, maybe it's a glitch because other WEAPONIZED BUGGIES can attack you before you get to your destination. You're a damned target.
3. For all the love that I'm pouring on the tech, the art design is where you begin to see ID's weakness. I remember watching the director's commentary on LEFT FOR DEAD where the Valve devs took care to guide the player through subtle artistic cues in color and lighting. It's difficult to get lost in L4D, and that's due to the stellar design.
Can't say the same for RAGE.
How the hell can you get turned around in a LINEAR corridor, you ask? For starters, it's because everything looks so detailed and because there isn't any real time lighting, that it takes a moment sometimes to figure out where you're going. Even though the waypoint tells you exactly where to go in one early mission, I was confused because there was no clear difference between the objects that I can affect and those that I can't.
Early on, there's a mission where you have to fix a radio tower. There is a VERY SPECIFIC path to that tower that you'll probably overlook at first. Near the VERY specific entrance, there are parts where it appears you might be able to jump on and over. No go. Until you begin to examine closely, you'll see that there's a very specific trail that isn't immediately visible. Colors, lighting, and textures aren't helping you here. This isn't a good thing.
4. Again, don't be fooled by the description that this is an open world shooter. It's still an ID game, and as exciting as the fights have been, this still feels very much like a corridor shooter. You rarely truly engage in any battles outside, despite what the trailer vids show. Sure, as you go from a corridor path (engaging enemies) to the next, their might be a very brief area connecting the two where enemies (so far) will fire on you. However, i haven't yet encountered an area where numerous creatures attack you outside, CoD style, and you're forced to cover and move from attack on all sides. Most of the time, you're in small but cluttered connecting rooms with lots of places for enemies to hide, cover, and pop and shoot. It's a lot closer to DOOM 3 without the lame monster closets...so far.
Think of RAGE as a world full of hubs and lots of tributaries, and less like 'go anywhere'. That said, it's promises to be very BIG.
*******
Random Thoughts:
1. Loving the RPG lite, which is making me excited for SKYRIM. There's tons of shit to collect and trade in at the outpost. You can sell the stuff at the store, or use the stuff to MAKE things like health packs, that toss-blade thing, and door breakers. These things will unlock specific locked doors, usually hiding goodies.
2. The button layout feels very natural:
Left analog: move
Right analog: look
d-pad toggle sub weapons
L Trigger: fire sub weapons
R Trigger: Fire primary
R Button: Quick toggle primary weapons
HOLD R button: toggle primary weapons, then use analogs in conjunction to determine weapon type and bullet type. VERY NICE.
3. Continuing the hubword theme, it's very much like borderlands so far. Get mission, do mission, come back to hub, get new mission, repeat. However, so far, it doesn't seem like you can STACK missions. Missions, so far, take auto-priorities. For example, in the second hub zone, I received two missions from two different people. Instead of giving me the option of choosing which mission I want while on the mission, it auto prioritized and sent me off. You can't seem to switch missions. Once you accept, you go. Because both of these missions were assigned to the same enemy hangout, the waypoint map doesn't give you the option of deciding which to tackle. So far.
EDIT: Correction, you CAN set active mission. I've got to do another big update on the menu screens.
The game is VERY FOCUSED.
4. So far, my favorite weapon is the pistol. The pistol has various bullets of varying power.
5. Bullets are scarce. You either buy them or collect them from the bodies of the dead. It's VERY important to collect things from the dead. Everything they leave behind is valuable.
6. If you see random items that you can grab, GRAB IT. Cups, bottles, whatever. They're either good for parts in upgrading your vehicle/weapons/health kit/ etc, or you can sell them to the dealer for cash towards upgrades. Because of the scarcity of items, you'll want to grab everything. Because there's no penalty for carrying too many items, the game has a very satisfying loot-grab feel without the downside of choosing to leave weapons behind (ala Borderlands). VERY smart design choice.
....and so far, that's all i've got. IF anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer. I haven't done any online. That's disc 3. I'm trying to dive in as deeply as possible into the campaign.
For all of my complaints, the game is insanely classically FUN. I was entering something of a gaming malaise, and RAGE not only reminded me of how awesome a great AAA console game can be, it's a complete value at 60 bucks on Xbox 360. I just dig it because it FEELS different from CoD, Halo, Battlefield, et al. It's FRESH and well designed, and where it falls artistically, it more than makes up for mechanically as a gaming experience.
Взято
отсюда.
