Eurogamer Expo: Rage developer session

4 Oct, 2010

Eurogamer Expo always offers a variety of different developer sessions, and this year I was lucky enough to get to attend the session for Rage, ID Software’s new IP. If I’m completely honest, I wasn’t really in the mood for this presentation, as I had just sat through a presentation from NVidia on how 3D is the future, only apparently it won’t be for me as it made me feel like throwing up. It wasn’t very interesting and I was pretty glad it only ran for about 10 minutes.

I’m glad to say that ID’s presentation was a lot less nauseating. Rage is their newest IP which was first shown in 2007, and is on track for a release in late 2011. We were introduced to the game by designer Tim Willits, who states that the game will “expand the first person experience”. The game is based in a post-apocalyptic world, in a future where an asteroid has collided with the Earth. You are playing as a survivor from the past, who survived the apocalypse due to being placed in “The Eden Project” which saved some humans to help rebuild the world. Of course, things didn’t run that smoothly as some other factions survived, some survivors have formed new groups, and these are who you end up fighting throughout the game. The game features both shooting sections and driving based combat, but the main focus of the presentation seemed to be on the first person shooting sections. That being said, the driving sections seem relatively fun and action packed, and you have a variety of vehicles to choose from, including quad bikes and modified cars. You can modify the vehicles with upgrades, but vehicles will need to be repaired over time. However, parts for the car will never need replacing, so once you have acquired something you get to keep it.

We were shown some of the games open areas, and there seems to have been a lot of work gone into creating varied environments. One area was very bleak looking and was overrun by scrap metal and dirt. This made the game feel very bleak, and I felt very isolated watching the game carry out. This is aided by simply hearing the wind blowing and very little else. However, this is very different to the town of Wellspring, which has more people and feels like an actual town. Wellspring will become your main base throughout the game, and there are plenty of side missions and mini games here to keep you interested. Interestingly enough, we were also shown that people will react differently to you based on your appearance, and different outfits will make you fit in better in some locations than others, and the wrong clothes will show you as an outsider. For Wellspring, presumably clothes which fit the towns Asian-Western fusion theme will help you fit in better, while in Subway town, which is similar to the New York subway, these clothes will again show you as an outsider here.

In one of the first person shooting sections of the game, we had to enter the sewers because bandits were holding the water supply hostage. Jason Kim, who is also on the development team, talked us through the weapon choices for the area. Each different area will give you a different toy to play with, and in the sewers we were given an electric bolt gun, which could be used to fry enemies standing in the water. However, there seems to be a big emphasis on player choice here, as Kim states that you could use any different gun to do the same job here. Player choice was a key theme throughout the presentation, as we were also shown other weapons which we could use, like an RC bomb car, which could be used but so could other weapons. This really helps the game adapt to different players, and gives the feeling of individuality to the game. However, the game does seem challenging as Kim himself nearly died in one area, so my concern would be as to whether the game may be too challenging for some players, but this may be editable with difficulty settings.

The games story is somewhat linear, Willet’s described it as “Open but directed”. This means that there will be open areas, as well as side quests and plenty of options for explorers, but there is the story to follow too, meaning it is not truly open world. Vehicles will be the main source of transport between the different areas of the game, which should also have to keep the pace a bit more rapid, especially compared to games like Fallout 3 where you have to walk.

The Fallout 3 comparison will come up a lot when the game is released, I’d bet money on it. The similar themes in the story as well as some similar environments make it somewhat inevitable. However, Willets’ states that the game is not an RPG, which also means no morality system, but is an action FPS, which is where we are likely to see the difference. However, there will be easter eggs from Fallout, as well as Id’s other titles, like Quake, in the game too.

The game is set for a release via Bethesda on September 13th 2011. The game is cross platform for PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac, and is truly cross platform as the different versions have been made from the ground up. The version we were shown was the 360 version. It uses the new Id Tech 5 engine which is exclusive to Bethesda and may be used on some of their upcoming titles. The game will be on two discs for the 360, but the disc change will take place at a logical point in the games’ story where there is a natural break. The game will have multiplayer, but this will not be discussed until next year, and there will also be DLC available.

Rage is a game with lots of good things going for it. The driving combat sections seem fun and exciting, and there is a bit emphasis on the player and their freedom to make gameplay choices. The difficulty of the game is a potential concern, and those who go into the game expecting an RPG will be disappointed. However, I am very excited for the game when it gets released next year. If only the promo shirt they gave out fit me properly.