When RAGE was announced a few years ago, the common consensus was that it was another big, dumb shooter (but this time with cars); another id Software game where the technology was in the driving seat and the game logic and creativity were riding double-barrelled shotgun.

As more cerebral shooters like BioShock and Deus Ex honed into view, those facts turned into worries. Were the Masters of DOOM being left behind?

The closer we get to release, however, the more RAGE - name aside, perhaps - resembles a grown-up id Software game. It's certainly not just a few ideas thrown at a Megatexture in the hope some will stick.

The single-player is big and brash, of course - a run-and-gun set in the aftermath of a Roland Emmerich special effects tornado - but it also boasts an interesting battlefield economy, various ways to customise your approach to combat and an impressive variety of locations and gameplay styles.

various ways to customise your approach to combat

"If you add game variations just to add game variations it confuses people," said one of the designers during the hands-off multiplayer presentation. "People don't know what to play."

Bring on Doom 4

I like that there's a hard core of stubborn people who're pretending how refreshing and nouveaux it is to just have a game where you don't have to think, as if all current FPS games require a masters in neuroscience to play.

Of course, a great-playing game can easily overcome a generic setting, but Rage seems to be lacking the creative risks necessary to achieve the standards of greatness in today's competitive market. id Tech 5 is mighty impressive, sure, but I'm still waiting for Rage to "wow" me.

So what you're saying is, you want all your games to pretend to be RPGs, but you don't want to play an actual RPG because those are for fucking nerds?

how many times you gonna say the same thing?

...it looks like it'll be a typical id shooter (which isn't a bad thing)

I like that there's a hard core of stubborn people who're saying they want something new, but as long as it follows a winning formula and offers something additional. They want their games to progress beyond that which has been done before, as long as it has the same features as games they're most fond of. They don't want a game with vehicles, because Halo already did it. Open worlds? GTA did it. Set in a wasteland? Fallout did it. Hallways and interiors? Done to death. Outdoors? Boring! Pressing "Use" to interact with objects in the world? Please. They don't want a game with shotguns, because Doom already did it..even before Deus Ex had them. They want games with weapon mods, like Mass Effect, but they don't want it to have been done before in any game...like Deus Ex...because it's not fresh. They don't want games with circle strafe because it's been done to death, but since circle strafe is a fundamental movement mechanic/tactic, they'll say that people are missing the point, that it has something to do with "substance" that you'll find in Deus Ex or another game of a completely different genre and completely different feature set from the action game that they're complaining about. And by golly they'll feel vindicated if some guy named Jonathan D Deesing has the same complaints about it! It has to be fresh!

But hey, innovation isn't the be all and end all for them.

Back to the car analogy. Yes, maybe you've drove a car with powered windows, leather seats, cup holders, gps, and auto parallel park. Been there done that. But would you want to go back to driving the Model-T? Or drive the 2011 model with all the bells and whistles and maybe even a new feature or two?

You're so stuck up in your self-righteousness, aren't you?
It's not refreshing or "nouveaux", it's just that the "run-and-gun" type of gameplay didn't suddenly just become obsolete because games with more complex gameplay exist. If you're bored with that kind of thing, fine, but it doesn't mean Rage will be a bad game. Judge it on it's own merits and don't compare it to Deus Ex, because they are aiming at completely different experiences.

I like that there's a hard core of stubborn people who're saying they want something new, but as long as it follows a winning formula and offers something additional. They want their games to progress beyond that which has been done before, as long as it has the same features as games they're most fond of. They don't want a game with vehicles, because Halo already did it. Open worlds? GTA did it. Set in a wasteland? Fallout did it. Hallways and interiors? Done to death. Outdoors? Boring! Pressing "Use" to interact with objects in the world? Please. They don't want a game with shotguns, because Doom already did it..even before Deus Ex had them. They want games with weapon mods, like Mass Effect, but they don't want it to have been done before in any game...like Deus Ex...because it's not fresh. They don't want games with circle strafe because it's been done to death, but since circle strafe is a fundamental movement mechanic/tactic, they'll say that people are missing the point, that it has something to do with "substance" that you'll find in Deus Ex or another game of a completely different genre and completely different feature set from the action game that they're complaining about. And by golly they'll feel vindicated if some guy named Jonathan D Deesing has the same complaints about it! It has to be fresh!

But hey, innovation isn't the be all and end all for them.

I am not twisting words.

You don't seem to realize that I have no horse in this race whatsoever, and I have done nothing beyond making fun of the petty complaints about the game that you and others have made and in particular I'm making fun of the mental gymnastics you guys have been using to justify your opinions when others point out the fucked up logic in your arguments. If your reasons made sense, didn't contradict themselves or didn't seem petty, I wouldn't be mocking you. I am also making fun of people doing the same thing in the Portal 2 thread. And I'm not twisting words there, either.



Really? Then why spend so much time and effort saying that it is?

As a developer, reading the 7 pages of this mindless shit reminds me that there are alot of fickle gamers out there and no matter what we make or offer in terms of features that someone, somewhere will come up with dumb excuses to bash it. You are openly admitting that Rage offers much more than a typical id Software game, yet still cling to your childish approach/excuses to bash it anyways. After several posts of "I want something new" you then comment that innovation isn't really the point, and that somehow I don't get your point.

No shit, Sherlock.

Yes...we get that Rage doesn't interest you as much as other games.

Raging over Rage.

I am only judging you on this thread, but you seem like a massive dick.

Back to the car analogy. Yes, maybe you've drove a car with powered windows, leather seats, cup holders, gps, and auto parallel park. Been there done that. But would you want to go back to driving the Model-T? Or drive the 2011 model with all the bells and whistles and maybe even a new feature or two?

I'm quite aware that your ego wouldh't allow you to let this go. You've done the classic move of running out of breathing room in your arguments to simply calling me an angry dick.

I know...I'm just being a prick.