Id Software's RAGE

Gameplay trailer just dropped.

I enjoyed it - fun, linear but with scope to explore. But the plot did just... stop. And the final boss was just WAVES OF ENEMIES.

But the gunplay, tools and that boomerang were fun!

I find it funny how they're now aping Mad Max (the game) and Borderlands zaniness for the sequel. The first Rage had a weird Fallout crossed with Borderlands vibe that made it feel at least a little bit more separate - but it did feel like a weird off brand Fallout to a point - vaults, evil former Government conspiracy types with advanced tech, mutants that are huge, raider tribes etc.

And lo and behold - they have the Mad Max devs involved! So makes sense it has the same look as Mad Max now....

Oh, gameplay:

edited 15th May '18 7:49:45 AM by JerekLaz

Weirdly enough, I've seen a Vocal Minority of people responding to Bethesda's twitter who seem to genuinely, unironically think the first game was excellent.

Note that I'm not bashing people who like the game with that statement - I think we can all agree that it had its positives and negatives - I'm talking people who are expressing disappointment at the new direction because the first was "a beautiful and atmospheric experience" and that RAGE 2 is "completely missing what made the first one great." I mean, like I said, we can all agree RAGE had its positives and negatives - but I thought that the bland, grey-and-brown artstyle and boring, cliched-to-high-heaven story were universally held in the latter category.

Then again, I'm one of those freaks who liked Saints Row more when it was a semi-serious gangland comedy, so who am I to judge.

edited 15th May '18 6:51:41 PM by Dirtyblue929

Weird, I remember way back in the day people hated RAGE. Of course there was good parts of it but people still hated it really bad nevertheless

Same. Hell, I honestly kind of hate it, I just notice there's some people here and elsewhere who sorta liked it -ish, so I try to temper my disdain for it while discussing this sequel.

I can get the hate. The game was clearly well funded at the FRONT end (John Goodman, intricate levels etc) And then as you went through it just got shorter and more cobbled together - fewer set pieces and more arenas.

Ultimately it just dwindled away - the gameplay was solid, but the rest was fairly generic.

I'm looking forwards to seeing how they play this one out, seeing as we don't seem to be playing a "vault guy" anymore. So hoping we have more attachment to the world overall.

So is the actual game going to have a full on Andrew W.K. soundtrack? Because that would be pretty cool.

I dunno, it looks good so far, the tone is far lighter and more irreverent than the Real Is Brown of Rage 1. Maybe they can do something with the concept besides it sputtering out and coming to a stop.

That was my only real problem with Mad Max as well - lots of brown. Beautiful game, but VERY brown. A reminder of Stank Gum's neon goons is there in the Pink Spray. I wonder if this is being done as a bit of a spiritual successor to the Mad Max game but using the RAGE Universe... as it means not welding "mad max" or Rage to Fallout.

I remember back then in 2000's being extremely hyped for Rage, but the eventual release... ehh.

They should've left it to rot still. So when I saw this and the trailers, all I felt is pure cringe.

Just why? Why?

Edit: okay I completely changed my mind. I'm looking forward to this game actually! It looks promising. This and DOOM Eternal too!

Edited by Dhiruxide on Jan 11th 2019 at 2:34:26 PM

The original Rage was brown.

This one is Borderlands and Sunset Overdrive had a baby.

"That was my only real problem with Mad Max as well - lots of brown. Beautiful game, but VERY brown."

That was Executive Meddling. Just Cause is anything but brown.

edited 16th May '18 1:22:48 PM by AnotherGuy

On one hand, Borderlands 2 was a fun makeover and proved you can take something generic-looking and infuse it with a wild, colorful aesthetic and better voice-acting to make it great.

On the other hand, making something sillier when the original was grittier has been known to backfire - see Saints Row and Agents Of Mayhem.

Ehhhh, the former is something of a matter of debate.

Agents of Mayhem is the logical conclusion of Saints Row increasing wackiness & it bombed with the its dev studio suffering lay-offs.

I'd say that The Third maintained a relative & I mean "relative" balance that only got skewed & worsened by the time the Boss became president.

I liked SR in 2, as it had some comedy, a la earlier GTA games, but had some real dark moments that weren't just played for sadistic laughs - the whole scene withe the Monster Truck, the dragging of your Morality Pet junior ganger. Before we got Gat as a Memetic Badass.

Ao M lost its grip because we didn't have The Boss, who was the anchor for the rest of the zany characters - the player Avatar. Beyond that it was a story driven MOBA really.

Also, remember when BL was first announced, it wasn't Cell Shaded and was a lot grittier... and brown.

I hope they don't eject everything about RAGE 1. I hope we get at least some resolution to that crappy end plot, or at least a chance to meet that ruddy elusive general character. But I have faith if Avalanche are involved. Mad Max was amazing, Just Cause is fantastic fun. But if we can get some of the grittiness of Rage 1 alongside this quirkiness, then all to the good.

Thread necro but I just wanted to inject some life in here with this here trailer (2 months till the game is released!)

"You’re not just Walker, the last Ranger.You’re a Wasteland Superhero!

Using your arsenal of powerful weapons and hi-tech nanotrite abilities, you’re going to wreak havoc on the baddies lurking throughout RAGE 2. While they are super powerful on their own, you’ll get maximum damage by pairing those weapons and abilities for crazy combos that will knock the socks off* (*absolutely obliterate) anyone that stands in your way. The Authority doesn’t stand a chance!"

For me in this game I'm gonna like a lot, it's the grav-dart gun. It's essentially a very weaponized gravity gun if it shot flechettes that have strong gravitational pull on trigger! I just see so many applications with it... like turning barrels into ballistic boulders of sort. I hope you can lob them across the map.

Edit: oh yeah, the voice at beginning is that of General Cross, the unseen leader of the Authority from RAGE 1 (and based on what he looks from distance, he might be a heavily armored cyborg). In the sequel he will have a far more expanded role (and hopefully, be able to fight him). Based on what he said it seems the Authority has been dormant and now they're about to commence the "cleansing" (most likely wipe everything off Wasteland that's not Authority). And then it stops there and trailer showcases wacky hijinks you can do

Another edit: oh yeah the game is apparently a Bethesda Launcher exclusive. Wtf?

Edited by Dhiruxide on Mar 15th 2019 at 8:45:10 PM

Bethesda... LAUNCHER?

Please say that's some sort of in game weapon?

No?

Ehhh it'll be on console for me, so meh. I'm glad we get to resolve that hanging thread. Rage 1 ended with all the ARKS waking up, so wonder how THAT's being handled in game. And if we find out what happened to the protag of game one.

Cos fending off waves of mooks wasn't very "final boss" - and was distinctly un-ID-like.

Looks fun as hell, but I am getting a biiiiit tired of massive open worlds now. They're just so.... massive. And open. With FILLER. But it being FPS and with vehicles helps (Far Cry wore me down a bit)

Yes, Bethesda Launcher. Not a weapon even tho it would be funny to have a buggy weapon in the game (but seriously, fuck that decision)

I agree but I'm sure they'll handle the open world aspect just fine. What worries is me is vehicular combat and driving, I read previews where people said it's not all that good but everything else is ok. I hope they have that fixed/improved since.

That said, we get to finally drive the Authority Predator this time around after serving as late game enemy vehicles in previous game. I like such sleek high-tech looking vehicles

Edited by Dhiruxide on Mar 19th 2019 at 4:00:55 PM

That's good! As for overall driving - the Mad Max game was at its best with vehicle combat, for the most part. The convoys were great once you got the hang of cycling between harpoons, flamers and out right ramming, although you could pinwheel off too much.

I like the look of how OTT the combat seems, compared with the slugfest that the Far Cry games devolve into (Stealth stealth stealth SHOOTY BANG time)

And you get to do the same in RAGE 2! First take care of the escorts then pop few missiles in the big rig and watch it topple over and explode! Heheheh. Gotta watch out for "energy net barrier" vehicles tho, ones that put electric arc trap barriers as you chase them. Imagine chasing Authority convoys, that would be endgame stuff, especially if they're those triangular flying carriers

Also, Klegg Clayton is too funny for me to hate him. I'd still stick dozen grav-darts up his ass if the game allowed me to (well I am not sure if the game will give you the opportunity to kill him) but his stupidity and hamminess made me chuckle watching the preview builds

I agree about what you said about combat. RAGE 1 isn't a necessarily bad game but it feels rather "tame". This is like DOOM, Bulletstorm and Mad Max melted and fused together! Speaking of Far Cry, I lol at how someone put Dueling Works trope on both Rage 2 and Far Cry New Dawn trivia pages

Edited by Dhiruxide on Mar 19th 2019 at 4:58:53 PM

Working through Far Cry 5 I was considering New Dawn... but it'd be more of the same. At least with Rage 2 it has a more eclectic and exciting feeling.

Plus I want to finish the ruddy PLOT. Rage left me hanging!

I do hope we get another gigantic mutant as well. Mostly I'm just looking forward to getting the bomerang back. That was always fun, blasting mutants and then throwing that as your ran out of ammo, buying yourself some reload time.

And the turrets were fun - scrambling for salvage to build more... I am excited for this, at least as long as it doesn't have the usual HUD overlay which impacts immersion. Ubisoft games do that - everything has a bloody tool tip hovering over it.

Did they get John Goodman's character back? Or only a few of the original folks?

They said there will be a mix of old and new characters. Loosum Hagar and Anton Kvasir are returning characters. Cross kinda doesn't count since he was just a voice in previous game and I'm not sure if we'd run into Nicholas Raine anywhere in the game. Dan Hagar's return kinda doesn't seem likely...

Yeah I want a lot of plot points resolved. Like what happened after Raine did the thing at the end of previous game. He was at the HEART of Capital Prime and he might've crippled Authority forces somehow if we go by Cross's speech (taking years to lick their wounds and recuperate and come back stronger).

Yep, the gigantic mutants are here! Some regular (one example being a pet of Klegg Clayton and sharing his awful taste in clothing and hair) and some with cybernetic upgrades (like the one in Wasteland Superhero trailer having laser eye beam). I am most interested in General Cross bossfight. I hope he's like the Makron from Quake IV since I believe he's no longer human anymore, being a cybernetic monstrosity in a suit of powered armor.

Edited by Dhiruxide on Mar 19th 2019 at 5:19:13 PM

Double post but https://twitter.com/bethesda/status/1110225138979651584

"We’re pleased to announce that RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal will be released on Steam as well as https://beth.games/2Mhhqoi . We will also be bringing Fallout 76 to Steam later this year"

That's nice.

Yeah, I just saw the Steam page. Didn't realize it was even in doubt.

Interesting - probably realised their own store front wasn't wide ranging enough post Fallout 76 to get PC sales interest.

Which is good as it shows PC is being valued as a platform.

That or Steam has started to do some back room deals of its own...

Some new gameplay footage from PAX East 2019.

Okay so things in the video, devs are showing off abilities you can use, combos with abilities and combos with weapons as well. You can experiment all you want and just be incredibly cruel about it. You can actually use rifle melee to toss a grenade back at the enemy as well (first time seeing that in FPS. Half-Life 2 doesn't count because you don't use butt end of MP 7 to knock the grenade back)

Grenade hot potato??? The goons are idiots to try to bat away a vortex grenade tho

Thoughts? I like all that I see. And the sheer cruelty against goons (and devs fetish for tossing them off cliffs as well). Grav dart gun is still gonna be sweet to use.

Edit: ok ok ok I didn't finish watching the vid as I posted this but when the presenter spawned the Icarus (a hover bike vehicle thing) and when he boarded it he got run over by another vehicle and died. Such a goof XD

Edited by Dhiruxide on Mar 30th 2019 at 7:13:51 PM