180°

RAGE: Why old-school is better-school

OXM UK: "The problem with RAGE has nothing to do with the first disc. I left Wellspring wondering whether this was going to be the first game I'd ever give ten out of ten (it had to settle for 8 in my eventual review). I swapped discs and played the first hour of Subway Town leaning forwards, because I wanted to get closer to my TV. RAGE didn't play quite like anything else. And while I hesitate to say "it felt old-school", because that's an obvious knee-jerk response to a game by iD - here's what RAGE did, that I wish modern shooters would do."

dirigiblebill4613d ago

I agree about the static world. There's this assumption nowadays that game environments aren't truly game environments if you can't blow completely arbitrary holes in things, knock chairs over and kick bodies around. None of those things necessarily add anything to the experience, and sometimes all I want to do is look at stuff.

JellyJelly4613d ago

Most games don't do that properly anyways. COD's never done it, and it doesn't look half as good as Rage. And no one bashed it for not doing it either.

It's good when you can have both though. I was surprised by how destructible the environments are in Gears of War 3, and I will probably be even more amazed by BF3.

LightofDarkness4613d ago

Ok, but if the environment is static it should be pretty well detailed, even close up. Rage is not. Rage has lots of custom crafting, true, but virtually all of that attention to detail is lost when you walk up to that wall of trinkets and discover that it's actually more like a child's finger painting observed through a blur filter.

There are very dynamic environments with more detail than Rage on just about every surface. Things look pretty good from a medium to long distance but up close it simply turns to mud. And when your muddy environment doesn't seem to react to anything either it feels incredibly unimpressive, like everything is "just for show" and there's not much to show off.

Larry L4613d ago

I play RAGE on PS3, and I completely agree. RAGE feels completely old-school, and it's the most raw fun I've had with a FPS in a LONG time. When you're out in the Wastelands it kinda has it's own feel. but when I'm in any of the "dungeons", where your mission is kinda "point A to point B" and to just survive, RAGE gives me the same exact feeling and atmosphere of going through levels in the original DOOM. It's often tight with some open areas but always tense. And those DOOM-esque levels are filled with creatures determined on nothing else but raoyally Fing your day up......just like DOOM.

RAGE really is like a masterpiece to me. I absolutely LOVE it. It's EXACTLY what I wanted out of a modern iD game, and I want MORE!!! I really hope RAGE is almost like a trial balloon or test of alot things they want to do in DOOM 4.

Please iD, make sure DOOM 4 is more like Rage, and less like DOOM 3 (though don't get me wrong I loved DOOM 3 too). It's just DOOM 3 almost felt like a first person resident evil. Going through caves and sewers in RAGE, feels like DOOM 1 or 2 for the modern day.

Forbidden_Darkness4613d ago

I agree with you, while the story wasnt anything really even worth mentioning, the gameplay was what kept me going. I loved when the enemies were all up in my face and everything. The guns felt awesome as hell too. This, Resistance (1,3.. 2 was good, but less enjoyable to me then the others) and Crysis (1,2) are my favorite FPSs I've played. Definitely excited for Doom 4 and I've never played any of the others.

Sunhammer4613d ago

RAGE and Batman: Arkham City, the two most technically broken games of the year.

gamernova4613d ago

I raise you one dead island for the PC -.- Oddly enough, I own all 3 of em so I should know lol but batman still hasn't been released for the PC. Gotta wait till November.

gillri4613d ago

I also loved the first disc, the second felt rushed and the endin was terrible

I was setting up a couple of turrets thinking a boss was coming or soemthing epic was gonna happen.....then it ended

4613d ago
110°

Xbox Deals With Gold and Spotlight Sale Discounts – 4th-10th Aug 2020

Neil writes: "Just been paid? Fancy getting a new game added to that backlog of shame? The Xbox Deals With Gold and Spotlight Sale is back with even more discounts on a variety of great Xbox titles. If you've got time in your life for a new gaming experience, the following bargain basement titles are available for your cut-price purchasing between 4th-10th August 2020."

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thexboxhub.com
90°

Rage's Open World Was Intimate & Memorable, Not Another Huge, Empty Sandbox

Rage from id Software and Bethesda Softworks was largely overlooked, yet its handcrafted FPS open world and memorable characters transcend genre convention.

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escapistmagazine.com
Fist4achin1657d ago

I enjoyed the first game. I plan to play the sequel soon!

210°

Here are Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Crysis 2, RAGE & Resident Evil 2 Remake with Ray Tracing

YouTube’s members ‘Digital Dreams’ and ‘Jose cangrejo’ have shared some videos, showcasing Pascal Gilcher’s Reshade mod – which adds Ray Tracing/Path Tracing effects – in some really old games such as Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Crysis 2, RAGE and Resident Evil 6.

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dsogaming.com
traumadisaster1810d ago

I'm still learning how to look for the differences. At first I was focusing on shadows for some reason but I don't think that changes much, is it reflections that change?

rashada071810d ago (Edited 1810d ago )

It is supposed to be simulating how light actually works- so yes if light is reflecting off a surface accurately it should show reflection or an effect that matches what you are looking at in the environment. Next time you play a game look at a puddle of water there may be just a "baked" in texture that if you aren't paying attention seems like it is reflecting but it isn't. I would say though if the light is reflecting more accurately I would think that would give more accurate shadows as well.
I am still not 100% sold on it- it looks okay but I can't get over the hardware price jump for better reflections..

Taz X141810d ago

While games won't look immensely better, it opens up more possibilities overall. Understandably, the price jump is huge. But, that can be said for being at the forefront for any new technology. I'm currently using a 2080ti and while I've played a few games that enable it, the gpu also plays everything else incredibly well so it's not like you're buying this tech for ONLY that option. Enthusiasts will pay top dollar to check out the newest things, but this will eventually become an everyday consumer and by then they'll have optimized and become a lot cheaper.

warriorcase1809d ago

Ray/path tracing can be used how the developer wants it to be. Tracing can be used to calculate shadows/lighting, reflection and even audio, where audio waves are calculated on the bounce off material types to simulate enviroment and echos accuratly.

Should also keep in mind that this ray/path tracing system is different and less accurate option from Nvidias RTX branded type. McFly's is a reshade that layers over the top of the game and therefor the quality will vary drastically. For example you can see nice reflection in the Star Wars demo here but it then introduces colour clipping with the light saber. On a video of GTA 5 for example it was incorrectly projecting a reflection of a red car onto the road which caused a very faint red glow on the ground around the car.

If you want to see a good example of a game developed with ray tracing reflection and lighting in mind then you could look up the youtube video of "Control - Exclusive E3 RTX GAMEPLAY Trailer".

DigitallyAfflicted1810d ago

It supposed to add more realistic light Not actually more light effects and explosions

traumadisaster1810d ago

I hate to say it but I’m fine with fake lights, shadows, reflections. I just kind of like the effect, it’s also great it saves resources for other things.

I’ve been checking out some original Xbox games on x360/x1x and the engine has fake light streaming in through a stained glass window, and I love it even though I know it’s not real time lighting. Heck it even shifts as I move about.

I’ve about convinced my self rt and hdr just doesn’t work for me. Before hdr I would even complain damn why are the headlights killing me they are so bright.

I notice most frame rate, then jaggies, then resolution; with the last two interchangeable depending.

Other day watched an enthusiast rave over 4k and the poor guy was in 1080p. I played the same game the night before and thought wow this is clean, I wonder if it’s 4k, but knew differently and I thought wow even resolution is not always important. The next day he apologized and was surprised he could be fooled.

RaidenBlack1809d ago

EA should have released the Crysis Trilogy Remaster for this gen.

FGHFGHFGH1804d ago

How come the lightsabers don't give off any light? Even in the EA star wars game the guy uses it to light up a dark cave. I guess if it is using frostbite it will support rtx cards.