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Rage
From its debut, Rage has been touted as a carefully crafted single-player experience. As such, followers may be surprised to learn that booth cooperative missions and competitive multiplayer have been integrated into the upcoming release.
That being said, developer id Software feels it has found the sweet
spot that allows for replayability and diversity, without compromising
the campaign it has worked so hard to polish. I was treated to both a
demo showcasing the new features, in addition to face time with id
Software Design Director Matt Hooper. Read on for a breakdown of Rage’s
triple-tiered offering.
Single-Player: The Rage Experience
“At
its heart, Rage is a first person shooter. It is an action game. But
there is this element of open world,” Hooper began when asked to
summarize the thrust of the single-player campaign. “You jump in a
vehicle and you go from place to place and you battle it out with other
vehicles. And then you go back into one of the shooter experiences.
These crafted experiences will always offer something new. Not to
mention we have these traditional weapons, and then we have these
quick-use buttons. With one [button] press you can throw out anything
from a wingstick, to a grenade, to a sentry bot, to an RC bomb car. And
then we have the weapons and the ammo types. There is lots of diversity.
So that is the single-player."
To date, id has focused on
previewing encounters with various clans in the single-player campaign.
An intentionally obscure faction has been held back until now, according
to Hooper. “We talk a lot about diversity. Diversity in the way that
environments look. Diversity in the different bandit clans,” Hooper
continued. “You’ll fight six-foot-tall mutants, 16-foot-tall mutants,
and 60-foot-tall mutants. So there is a lot there. Our final main
faction is the Authority, however. They have a bit more sci-fi to them
and are substantially more difficult to fight. They are sort of
unexpected when the player first runs into them. The player doesn’t have
to relearn how to play Rage, but the Authority will react differently.
Again, it’s about the diversity. Not just about the way the game looks,
but with the way it plays.”
Because the Authority will play such a
large role in the narrative, Hooper was hesitant to divulge much more
about the enigmatic entity. The Authority is key to the story from the
moment you step from the ark, but really makes its presence known in the
latter half of Rage. During my demo the Authority was both felt and
heard, first when I was introduced to Subway Town.
“The first
thing, visually, is that it looks a lot different,” explained Hooper,
comparing it to the familiar hub of Wellspring. “Subway Town is addicted
to electricity. It is built under the city. People are a little more
standoffish. The guy who runs Subway Town is more of a mafia boss than a
mayor.”
From a gameplay standpoint, Subway Town is much the same
as Wellspring, ushering in new missions, new races, new minigames, and
new characters with whom you can interact. The most important mission in
Subway Town will be to win over the aforementioned mayor, Redstone, who
is more likely to sell you out to the Authority than to come to your
aid.
After a quick tour of Subway Town, I was transported to a
prison facility and thrown at the Authority for the first time. The
Authority inherently behaves different from mutants and bandits,
employing tactical precision, taking advantage of the environment, and
communicating with one another. An easy comparison can be found in
Borderland’s formidable Crimson Lance. Expect a challenge.
Dropping
in from the air, Authority troops immediately ran for cover, utilizing
energy shields and other defensive tools. Attempts to ferret them out
with an RC car bomb failed, as they took them out before the gap was
closed. Heavily armored, the Authority made good use of recharge
stations, and special ammo was needed to take the brutes down. The
mission’s context wasn’t provided, but the encounter climaxed with the
player manning a turret, mowing down a surge of Authority
troops.
Co-op: Legends of the Wasteland
“Co-op,
that was a no-brainer,” explained Hooper. “Everybody seems to like
co-op, especially in shooters. We really weren’t sure how we could
integrate it, but we tried it, we liked it, we added split-screen so you
can sit on the couch and play it or play it with someone across the
world.”
Hooper continued by revealing that instead of trying to
force cooperative play into the single-player game, id saw an
opportunity and opted to take advantage of it.
“A good example is
looking at the town of Wellspring,” he continued. “We thought it would
be really cool if bandits took over and you could battle against them.
We couldn’t make it fit in the single-player campaign, but when we
started thinking about co-op campaigns, we said ‘let’s do that.’ And
there is actually one part in the story where someone talks about how
bandits are harassing them, and you have to take them out. So there is a
connection.”
I had a chance to see this particular mission in
action, with a pair of players tasked with protecting Wellspring’s water
supply from bandits by disarming bombs. An indicator made clear where
the companion player was at all times, and the pair was able to revive
each other if need be.
Hooper introduced another cooperative
mission via a line of dialogue from the campaign. In the single-player
offering, the sheriff of Wellspring mentions that his guys have gone to
find plans to build RC bomb cars. “We took that little bit of fiction,
and we fleshed it out. So now you are those guys. You and a buddy get to
take part in this little aspect of the story, which is directly tied to
the single-player campaign.”
The exact implementation of Legends
of the Wasteland is still being worked out. Will all the missions be
unlocked from the beginning? Will they become available as the player
progresses through the campaign? We'll have to wait until a later date
for these answers.
Hooper divulged that weapon loadouts will be
optimized for each mission, in order to further craft that particular
experience. The dev team is also toying around with a scoring mode
unique to cooperative play. At least eight co-op missions with loose
ties to the narrative – including one focused on Mutant Bash TV – have
been promised thus far.
Multiplayer: Combat Rally
Despite
id’s status as a pioneer in the multiplayer arena, it felt a
traditional FPS multiplayer mode wasn’t right for Rage. Rather, id felt
that rally racing would be the best outlet to encourage social play.
“We
like vehicles, and we thought, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if you could jump
in the vehicles and battle it out against other players online?’” Hooper
questioned out loud. “We tried it and we liked it, and we iterated on
it through the design, and then we decided to add it in the game.”
Combat
Rally features dual objectives. The player must speed through rally
points while engaging in serious car combat. Points are divvied out for
both actions, and multipliers are earned for exceptional performance.
New rally points spawn in front of the leader in order to encourage
forward momentum – a constant goal for Rage’s multiplayer.
Other modes were hinted at, such as classic vehicle deathmatch, team rally, and chain rally.
At
least five maps will be available out of the box, and id is aiming for
six player matches. Some degree of progression will be implemented, too,
with novices racing in base level vehicles. As they level up, they will
have access to better weapons, vehicles, and more.
Will any sort
of traditional FPS fodder be included in the multiplayer offerings?
“No, nothing on foot,” confirmed Hooper. “Not for the initial release.”
Bonus: The Rage Anarchy Edition
Capping
off the demonstration, id unveiled a special Anarchy Edition of the
game. The preorder incentive will include a slew of downloadable
content, including a one-handed double barrel shotgun, the Rat Rod
buggy, Fists of Rage, additional underground missions, and most
importantly, the Crimson Elite armor. This armor will provide the player
with the top attributes of all three suits offered in the game, making
them a formidable opponent from the start. As of right now, the edition
has only been announced for North America.
While id stresses that
the single-player campaign is still the meat of Rage, implementing
cooperative missions and competitive multiplayer is a surprising and
ambitious endeavor. The coming months should yield a few chances to test
out both the new modes in detail.
Rage releases for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac on September 13, 2011. Check out a gallery of new screens below.