What's with the hate?

[zipper76]

I have heard nothing but bad stuff about this game. I normally don't let reviews alter my purchasing decisions, but as this game seemed so widely hated, I never bothered to pick it up. Finally earlier this year(Summer Sale maybe?) it was on sale really cheap. I said to hell with it and picked it up, It sat, as most games bought on sale do, unplayed for months.

Fastforward to this morning, and I am itching for a nice single player FPS romp. I install the game, do the couple tweaks mentioned for the high rez textures etc. Not expecting much, I fire the game up. Almost instantly I am blown away by the atmosphere. It has a very Borderlands meets Fallout look to it.

So I;m thinking okay, good looking, so it must be the gameplay that gives it such bad reviews. Then I get to playing, Wheres the bad gameplay? All I am seeing is tight shooting mechanics, fun story, great music, etc. Granted I've only played for around an hour and a half so far(unfortunately work calls), but I have seen NOTHING that could cause the kind of vitriolic discussion that has been spewed at this game. Have I just not gotten to the bad parts?

[kRIEG_elf]

The "Borderlands meets Fallout look" is one of reasons why people hated it, actually. The simpletons thought "this looks the same, so it must be the same!" and were then disappointed that it's not Fallout or Borderlands even though it's a different genre.
Then at the lunch the game was poorly optimized with popping texture everywhere (you can still see it nowadays, but it's very barable)
And the ending is ... not really an ending. Kind of like a two-part film would end. But story isn't supposed to be the main thing after all...

[[NeW]Yuria]

Gotta say, I bought it for $60 on launch and hated it at first because of the texture popping. But I simply love it now.

[xerxeso1]

I LOVE Rage and I just don't believe the bad press from people who don't have the right tool or video card to run this game to the best performance....The Hell with them...

[lionhart]

Originally posted by Aoyagi Aichou:

The "Borderlands meets Fallout look" is one of reasons why people hated it, actually. The simpletons thought "this looks the same, so it must be the same!" and were then disappointed that it's not Fallout or Borderlands even though it's a different genre.

That was the main problem. I had not played Borderlands or Fallout before, and I accepted Rage for what it is: an old school corridor shooter like Doom 3. Actually it is much better than Doom 3; I would say it is one of the best games id Software ever made.

I got Borderlands during the recent sale, just to see what all the hype is about. I put over 50 hours into it; finished the single player campaign plus about half the DLC content, so I think I gave it a fair shake.

I was not terribly impressed. The graphic style is interesting at first, but eventually you realize that every location in the game looks the same and it is all quite ugly, like being inside a cheaply drawn cartoon from the eighties. Rage is much better looking.

The idea that Borderlands has millions of weapons is a joke. Yeah maybe, if you consider 20 shotguns with slighty different damage and accuracy stats to be 20 different weapons. I guess the console kiddies were fooled, but I am a little more discerning. You could even make a case that Borderlands has fewer weapon types than Rage, since it does not have crossbows or nailguns. The shooting mechanics are average at best and seem to be based too much on dice rolls; it is nothing like the pinpoint control you have in Rage.

There are tons of missions, but most of them are repetitive fetch quests. There is only one vehicle and it's boring to drive. There is nothing interesting to see or do in the open world; you just keep fighting the same creatures and bandit gangs over and over, and finding the same loot containers with the same randomized guns inside.

Borderlands does have some really epic boss battles, and I can see how it would be fun to play in co-op mode, but for me the single player experience was underwhelming. I liked Rage much better.

[raidius]

wrong. the problem with rage is the contant game crashes and freezes.

[kRIEG_elf]

@lionhart: Yeah, funny thing... a friend of mine tried RAGE after Borderlands and he stopped in 20 minutes with "Well, it's Borderlands without the fun shooting or the humor". Needless to say, I value his opinions far less since then.

@raidius: I know about 8 people playing the current verion of RAGE on various PC rigs. None of them has crashes or freezes that would be out of the ordinary "once per 4-ish hours of gameplay on average".

[Trapped in Purgatory]

The game was fun but only thing I hated was that the wasteland was big but had nothing in it....wished you could have upgraded more weapons...but the thing I hated the most was the ending....yea..it is one of the worst endings of the ps3/360 era...

[lionhart]

Originally posted by Aoyagi Aichou:

@lionhart: Yeah, funny thing... a friend of mine tried RAGE after Borderlands and he stopped in 20 minutes with "Well, it's Borderlands without the fun shooting or the humor". Needless to say, I value his opinions far less since then.

Borderlands does have some humorous moments, but on the whole the game is not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. The claptrap robots stopped being amusing after about five minutes and just became annoying. And I really did not need to hear the lame one-liners from Marcus and Dr. Zed every time I sold stuff at a vending machine (which I had to do constantly -- I hate it when a game forces you to stop playing every five minutes to sort through your inventory).

[Hilleon]

I liked this game. My major complaint I had was the cliffhanger ending. My minor complaint was the lack of RPG elements.

I hope valve/steam will consider adding TCG, I am a collector.

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Originally posted by lionhart:

Originally posted by Aoyagi Aichou:

The "Borderlands meets Fallout look" is one of reasons why people hated it, actually. The simpletons thought "this looks the same, so it must be the same!" and were then disappointed that it's not Fallout or Borderlands even though it's a different genre.

That was the main problem. I had not played Borderlands or Fallout before, and I accepted Rage for what it is: an old school corridor shooter like Doom 3. Actually it is much better than Doom 3; I would say it is one of the best games id Software ever made.

I got Borderlands during the recent sale, just to see what all the hype is about. I put over 50 hours into it; finished the single player campaign plus about half the DLC content, so I think I gave it a fair shake.

I was not terribly impressed. The graphic style is interesting at first, but eventually you realize that every location in the game looks the same and it is all quite ugly, like being inside a cheaply drawn cartoon from the eighties. Rage is much better looking.

The idea that Borderlands has millions of weapons is a joke. Yeah maybe, if you consider 20 shotguns with slighty different damage and accuracy stats to be 20 different weapons. I guess the console kiddies were fooled, but I am a little more discerning. You could even make a case that Borderlands has fewer weapon types than Rage, since it does not have crossbows or nailguns. The shooting mechanics are average at best and seem to be based too much on dice rolls; it is nothing like the pinpoint control you have in Rage.

There are tons of missions, but most of them are repetitive fetch quests. There is only one vehicle and it's boring to drive. There is nothing interesting to see or do in the open world; you just keep fighting the same creatures and bandit gangs over and over, and finding the same loot containers with the same randomized guns inside.

Borderlands does have some really epic boss battles, and I can see how it would be fun to play in co-op mode, but for me the single player experience was underwhelming. I liked Rage much better.

especially with the "Doom 3" easter eggs seen in-game (Crazy Joe's t-shirt, and its logo on some of the old coffee mugs you pick up)

[Patrol1985]

I'm just like Lionhart - I hadn't played Borderlands or Fallout 3 before Rage so I didn't have any expectations.

Being a long time fan of the whole FPS genre I have to say that RAGE is the best single-player game I have played in my life. It almost makes me want to cry that it wasn't a success I think it definitely should have been. Id Software really put their hearts into it, it's plain to see when you play it.

Also, I have hardware which shouldn't even be able to run the game (according to system requirements, etc.). I have never experienced any problems, game crashing or otherwise, and I have a constantly smooth gameplay. The engine of this game is nothing short of spectacular and it's hard for me to understand why so many people have problems with it. Maybe I was lucky, but I pity those that can't experience how great this game truly is.

[76561198024597418]

First thing: Peace and respect to my Gamers! second: In this day and age of the quick tongued and spoiled younger crowd...you never listen to any persons opinions directly, you extract some of what they are saying and see for yourself. example: I didn't go see a movie because of most peoples opinion, I finally did and it ended up being my most favorite one in history, so in fact that as soon as I left the theatre I bought another ticket to the next showing.

Same for games, people are in too much of a hurry to run and gun and throw out their hate as if they know what their talking about...not appreciating the finer details, time invested, game creation and not to mention $ involved. I just now installed RAGE, I bought it a year ago...I couldn't stand Steam at the time(buy CD, install, play...a thing of the past) But have since caved. Since I own over 318 PC games I have some knowledge of some things old and new...

Not all will be happy,but the happy will conquer all...lol

[lionhart]

Originally posted by patrol1985:

I'm just like Lionhart - I hadn't played Borderlands or Fallout 3 before Rage so I didn't have any expectations.

Being a long time fan of the whole FPS genre I have to say that RAGE is the best single-player game I have played in my life. It almost makes me want to cry that it wasn't a success I think it definitely should have been. Id Software really put their hearts into it, it's plain to see when you play it.

Anyone familiar with the history of id Software should have known that Rage would not be anything like Borderlands or Fallout. They have only ever made one type of game -- first person corridor shooters -- and they do it extremely well.

The best way to describe Rage is that it's like Doom 3 except in a post-apocalyptic setting. In fact Rage is much better than Doom 3; it is the best single-player FPS I have ever played (Far Cry would be a close second).

I agree, it is a damn shame that Rage did not get the respect it deserved when it was first released, although its reputation seems to be improving with the benefit of hindsight.

[Halwith]

Never had a big issue with rage till it ended. then i felt terribly let down. The game ended so suddenly i thought it must have been a interlude at first. WTF ID.

[< blank >]

you are indeed lucky (like me) to have missed most of the issues (which to me are extremely minor for the game itself)... most of the bad news/bad press/stupid banter is from idiots who havent tried the game again since release, also its a unpolished/unfinished game... when considering how most games are (or arent) at there release and even after years of complaints are still garbage. this stands out as being way the hell above the rest...

that said people were expecting something completely different, a complete and polished game that has 0 bugs and issues (not taking into account important factors)...
factors that were the cause of most of the stupidity and bad press, at the root:
1) game was delayed for 1-3 months or so while bethesda was in the process of buying out id
2) game was rushed to meet the release deadline
3) pc version of the game is a PORT from CONSOLE (somehow many magazines/gamer news places missed this part big time)
4) because of the delay and rush release it was never really finished for storyline/areas/quests/etc. (such as was said previously the ending being kinda not finished or satisfying really)
5) also because of delay and rush, the game was not as polished as it normally would be coming from id development... unfortunetly there are a few minor bugs and issues that force tweaking of files outside of in-game menu's all of these being very minor and usually easily fixed.
6) other issues exist from the port since id was pushed/rushed by bethesda after buying out to start work on a different game (probably doom 4, speculation runs wild of course).... these issues include double menu's, extra menu usage, seperate program for multiplayer, sounds not being properly localized in map space (VO in wasted garage being most notable/noticable), and more smaller issues with in-game inventory menus, and finally some things not being included in the HUD such as health/ammo/etc. all the time...

the worst has been the issues progressing from ATI/AMD drivers being ♥♥♥♥♥♥ when trying to run games like RAGE (not a singular instance of these problems but rage bore the brunt), and the obvious (well duh) bits such as not using a non-gaming laptop or computer for trying to play a game like RAGE.

some people cant play the game at all... not sure why, debates run strong still on what the cause is.
but these could easily be fixed IF a) bethesda allowed id, or id themselves devoted some of the staff who worked on the game to fixing the issues, or b) some outside party (fans with the know how and backing) decided to fix it themselves.