QuakeCon, Day 3: Rage

The rest of QuakeCon 2009 can be located here.

The third and final day of the raw collected awesomeness that’s QuakeCon went out with a bang. or more accurately, a post-apocalyptic RC car bomb explosion.  That and a bunch of decidedly non-athletic dudes chucking wobbly dodge balls at each other.

And actually, the dodge ball came first. Teams composed of QuakeCon attendees huddled in sprint formations on opposite sides of the BYOC waiting room, 4 textured rubber spheres delicately balanced in the middle of the duct-taped bordered floor. Whistles went off, and nerds charged. Obviously, no one was hurt. In fact, very little contact was made altogether. Dear readers, it’s my bereft duty to inform you: the clinical gamer seems ill-equipped for actual physical exertion and precision. Despite Jack Thompson’s evidence-challenged arguments, these players were not trained by games to be killers. Quite the opposite, in fact. More than one of them underhanded their shots like crippled grannies. Sad.

Unfortunately, our noble dodge ballers’ 5 minutes of fame was rudely interrupted by a little avalanche of digital glory called Rage, id’s first brand new IP since the late 90’s (every other id game to this point has been either a sequel or an alternate iteration of an existing piece of media). The line to the bolted doors of the main stage just outside the dodge ball area was a pulsing human anaconda of salivating not-so-patient denizens of the PC gaming world. And when the gates opened, the masses stormed the proverbial castle.

After being seated, the crowd was antsy, and we were treated to a brief synopsis of the project as a whole by the boldly pony-tailed Todd Hollenshead while thousands of LED lights flashed behind his iconic visage. After a few minutes passed, he handed off the mic to creative director Sir Tim Willits, and lead designer Sir Matt Hooper (if they’re not actually knighted, they damn well should be).

As anticipations started to crescendo, the duo began to describe the details of Rage’s plot and setting. As the continuity goes, a killer asteroid slammed the earth hundreds of years ago. But, just before the global catastrophe, the governments of the world managed to tuck away certain members of society in cryo-statis chambers named “arks.” You, as the protagonist, are the last surviving member of your ark. You crawl out of the shell and see the planet for the first time since the destruction.

And then, after another painstaking 5 minutes of rather bland synopsis and prologue, the lights finally went dim, and the screens started to flicker. And then Tim picked up his… Xbox 360 controller?! Shame on you id! Typically, at an predominantly PC gaming-populated convent, you don’t whip out a damn console crutch to showcase an A-list title, I don’t care how convenient it is.

However, despite the unabashed kick to the nads in the PC gamer’s controller peripherals department, the world’s first ever look at live-action in-game Rage hit the public like a nuke to the face at 3:43pm, central standard time.  Mouths dropped open, and hushed whispers of amazement floated through the hall like wayward butterflies. Sitting on the two giant jumbo-LCDs hanging over the stage was a scorched desert vista so impressive, even I had to gawk for a moment. These graphics made Crysis look jagged and old school. Photorealism, it seems, is almost close enough to touch. Of course, this is really little to be surprised about; id commonly pushes the graphical reaches of every game they release. But let me tell ya folks, this one’s a beaut.   Never before have I partaken of such an enthralling game engine in the works.

The first detail we watched was a mock interaction with an old prospector-like character inside a crumbling shack on top of the cliff. Carmack had mentioned a few days ago that the devs were hitting the midnight coffee hard to truly create realistic human representations, and from what I could see, he was spot on. The old prospector’s jerky and sporadic mannerisms (such as a nervous tick in his jaw and a huddled stature) added believable nuances rarely seen in games these days. The voice acting was exceptional as well.

After the brief dialogue with the prospector, Willits exited the hovel and promptly decapitated a distant mutant with a boomerang / throwing star weapon called a “wing stick.” He then jumped into a gussied-up dune buggy on steroids and peeled out  towards Wellspring, a nearby settlement. Naturally, he was attacked along the way by some irritable likewise-wheeled bandits. From what I could discern, the vehicle combat pays homage to such classics as Twisted Metal (that’s a good thing). There’s lots of  space to maneuver, but not so much as to allow for complete exploration.

The whole concept of vehicular travel as a major focus in a post-apocalyptic world is enticing.  And unlike games such as Auto Assault, this one’s skill is twitch-based, not mathematical. Also, the developers were quick to point out that this isn’t a GTA rip-off. You can’t just drive any car you see, you have to earn them over time. Vehicles are luxuries in this game, and you have to constantly fight to improve and maintain them.

Anyways, after Willits banged up his adversaries with his roll-bar mounted machine guns, he parked the buggy at the entrance of Wellspring and hopped out. For all those Firefly fans out there, you won’t be disappointed with the design of Rage’s setting and general atmosphere. Rather than go for the much-copied  Fallout series or Mad Max motifs, id went with a more futuristic old west approach. Lots of litter, dirt, and dirty neon lights, and lots of old caricatures, complete with Western twangs in the bystander’s accents. The interior of the Sheriff’s office was adorned with fancy stitched bright fabrics, and intricate carpets along the floors.

As the demo progressed, I watched Willits as he guided RC car bombs into bandit hideouts, built strategic turrets while simultaneously releasing deadly spider-like automatons, and shot through items like wooden boxes and rubber-tired barriers to assail his foes, the materials deteriorating as he did so, but still allowing him cover from fire as well.  I saw a quick  race session (these are necessary for many of the vehicular upgrades and add-ons), a violent jaunt through a mutant-infested fun-house broadcast to the desert’s populace, and a final stand-off between the main character and tentacle-clad imposing behemoth that resembled a Hell knight more than a little bit. Best of all, all this next-gen graphical tech ran silky smooth on a 2.6 dual core and a GTX 285.

In the end, Rage was certainly a sight to behold. There’s no co-op or multiplayer planned at this time (which honestly, I’m perfectly fine with), and Willits confirmed that there won’t be any outdoors fast-travel system, which I’m sure just made Game Central’s Samy choke with… well, rage.

So there you have it. The world’s first look at what appears to be a pretty kick-ass game in the making. in true id form, no word on a release date yet, but Maximum PC’s Will Smith and I both hypothesized it’s likely 2 years out. Here’s hoping for the fast track! QuakeCon ‘09: it was nice knowin’ ya. ‘Till next year!