Writing Process

I have none. OK, that's a somewhat of a lie. Sometimes I get a notebook, a pencil, and I start writing down what I think about to a particular subject. For example, In the RAGE review I started to write the review and doing some manual count of the words, which ended up somewhere between 600 and 650 words. It was detailed, but from reading it I could still remember in the back of my mind that there is still some things that need to be addressed. So I took another notebook and began to write it again. Some sentences that was in the original draft ended up being in the new one. One of the best thing about doing that is while I'm writing the obvious stuff, my mind is going back to the more subtle stuff. The stuff that slips past your mind. The final draft has about 1306 words not including the subtitles for the paragraph breaks. On my twitter account a while back ago, I said that it would be an accomplishment to me if I write anything with 1000 words on it. I'm not sure what happened, but I always get past that. So far there is one that is not near 1000 words and that's the "Let me talk, Damn it!" writing.

WRITE WRITE WRITE

I try to do this, but fail

Obviously, that plan to write it all down on paper first doesn't really pan out most of the time. The overviews of Metal Gear Solid series and Dino Crisis had all been written on paper weeks before they were released on websites. On twitter, once again, I wrote that paper before internet. That is me somewhat lying to myself. There are a few things I wrote where I just wing it. "Do we really need a new generation of consoles?" and "Power of character" was all just something that popped in my head. I wrote and released it. The one thing that need to do is proof read everything. I notice mistakes hours after I post them and they are a few. I'm sure my grammar is not that great, and I tend write words twice. "Inconsistent graphics and, and story downplays this game" noticed the two ands in that sentence? I didn't notice it until hours after it was released. I could go back and fix it, but I'm afraid I might mess something up. My mind thinks of something before my fingers can react so that will lead me into sentences that will skip a word. I'm sure there are a dozen more I'm not noticing. To me all of this is learning. I need to learn myself to read each one carefully before I release it.

DID YOU SEE THAT

Expect a few They Might Be Giants  Subtitles

Surprisingly, the one that takes quite a bit of time is writing the subtitles for the paragraph breaks. It's something I use to make it look like chapters. I don't like a wall of texts and I'm sure that there are others like me that feel the same way. It's something I do when finished writing whatever I'm talking about. When making titles I scan through what I wrote and think of a line that will accommodate it. Whether from the top of my head, song titles, or song lyric. What ever fits. I had quite a bit of trouble from "Power of the Character" for the first subtitle. "I'm good with what you said" I have no idea why that is up there. It doesn't make much sense about the Bioware dialogue wheel.  But after finding the other two, I wanted to keep that theme going. So I just went ahead and used it. I tired so hard not to put Jurassic Park references in the Dino Crisis Overview, but I just went ahead in did it. So instead of saying "Hold On To Your Butts" or "Clever Girl" I just used lines that fit and wasn't so known. Sure the "They're Moving In Herds" is known, but what about the other three? Those are just random ass lines from Jurassic Park. In my earlier stuff I really didn't do it, but I felt that I should. I think the last time that I didn't do this was the Resident Evil 4 Review. I'm not sure why I didn't do it. I think because at the time I was thinking that this would be the only place that would have it. Like always that didn't pan out.

BEFORE LATER ON

Don't ever expect this

Lastly, I find pictures that fits what the picture will be at. This is the easiest thing to do, but looking for that right one does take a few minutes. I have to make sure they fit of what's beside, below, or above of what I wrote. I have to make sure that it's small enough, but big enough to make it viewable and not just something that you can barely see. What makes it hard is that other websites has different ways to post a picture. You can simply put ["img][/img"] and be done with it. It does get annoying, but I got over it quite quickly. I also write subtitles that relate to the photo.

It's not much, but it's a learning process. I hope little by little I get better and start handing some of these out. I don't have much to do and I hope to change that in my own terms. My original plan was to write something down each week, but now I'm writing something close to everyday. My biggest fears is that I will no longer have anything to write about. Sure, I can write a review, but for me that comes far and few between. I don't want this to only be reviews. When worst comes to worst, I can always do another Overview. Those turned out to be fun to do.

Power of the Character

You load up a game for the first time. You've been pretty excited about this game for awhile and even though you know the main character by the trailers released, you really don't KNOW the character. You know the name, the way they have looked, and the way they have interact with people. That is when the known ends. What you don't know is your own choices. RPGs and MMOs are known for allowing the player to become their own character. You pick a sex, pick a race, and pick a class. You think that would be it, but no. Your decisions are just starting. What you say or do in a game will last til the game is over. Every choice you made till that final confrontation is in line with what you think that character is. Even when they show a sequel to a game, you know that character and what he or she did. Not anyone else. You. So when you see a trailer to a RPG you see your character. He or She may look different, but it's still your character.

I'M GOOD WITH WHAT YOU SAID

Black or White? You Pick.

What makes a character our owns anyway? Is it the stats? The way to communicate with NPCs and team members? Who said that we can either be bad or good? Does it have to be black and white? One of the things that Bioware is known for is their dialogue wheel. In the dialogue wheel you talk to someone and they respond back. In Mass Effect for example. Here you have up to three choices (up to 5 or 6 if your stats are good enough) and they each have a different way to say things. The setup is like a dial. The up dial is the positive response. It is here where you get Paragon points where you become a little more like a hero. The central dial is the neutral response. Here, you are not so good and not so bad. It's here were where your choice really don't make much of an impact. The down dial is the Renegade response. Here you say something hurtful or if someone didn't improve. Doing so will lean you towards the "bad" guy. The other two is just for show, it allows you to have another thing to say even though it won't matter in the end. The results, no matter what you choose, will be the same. Even with all that choices, you still really didn't make a choice at all. Sure, in Mass Effect you make a choice between saving Ashley or saving Kaiden,  comment genocide, or kill Wrex. All those choices do play into Mass Effect 2, except not commenting genocide. But, is that it? Ashley or Kaiden wasn't in Mass Effect 2 long enough to make me feel like I really did something important. If I talked Wrex out of the situation and not killing him, why is he in such a small role in Mass Effect 2? In order to make sure we FEEL like we did something that matters those surviving characters will need to have a bigger role to do in Mass Effect 3.

LIFE'S JUST A MOOD RING WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE.

What Dragon Age: Origins did so well was taking that wheel away. There are no good or bad answers. What you had was your own thoughts and your own feelings to deal with. Instead of having a choose between good answers and bad answers, you listen to what they have to say. It's not clear if you actually made the right choice til it's too late. While it's super easy to make the right choices in Mass Effect, it's that much harder to in Dragon Age: Origins. I don't say Dragon Age II because they added the Mass Effect dialogue wheel into the game.

What about the characters that is already made for you? Are they our own and do we put ourselves into them? Yes. It may seem strange that Solid Snake or Zelda are our own feelings, but think about this. In most games today you are giving the choice to do whatever you want. While there is no dialogue wheel or customization of the characters. You are giving the choice to act upon actions. Want to beat Metal Gear Solid without a single life lost? Is that you making your own Solid Snake, or is that something that the game makes you do. You can say that it's something that the developers have originally intended, but what about the amount of weapons the game has? We can play a game anyway we like. In doing so, not only are we focused on the tasks at hand, but we see ourselves in the character we are portraying. We are the actors of this medium. We act on our actions.

AS IF BY HIDDEN SIGNAL 

We only guide him. Nothing more

There are a games out there were we have no choice, but to act. God Of War, where you play as Kratos. A fallen Warrior who seeks revenge whenever he can. You do this, you do that, but the one thing that remains the same is the killing. You have no choice BUT to kill. It's the way the character is and the way the story is laid out. In the Call Of Duty games you play as several characters through war, but instead of questioning the acts of war, you just go out do some stuff and kill. You can't abandon the mission or wonder if this was right. They had a chance to do that in Modern Warfare 2, but it all came back to revenge. Like God Of War Call Of Duty has a one mind focus on the tasks. You are not there to think about characters, you are there only to go out and fight. The difference between God Of War and Call Of Duty is the characters and settings. In my opinion Kratos is a much better character than any of the characters in the Call Of Duty games. That's mainly because we know a great deal about Kratos throughout the series. Instead of focusing on what's unknown by us. The team at Santa Monica Studios took Kratos and make him a flawed character. Sure we have no choice of the actions, but the actions of what we have seen before we take over gives him that edge that games like Call Of Duty lack. What if we never saw why Kratos is in a revengeful path. What if we never knew that he was tricked by Ares on to killing his family? Would we view Kratos differently as just another thug, or do we add our own back story.

I feel the best characters in games today has that sense of our own actions. Any character that allows us to add our own personality and our own actions is far more interesting than any thing else. While there are a few great characters in gaming that we really can't control like Kratos. We can just guide him into whatever path that is there. Enjoying it as the same way we enjoy any Show or Movie can do.

OVERVIEW: Dino Crisis

A young scientists has been researching on a promising new form of Clean Energy, before he could make an extraordinary discovery the government decides to discontinue his funds. In a last ditch effort to prove everyone wrong, he did one last experiment. The research was called The Third Energy. After a critical error the lab exploded killing Dr. Kirk. Or so they thought. Years later there had been reports that Dr. Kirk is very much alive and is now at an secret lab in the middle of an island, continuing his research. Now a group of Elite Special Agents has to go in and extract him.

Dino Crisis was released for the Playstation in 1999. Created by Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series, Dino Crisis took everything about Resident Evil had and just replaced Zombies with Dinosaurs. Everything in this game is pure Resident Evil. The controls. The camera. The horror. In Resident Evil the zombies are slow and they would just shamble along, easy to run past. Their are a few monsters that are fast but, at least of my remembrance of the classic games, it was not much. In Dino Crisis the Dinosaurs are faster and smarter. They can whip their tail to knock you down. Then they would jump up top and try to kill you. It's much harder to run away from a Raptor than a zombie. Ammo is limited and it takes more ammo to kill one dinosaur than to one zombie.

Regina and Jill Valentine
should be in a game together

 I OWN AN ISLAND

The team that is brought to the island to retrieve Dr. Kirk is a small cast of characters. Cooper, Rick, Game, and the character you will play as, Regina. Cooper is a field expert, Rick is tech support, Gale is team leader, and Regina is the weapon specialist. When they arrive Cooper is missing and instead of waiting for him they head to the lab. Once they arrive they see that the place is empty. As Rick heads to the control room, Gale and Regina scouts the area. Upon searching they see a body on which it is ripped to shreds. Gale and Regina decides to split up and she finds the first puzzle.

Puzzles in this game is varied, but all have the same pattern. Some is simple and some not so simple. The easiest one is the first few. Line colors here, black out the letters there. As time goes on it becomes harder and much more bigger. The Key card Puzzles are the hardest of the game. It requires you to write down the letters and crack a code. It's simple enough and it does get longer. Taking notes is a big part of this game. If someone that never played Dino Crisis before will think you were just doodling. If someone that has played Dino Crisis knew what it was. Taking notes in games is downright gone now. The other lost ability was getting lost. Sure, you can get lost in a new game, but before you release what to do next a arrow will point to your next location. It something that I actually missed. It was rewarding to find that hidden room or key card that continues the game.

THAT DON'T LOOK VERY SCARY

After solving the first puzzle, you come face to face with the first dinosaur, the Velociraptor. The Velociraptor just looks at you and when it's about to attack running down the hall can be both frustrating and thrilling. Because it's got the same controls from Resident Evil it's kind of hard to run in a straight line. You keep, or at least I kept, bumping into walls. If you do manage to run straight with the raptor right behind you, it's thrilling and nerve racking.

You are pretty much fucked

When you leave the area you will come upon a loading screen just like in Resident Evil. However, unlike Resident Evil the raptor can jump clean over the fence causing you to run again. Simply leaving the room won't help you. If you happen to be inside they will just burst through. Sometimes a dinosaur will just jump out of nowhere and they will attack you. In order to escape the Danger Zone (song in your head now) you would need to push all the buttons as fast as you can, kind of like quick time events before that became a mainstay. If the dinosaur shoves you you, you can lose your weapon and you would need to pick up it up again. There's no quick select, you you would need to go to the menu, get your weapon, load up any ammo you have, and hope for the best. Where in Resident Evil Stop, Aim, and Shoot is fine, in Dino Crisis it's not. The dinosaurs are much to fast for that. I can get the technology at the time was limited, but if they ever bring back Dino Crisis, the Stop, Aim, Shoot aspect of the game has to go. It just does not fit in the world of Dino Crisis.

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?

Another thing that is like Resident Evil is the inventory. You can only hold so much. Each item has a limit and that limit is small, depending on the difficulty. In order to store each stuff there is emergency boxes. There are three types of boxes. Red, Yellow, and Green. Red for Ammo, Green for health, and yellow for a both. There is a catch though, you would need emergency plugs. Emergency plugs allows you to open a box and take what you need to that particular color. The upside to it is that when it becomes open, it stays open. Another downside is that they are more rare than ammo and health. Like everything else, the emergency plugs also has a limit to what to carry.

I did jump at the scene the first time through

THEY'RE MOVING IN HERDS.

Besides Raptors, there is a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Compsognathus (or Compys), Therizinosaurus, and Pterodactyls. All the dinosaurs will kill you and they each have a way to avoid and kill them. It's beset to keep a look out and be careful because you you may never know what might attack.

Dino Crisis is just Resident Evil and Jurassic Park in a blender. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. Capcom also released two sequels. Dino Crisis 3 was so bad that we have never heard from another game again. In the copy that I have it comes with a bonus disk, The Resident Evil 3 demo. Not only is it better than Dino Crisis it controls better despite the fact that it's the same classic Resident Evil controls.

Let me talk, Damn it!

I tried really hard to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It's a very well made game and their are a few things that I like about. The choice you have is it's biggest bullet point and it makes good on that. So why does it feel like I have no choice?

FLEETING OPTIONS.

I am not going to claim I am a Deus Ex expert. I never had the opportunity to play the original when it was released. It's one of those games that is loved to an undying degree, kind of like how fans of Final Fantasy sings nonstop praises to Final Fantasy VII. I don't get it and if they like it, what am I to do? Nothing.

When Deus Ex: Human Revolution was announced fans of the original game started to get worried. Can it live up to the original without being like Deus Ex: Invisible War? I can't say. What I do know is that there is a lot to like and a lot to hate. Out of everything this game has to offer there is something that just makes me wish it had more of. Talking. This is a Stealth/Action game. As a Stealth game, it's pretty damn good. It's the first FPS game that does stealth right, in my opinion. As an action game, it's all right. You don't get enough ammo and it's very easy to die. When you have plenty of ammo and you have to use force, it's pretty awesome. OK, You don't HAVE to use force. The option is still there. When I played the game I try to sneak my way through everything trying to avoid a fight whenever I can. I knock out guards and drag them into a room or in a vent that I have found. It's all fun. That is until I lost interest. I don't know if it's because I don't care about Adam Jensen, Sarif Industries, or the story itself. The more I try to play it, the more I don't care about it. Then I realized something, what made the first couple of hours amazing was the conversations.

Talking is more engaging than anything else in the game

A NEW STANDARD ON WHICH TO TALK TO PEOPLE

I really like how Dialog is handled in this game. You have several choice and try to use what they said and what they are feeling against them. I had to talk to a bartender to try to find someone. After pressuring him a bit he finally told me what I needed to know. I didn't sneak around, I didn't go into a gun battle. I did nothing but talking to the bartender and that was far more rewarding than just simply walking past guards. I used my brain more in the conversations than I did with sneaking and shooting. It would have been amazing where you can talk your way into everything. Will you tell the truth or will you allow your contacts to help you. Instead of sneaking around, have your tech partner hack into the systems and just add your name in. If I can hack into top secret files easily, why can't he?

I only did this once in the time I played the game

Instead what we got was a Stealth/Action game. In a game where choice is king, it's such a shame we can only pick two options; Stealth and Action. If it was up to me I think adding that conversational gameplay is also included. Just not when the game feels like it. Do we go in guns blazing? Do we go in sneaking past guards? Do we just walk up to someone and talk our way past the checkpoints? The choice is up to you on how to tackle each room. Three options. Three ways to play the game.

CHOICE, CHOICE, CHOICE

Even if the talking fails, you still have two more options at your disposal. Talking failed? Fine, let me find a way in. Stealth failed? Fine, let me hide and/or fight my way out. But as it stands. I get seen, I die. End of story. The End. It reminds me of Splinter Cell. You mess up too many times and it's game over. In Metal Gear Solid if you are seen you are pretty much screwed, but at least there is a chance to escape. In neither Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Splinter Cell that chance is gone. It's all trail and error.

I did do a lot of this.

Does that mean the game is terrible? No, it does not. It's an amazing game that I can't get into. It's kind of a contradiction for me to be saying this. How can I not like a game, even though it's well made? It remind me of Demon's Souls. Another well made game that I can't get into. No matter how hard I try. Ten minutes into the part I'm at, I can't get into it and it all starts feeling like a chore. I can see why people like it and it deserves the praise it gets, but it's just not for me.

I'm not ready for Next Generation.

THIS IS THE PART WHERE I MAKE A LOST REFERENCE 

Nintendo first announced the Wii in 2004 and I'm sure that is what lead the race to the new Generation of Consoles. A year later, not only did the Wii was officially shown, but Sony showed of the Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. 2005 was the year the 360 came out and it was released with one of the worst things that could happen to a new system. The breaking down of consoles, Something that is currently happening with the Playstation Vita, once the 360 becomes too hot it will break. This forced Microsoft loosing a lot of money in damages. It wasn't until a year later where they made another model of the system. Even with the new model the failure rate was still pretty high. 

 
This was a common sight for the first 2 years. 

Sony, on the other hand, released the PS3 a year after the 360 with an unbelievable price point. $600. That is way to high for a console. The other problem Sony had with the PS3 was that the PS2 was still selling like crazy. The library the PS2 has was phenomenal and they still had games coming out for it. Persona and God of War II being the last games it had. Sony killed the PS2 almost 3 years after the PS3 was released. Now, after some time has passed, you can buy it less than half the original price. Not only that, along with the 360, it's been better built. Some mistakes was corrected and the price is just right. 

 
Not only the price dropped, we got more gigs for memory. 

When it came to HD Nintendo was dead last. They were just using a slightly updated version of the Gamecube's graphic chip. The games looked better, yeah, but it didn't look like anything the 360 and PS3 was doing. So instead of focusing on that, they looked at the way to play the game. Hence forth, the Wii-Mote. Motion control was on it's way, but will it last? 

That was a resounding yes. I don't think anybody, outside of Nintendo, had any idea that this would change gaming. The way it handled and the way it allowed other people to join in on the fun. At it's peak the Wii was everywhere. You could not escape from it. But there was something missing. Besides Zelda and Mario, it didn't have that third party support to reward all the hardcore gamers that has been with them from the very beginning. It did have No More Heroes, MadWorld, House Of The Dead: Overkill, and the Resident Evil lightgun games. But it wasn't enough. Where are the Halos, Gears of Wars, Uncharteds, and Metal Gear Solids? This is something that I hope the Wii-U can do. 

 
Don't expect these people to be playing House Of The Dead: Overkill 

THE FUTURE PRETTY MUCH LOOKS THE SAME 

The Wii-U could come late this year. It's doing what a next generation game console should do.Upgraded graphics, new accessories, and a new way to play the game. While a new way to play the game is certainly is new, everything else however is not. Sure, they showed off the controller on last year's E3. Yes, everything from that video was impressive, but is it enough to call it a Real Next Gen system? 

Last year's E3 showed off a video showcasing what the Wii-U's controller can do. From the demo alone it looks fantastic. Using it as a second screen for menus, maps, and even as something for aiming. The other cool thing that can do is the ability to use the screen as a main screen away from the TV. As someone you know watches TV you can use the controller to continue playing the game. 

 
Looks Stunning 

Even when they are showing off the Controller's capabilities, they even showed off some of the big title games they will have. And unlike the first Wii this system will support 1080p HD graphics. To show this off they used footage from the PS3 and 360 games. Games include Batman: Arkham City, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Darksiders II, and Metro: Last Light. To keep that WiiU twist each game will, theoretically, allow the use the controller in exciting ways. It's all very exciting. So, why do I want Sony and Microsoft ignore all of this? 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEW AND OLD 

Because they are still trying to capture that audience the Wii has had for years. The WiiU is just a HD gaming platform. Is that a bad thing? No. I would love to see a Mario and Zelda HD game. I think games like that would make the game feel more alive than ever before. The Wii U, to me, is just away to capture that "hardcore" crowd. It's Nintendo's way of coming full circle. They started the motion controller craze. Sony and Microsoft used it. One half, Nintendo is following the footsteps of the other companies. The other, Apple and what they are doing to the iPhone. 

Then it raises another question, should Microsoft and Sony start a new Generation of consoles because Nintendo is coming out with a new console? 

WHEN IT'S PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING 

I don't think so. As I have said before the WiiU is just a HD gaming platform. Besides the controller they aren't doing anything new. Even Reggie Fils-Aime has said that they are not trying to up the PS3 and 360. So why should Sony and Microsoft? It would be pretty useless to release the Move and Kinect when it would be more cheaper to release it with the new generation of consoles. When Nintendo released the Wii they didn't have a motion controller for the Gamecube. While I don't think Move and Kinect are really impressive, giving the right amount of time and more practice with the hardware Sony and Microsoft really doesn't have to release a new console right now. Just let Nintendo do what they do. If Sony and Microsoft does decide to make a new console, it will just take the cues that Nintendo does and do stuff of their own. It's all a See and Copy. Microsoft and Sony is copying Nintendo with their motion control with the Kincet and Move, Nintendo is copying Sony and Microsoft with their HD and Online. Fair trade. 

 
No matter how you look at it, the Wii did it first. 

I'M NOT READY 

I don't think that anyone is ready. Naughty Dog, the developer of the Uncharted and Jak & Daxter series, have came out and said that they are afraid of the Playstation 4. During their initial time with the PS3, they have said that they had the darkest days the company has had since. It payed off at the end, but it took years to figure out all the quirks the system had. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune looks great. Uncharted 2 and 3 looks even better. It took years to figure that system out and it would not make much sense to have to start all over. The same can be said with the 360. The 360 is just a more advance version of the original xbox, but teams like Bethesda and Epic knows how to make use of the system and make use of it amazingly well. They are pushing that system to the max and I still believe that both system's potential have not been fully reached. Any multiplatform game that will be in the Wii U is also coming for the PS3 and 360. It may take longer to release the game at first to incorporate the new controller's pad, but graphics wise. It won't be the same. 

 
 
It took years to make a game look this good from Drake's Fortune to Drake's Deception 

I'm not saying that Sony and Microsoft shouldn't make a next gen system if they want to make them, let them. I just want them to do it at the right time and it's good enough for all of us. If they have to wait a year or two to make the best console they can make without overheating and stupidly high prices, I'm willing to wait. I have a console developers can improve upon. Doing so will make the transition between a PS3 and PS4 easier. What ever Nintendo has planed for the Wii-U is sure it's going to be to be awesome. It's too early to really tell, I just think that Microsoft and Sony needs to take their time when it comes to the releases of the next set of consoles.

Stop SOPA

I love writing. It's something that I would like to do as I grow older, and while I do like writing and posting it on various websites. I would like to eventually start making my own videos. Whether it's for reviews, previews, or just good old gameplay walkthroughs, it's something that I like to evolve on. However, if this bill gets passed I can't do that. I and others like me can't do that. It will shut down all the small websites that tries to make a living. In this tough time we live in, you and the supporters of the bill are threatening to have unemployment in an all time high. Please, don't think that this is a way to stop a major issue. It's not, it's creating more and it will be worse than before. Don't go blindly because if this bill is passed we will not only loose the freedom to express our selves, we will lose what we stood for all this time.

RAGE Review PS3

They said that the wasteland is a dangerous place. With Bandits, The Authority, Jackals, and Mutants. It's dangerous, but if you plan right and do your best to survive, it's a good way to kill a couple of days. ID Software the Legendary developer that created the First Person Shooter genre returns with a brand new game, RAGE. It starts out promising enough and by the end of it I wonder if it was worth it at the end. Not even a minute after you step out of the Ark, you are attacked by a Bandit. He pins you down and before he and his buddy kills you, a bullet pierces through his head as the body falls so does his partner. With the two bandits dead you meet the first character.

ID OF THE NEXT GENERATION

What follows is an adventure with a near plotless narrative. You meet with people that has very little impact of the world around you. All you do is do jobs for them. It's pretty much the same either kill this or retrieve that. Even if you don't know what to do next during a mission, just keep walking and shooting. Eventually you will do or get what you need to complete the mission.

Just when you think the story is getting somewhere, it ends. That last cutscene is all you get. What makes matters worse is that when you beat the game, you can't come back to the world to do many of the side missions. This game requires you to do all the side jobs, racing, minigames, collectibles before finishing the last mission.

It's not all bad, this is ID software and if there is one thing they are known for, it's gameplay. The gameplay is the best part. For being a developer that's known for FPS games this should come to no surprise. However, unlike past games they did a few various things they never did before.

SPICE OF LIFE

First, they put in a LIGHT RPG element in the game. I use that term loosely. There is no dialogue trees Bioware style. What does pass as an RPG is the store. You go in and restock in supplies or upgrade your armor. You get money by doing quests, minigames, and looting dead bodies. The price of ammo and health packs does not change between difficulty. So if you get or sell a $1000 you can get quite a lot of ammo on most of your weapons of choice. On a normal AK for $1000 can get you 999 rounds, basically maxing out the ammo count. I still got enough to get hundreds of shells for my shotgun. Besides a gun, which you can also buy the most expensive thing is a wingstick. A wingstick is a boomerang weapon. If it survives the hit or doesn't hit anything else it will come back to you. You can kill up to five enemies before it breaks. Even if it get stuck on a body you can still use it again. It's the most dynamic weapon of the game and it's a lot of fun to use along with an AK.

Next, is the side quests. It seems like everyone wants you do do something for them. There is also races. This is where the car combat begins. Both outside the cities and inside a race track someone wants you dead. Driving is easy enough, it's more archaic than in recent years. In a time where everyone wants to make cares feel as real as possible, Grand Theft Auto IV being the worst, it's happy to see that if someone wanted to play a game with real car physics they can play a racing game. No, this is leaning towards Twisted Metal and I'm thankful for that. You have your weapons on the car that is ready for combat. The minigun, rockets, and mine traps. What I think is the best part about the car combat is that it's all auto aimed. You don't need to worry about lining your shots. Just drive and shoot. It's immensely satisfying to drive past a car that has exploded.

Lastly, is the building of supplies. Through out the world you will find parts to make various stuff. From bandages to RC cars. If you have the parts, you can build it.

SHOOTING THINGS LIKE A PRO

Weapons is a lot of fun to play with. While this is not a lot of variation of the weapons. It's the ammo that makes up for it. One shotgun shell makes the enemy explode into red dust, be careful though, doing that will not result of you getting their loot. It's a lot of fun to use different ammo in situations. The best weapon is the Wingstick. The Wingstick can buy you that extra time to reload. This generation has given the rise to the rise of Iron Sights. Just push the aim button and you are good to go, I don't have a problem with it, but with this game it's actually more fun NOT to use it. Run and shoot old school style. If your enemy is in that cross hair there is a good chance that is where that bullet is going. It reminded me of the last generation of games.

WHAT YOU SEE AND WHAT YOU HEAR

The Sound is all pretty standard. You got the decent voice acting, ambient sounds, music, sound effects. It's nothing that really stands out, but it's not terrible. Despite having decent voice work and great animation, it's does not include one thing that is important. Life. Yes, they move. Yes, they speak, but they all have that dead look. The sounds of the guns feels weaker than it should be. Shooting is fun in RAGE, but they don't have that punch that most games have like Call Of Duty. When firing your vehical weapon the sound don't register sometimes.

The graphics can range from amazing to mediocre. When driving around you will notice that you are in a boxed canyon. It's extremely leaner of where to go. It may seem that it's big, but that is because of the scope ID gave the environment. Unless you are at The Dead City, it's disappointingly narrow. The only time you see any flat land is near the end of the game, there is also texture pop in that will happen quite often. The most amazing thing in all of this is that the framerate never drops. It hits 60 FPS and it never faulters. There is some minor screen tearing though. Even so, it's hardly noticeable unless you look for it.

SOMEBODY UP THERE STILL LIKES YOU

The AI is quite smart, they know what you are doing, using and plan accordingly. Some will run away in fear and some will call in for more reinforcements. They are fast and they will use their surrounding accordingly. The enemy can take a lot of damage. Sometimes it takes three to four shotgun shells point blank to take the down. The authority takes much more. Just keep moving and use different tactics to keep them on their toes. If you just stand behind cover they will come after you and gang up beating you to death. This is where it's defibrillator minigame comes in. Complete the minigame and any enemy that is nearby dies. This even works in nightmare mode. It does have a long recharge time though.

ID software have a modest hit with this game. There is a few things to like about it. overall though, it's not amazing as they tried out to be. Sound glitches, Inconsistent graphics and, and story downplays this game. This story feels like a prolong to an even bigger story. If ID makes RAGE 2 I hope they learn from the past mistakes and build from there. Everything is here, now all they have to do is to make it better. And no, I did not find the Breaking Bad Easter Egg.