If you’ve not heard of ID software’s John Carmack, he could be considered one of the pioneers of PC gaming and (partly) responsible for some of the games (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake) that shaped the first-person shooters… he is also one of the driving forces behind their latest title, Rage.

If you played, or at least attempted to play, Rage during its release weekend in the UK (or its first week in the US) you’ll have been a little surprised at the complete lack of care or detail for the PC platform.  According to Carmack, during an interview with Kotaku (link: http://kotaku.com/5847761/why-was-the-pc-launch-of-rage-such-a-cluster ),  the bulk of these issues are were due to the “wrong driver being released”.  He also went on to explain that ID “do not see the PC as the leading platform for games”.

While I’m sure that is the case, Mr Carmack, does that really give you the excuse to release such a shoddy PC release?

I’m not, of course, talking about the “wrong drivers”… these things happen and, to a certain extent, I can be quite forgiving of such errors.  I’m more concerned about the complete lack of options within the game.  Almost no options to control any of the graphics settings from within the game? An unforgivable oversight… did you not see the pain Crysis 2 developers, Crytek, went through when they made the same mistake?  It’s not even as if the options weren’t there… if you were happy to mess around with the console settings or the configuration files, you could tweak almost any part of the graphics settings.  So why didn’t they include some menu options?  Were the developers really that lazy?  Some of these options have now been added in a patch released yesterday.

As if that wasn’t enough, how about the ability to change the keyboard setup? Nope, sorry, ID know better than you. Isn’t everyone using a Xbox 360 controller these days anyway?  At least I haven’t seen any “Press A to continue” messages (yet).  Again, if you’re happy to play around with the configuration files, you can setup any keys you desire.

These aren't difficult options to include in the menus; and this is ID software we’re talking about… they practically created the first-person shooter.  Surely they should know better?

Apparently not.

When the game is running, and with the correct settings, it has some quite breathtaking moments of beauty (as beautiful as a post-apocalyptic wasteland can look). Sadly, you still get some quite low quality, blurry textures on some of the incidental props, like cans on shelves and boxes, that often spoil the effect.

Graphics aside, the game itself proves to be quite dated in its mechanics.  Although the enemies can use cover, there is no way for the player to do so (other than crouching behind a box) and there is no way to lean round corners.  The enemy AI appears to have just two states: run straight at the player or hide behind a bit of scenery.  For the slightly more advanced enemies that have the ability to use grenades, they will often choose to throw them when they are in cover… from a seemingly endless supply.

The driving aspect of the game is surprisingly solid and certainly a lot better than you’ll usually find in a first-person shooter, although the shooting aspect is a little basic, relying very heavily on the ability to lock-on to enemy vehicles.  The inclusion of a mouse-based look/aim system would have made it a little more skilful.

It’s also far more linear than I was expecting.  The illusion of freedom is there, and you can sometimes forget that you are in yet another corridor shooter, but there is quite a deliberate path you are led down.   I also got the impression that some of the side missions had been dropped in at the last minute.  No need to travel anywhere… you’re simply transported to the mission location where you complete a task and then you’re returned to town.  Not really too much of an issue, but a little inconsistent given that other missions, regardless of importance, insist to drive there yourself.  It certainly breaks the immersion.  There are a number of sniper missions, for example, where you accept the mission on the job board and you are immediately transported to a set location in the game world and the events begin to unfold.  Finish the job and you appear back in town… by the garage instead of the job board.  Why not let the player drive out to the location first? Let them get into position… or even let them choose their position.  Plus, if you are going to instantly transport the player to the mission, why bring them back to a different point within town? It almost as if they didn’t have the time or the inclination to allow travel to and from the mission site.

So... what specific elements or RAGE did I like? The crafting and RPG elements within RAGE were, fortunately, quite a good inclusion.  Nothing too complicated for a corridor shooter, but just enough to keep it interesting.  The turrets and spider bots being a particular favourite.

*slight spoliers in the next paragraph*

After a while, the combat is almost too easy and before you know it... the game is over.  What made this worse, for me at least, was that you're given one of the games most powerful weapons just before the final mission... and very little chance to use it.  No climatic boss battle, no massive firefight, it just... ends.  Very disappointing and quite obviously leaving room to release some DLC to 'extend' the game.

*end of spoilers* 

While I play games on all platforms, my PC is where I have invested most of my time and money, as I sure a lot of PC gamers have. So, while they may not have the numbers, PC gamers certainly have the dedication.   I’m not suggesting that any game should be re-written specifically for any platform, but please, don’t ignore the details, and certainly don’t blame your mistakes on others!

Some might argue that the developers could just ditch the PC entirely (and some appear to have done just that).  They could, but they'd miss out on quite a large chunk of the market.  If done properly, the PC market will add millions of dedicated gamers to their title.  I can almost guarantee that DICE will prove the point when they release Battlefield 3.  My only hope is that other companies in the ZeniMax stable don't go down the same route (I'm looking at you Bethesda... ruin my hopes for Skyrim at your peril).

Oh, and for those idiots that claim that piracy is the reason for the PC's decline as a gaming platform... just check any of the illegal download sites (Google is your friend) and you'll see that they are flooded with the latest titles for ALL of the consoles (but especially the Xbox 360) while PC 'releases' tend to be mostly hidden item games. In fact, while doing a little research into the topic for another article, I noticed that most titles are actually available illegally for the Xbox 360 long before release with PC titles not appearing until sometime after!  Do not be fooled... it is purely about the money. 

The PC does often require extra time and resources to get right due to the number of different combinations of hardware, which costs them money.  Is that a legitmate reason for not releasing games for the PC? That depends on why you're making games... all I ask is that you're honest about it!

I’d be interested to find out why John Carmack, or Cliff Bleszinski, or any of the other names from the first real generation of gaming who have since turned to chasing profit, originally started making games… I doubt it was for the money.  Would their past selves be impressed?

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