RAGE "The Scorchers" DLC Incoming...
Before I talk about the new upcoming DLC I want to talk a bit about what I thought of the game. I think RAGE was underrated by the public at large. It took a long time to come out and while there are things that could have been better such as the ending... (it ended rather abruptly and didn't have what could be considered a proper ending). It was still an id shooter and they tend to make solid shooters in my opinion. The driving was also good considering it was their first game with driving in it. The driving worked well with keyboard and mouse more so than other games with driving where I tend to use gamepads to play. Yes, I insist on playing first person shooters with keyboard and mouse and besides..
On the Mac RAGE much like other Aspyr games was only compatible with the wired 360 pad with no drivers installed specifically so I couldn't use my wireless pad with the requisite tattiebogle drivers even if I wanted to. It also didn't have true discrete surround sound when 5.1+ channels where enabled in Audio MIDI setup. But those quibbles aside I enjoyed it.
I think people expected the next better than sliced bread thing from id and it got overshadowed by the similar in theme Borderlands which had more weapons and more content than RAGE. Average gamers tend to hate on id's latest work and only learn to appreciate it years later. The same thing happened with id's previous games especially Quake 1.... Nowadays it's revered as one of id's old school shooters & still has people modyfing it and creating HD resource packs. However at the time it was id's latest people I personally knew where saying it was boring and lacked replay value. But I played the hell out of it and enjoyed the atmosphere and really enjoyed how it ushered in a new era of modding where having the game you don't only get the game but kind of a platform for which independent games can be made.
Also ever since Quake 1 made multiplayer easier especially over the internet people had come to expect very strong multiplayer from id and for the most part RAGE was more of a single player oriented affair with multiplayer being a junior partner. The multiplayer portion wasn't even brought to the Mac at all instead we got a "campaign edition that was single player only. I myself am not a member of the multiplayer audience and I like games where they focus on single player such as the upcoming Bioshock Infnite I can see why some people would be dissapointed that multiplayer didn't have as big a focus in RAGE as with id's previous games... particularly the Quake games.
A scorcher in his native habitat...
I enjoyed the more realistic art style in RAGE more than Borderlands and felt the driving was better.. also while there was more variety of weapons in Borderlands they where randomly generated and I felt most of them where rubbish and the bright colors on them made them look like toys. I do want to play Borderlands 2 because I'm a FPS maven and I do like the idea of open world FPS games and I hear it's quite good and I'm not really trying to take sides here... However, I also enjoyed RAGE....
Anyway, for people like me there is more RAGE content coming known as the scorchers DLC which is coming next week for $5 on the digital distribution networks:
New ally brandishing a Nailgun.
In this brand-new adventure spanning six all-new areas, you will fight alongside new allies to defend the Hager Settlment from a maniacal bandit clan known as The Scorchers. Along the way, you’ll participate in a new season of Mutant Bash TV, encounter new mini-games, and wield the overpowering and brutal Nailgun.
In addition to the new content, this DLC includes ‘Ultra-Nightmare’, a new high difficulty mode, as well as an ‘Extended Play’ option that allows you to play past the original ending of the game - giving you the opportunity to finish collecting items and achievements.
Scorcher attacking the player with a flame weapon... the player is weilding a Nailgun
Sounds good to me... I do like the thought of a new season of Mutant Bash TV although I would like for it to be in a new arena in or near the second major half of the game.. Subway Town rather than reuse the same arena that's near Wellspring in the current game. I like the thought of seeing brand new areas we haven't seen before in RAGE and so far from what I seen they are going to deliver. The nailgun sounds interesting although I figured that sort of thing was more for Quake than anything. I wonder what the new mini games will be.
Also it's interesting that they are going to add in a sandbox mode for after one completes the single player campaign. Like I said before that game ended rather abruptly and additionally one couldn't tie up loose ends once they had seen the ending. The only thing is once you have left Wellspring and gone to subway town traditionally one wasn't allowed to go back.. which was unfortunate because one could play Mutant Bash TV as much as they want and I liked lining my virtual pocket with it and was dissapointed they didn't have a way to do that in subway town.
New scary mutants in the Scorchers DLC...
I'm hoping this DLC comes to the Mac either simultanious or later on. The Mac version of RAGE wasn't released in Steam so it'll have to come in a standalone installer or as a DLC purchase in the Mac App Store. In which case I won't be able to pay $5 and get it via Steam I will have to go to Aspyr's store or the Mac Game store since I got my copy of RAGE there (in the latter).