RAGE: Review in Progress - Localization Issues
Think of Rage as a very linear Elder Scrolls with guns and cars.
by Daavpuke on Oct 10, 2011
If you’ve been around for more than a week, you will have noticed we’ve been covering Rage for a while and we’re excited to see it. Well, you’ll be happy to know I’m currently working my way through the wasteland right now in order to tell you if it’s worth your time. A short answer to that will be a “yes, but” sort of thing, unless something drastically changes. You see, the reason for this piece is that there are currently a few things in Rage hindering my process; one good and one less good.
Let’s start with the ‘less good’ as it’s the most apparent. On the review copy for PS3 granted to us by the nice people of Bethesda there are 4 listed languages; all of them terrible. The biggest problem however is that the game automatically is set in French, as I live in a part of the world where they ‘maybe perhaps’ could possibly speak French. For most of you this concern will amount to nothing, but for the large portion of us people living in the ambiguous zone where languages are thrown around like candy at a piñata party, this is quite aggravating. Luckily, I’m such a champ that I understand French perfectly, but it’s still pretty hard to hear game lingo get thrown around in a completely different language. I assure you that ‘door breach’ and ‘meule à verrou’ are two wholly different things. And that’s without touching any of the dialogue, which needs to be absorbed instantly. What’s troubling about that part is that every bit of explanation takes just that little more time to process and comprehend, resulting in anything going slower.
But even worse is when you think about getting stuck in this auto-localization process and not being able to speak the language. I experienced this once before with a German copy and I can tell you, that means game over right there. There isn’t one positive reason about having the game choosing your language for you and the restrictive settings of Rage don’t allow for change. And if there are language settings, they have buried themselves so deep that two people on that particular mission could not find its solution.
Click on this gross a-hole and enjoy the Rage comic while you wait.
Let’s now discuss the good part of the process slowdown: Rage is big. It’s bigger than I had given it credit for. Sure, there’s co-op and online play and all that jazz, but I hadn’t expected the overall being so large in content when adding up the sum. What makes matters worse is that it’s all good content and the game is actually made up of 2 distinctive parts, being shooting but also racing. The latter is the part that stumped the process. Most of the time, any shooter will try and diversify itself by adding a few mini-games, which Rage also has, but the racing part is a full experience on its own. There are a whole slew of vehicular combat options in the game and each mission locale is also separated by small driving challenges, so there’s plenty to go around. And that’s without touching the little card game in the Bar.
The shooting section also has additional side-missions; in particular outside of the campaign. It’s all very linear, so there are no worries about getting lost there, but it is possible to get lost on the map trying to find side sections. There is a downside here as well though: Only new customers will have access to some of these sections, as an unlock code is necessary for Sewer missions. I’m still not a fan of that kind of business, but again this won’t affect everyone.
If I could leave with some parting words on Rage, before trying to get it done as quickly as possible for you, it’s with this oversimplified comparison. Think of Rage as a very linear Elder Scrolls with guns and cars. You’d be wrong to think that, but it’s as close as this one is going to get for now. Other comparisons are welcome in the comment section below.
Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)
Editor, NoobFeed
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