Hands-on at rAge 2014: The Good and the Bad

rAge 2014 provided us with a great weekend full of gaming goodness, with multiple pre-release games on show and available for people to play.

Some of these titles were impressive, while others did not evoke much excitement at all – here are my impressions from the game demos at the expo.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is From Software’s latest project, and there was a playable demo available at rAge. The demo took place in the city of Yharnam where a disease has infected the citizens and turned them into mutated freaks of nature, and you are tasked with taking them down while not dying yourself.

The game follows the Dark Souls style of combat and there are plenty of strong enemies who can deal death blows. During the demo I managed to reach the “boss” after running right through all the enemies (there was a long queue to play and I could feel the stares, willing me to hurry up).

Unfortunately I did not defeat him, and handed over the controller after falling to my death.

The Good: One thing is clear, the game is gorgeous and probably the best looking PS4 title since Killzone: Shadow Fall.

The Bad: You do not seem to gain XP from battles and I could not change my equipment. This lack of a progression element leads to you not wanting to engage with enemies, as there is no point.

Mortal Kombat X

As a long-running Mortal Kombat fan, Mortal Kombat X was great to play. The gore has never looked so good as it does on the latest consoles, and after playing a few rounds and destroying my brother the game had won me over.

The Good: Environments were gorgeous and alive, characters are beautifully detailed.

The Bad: Felt a tiny bit stiff compared to other Mortal Kombat Games.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

AC Unity had quite a presence at this year’s rAge Expo, with the Megarom stand and the Xbox One stand both housing playable demos. One thing that has been reworked since the last installment of Assassin’s Creed is the traverse system, with Arno jumping with much more fluidity.

While the game looks great, there were noticeable visual defects which will hopefully be ironed out – although the release date is approaching fast.

The Good: New ways of getting around, new city to explore, co-op sounds impressive.

The Bad: I noticed frame-rate issues when playing the game, and this would get worse when there was intense action on screen.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

I am glad to say that everything we love about the Borderlands franchise is back and better than ever in the Pre-Sequel. The demo took place on a moon base with high-level playable characters who were all equipped with legendary guns.

One of the new gameplay mechanics is moon jump, which allows you and your enemies to leap high in the air and then float down slowly. This adds a new element to the game, which is refreshing.

The Good: Epic guns are back, the moon jump adds new depth to the game.

The Bad: I smell a cash cow in the works here with customization options implemented from the get go.

The Order 1886

The demo for 1886 started with a beautiful cinematic that seamlessly melted into a gameplay sequence. I was given a huge flare gun that shot gas-like bullets and tasked with incinerating enemies who respawned every fifteen seconds or so.

The game is based on a classic cover system, but I hope there is more to it than just duck, shoot, duck, shoot.

The Good: Visually impressive, well imagined and put together world, crazy guns.

The Bad: The demo was repetitive.

Update: Hi all, Kevin here. It was very unfair of me to use Far Cry 4 in the header image and not have any content on the game. My apologies – here’s my impression from my limited interaction with the game at rAge.

Far Cry 4

From what I saw of the game, it looks like the epitome of a “stab guys in the face while hijacking a truck before riding an elephant with a taste for human blood into a fortress” kind of title. The gameplay looks pleasant and smooth, and the array of vehicles and attacks at your disposal is vast.

The change of location to a Himalayas-inspired region was a good choice in my opinion, as the “verticality” allows you to be a bit more creative in your movements and attacks. (I am sure most of you have seen the wingsuit and grapple hook now at your disposal.)

Far Cry 4, through its gameplay mechanics and characters, seems to have struck a good balance between a serious shooter and a title which is just plain fun… if you think shooting people with an uzi while driving a tuk-tuk is fun.