Woah, looks like Lady Liberty had a few too many.
Unlike the alien terrain of Pandora or Rage's bizarre futuristic cityscapes, there's a real-world feel to the way Ravaged approaches warfare post-doomsday that gives its high-speed chases and fierce gunplay dramatic impact. Sniping from atop the torch of a fallen and beheaded Lady Liberty that's unceremoniously plunked down in the sandy dunes of an evaporated North Atlantic Ocean really puts the scope of the destruction into perspective. The same goes for racing ghetto-rigged rides straight off a shredded Golden Gate bridge. This landscape is still recognizable, but dramatically altered by in some very cool ways. It's this vast playground filled with both tightly packed nooks and wide-open stretches to rampage across, that the main dueling factions -- the do-gooder Resistance and the anarchistic Scavengers -- slug it out for turf and resources.
Fill 'er Up: Hot-Leaded
Ravaged blends its vehicle combat and traditional on-foot FPS firefights seamlessly. Frantic motorized assaults tend to spill into ambushes, spectacular crashes, and on-foot encounters, and going back and forth between riding around and hoofing it in first-person keeps the action fast-paced and fluid - except in the unfortunate circumstances where you're stuck out in the middle of a stretch of desert with a busted-down ride. Otherwise, the tide turns quickly and often, as rivals thunder in out of nowhere, giving you a split-second to react before they rag-doll your corpse with heavy gunfire or a volley of rockets.
Ravaged blends its vehicle combat and traditional on-foot FPS firefights seamlessly.
On-foot encounters in the midst of a crossfire are intense, yet it's the wide range of crazy rides and ample opportunities to hop into them that make the 64 player maps something special. While you won't find anything like Borderlands' future-tech Runners, quasi-carbon copy versions of the Jetter ATV and Dune Buster from Rage appear alongside a diverse mix of heavily armed jeeps, roadsters, and flying choppers. Exotic vehicles like the gyro-copter and three-wheeled Trike provide funky alternatives to the more traditional, heavier armed Road Warrior-style cars and trucks you'll encounter. Where'd you get your pilot's license, the inside of a cereal box?
Each vehicle handles differently and there's a realistic feel to the driving physics of motoring along sandy terrain at high speeds. Some rides also have unique control tweaks as well. When riding ATVs, for example, you can use the mouse to shift your weight independently of steering, adjusting your turning capabilities and airborne maneuverability. This, coupled with their small size, makes them a great pick for quick getaways or zipping in and out of the fray. In contrast, the super-slick copters are a real bitch to fly at first, but once you get a feel for staying airborne, their guns and rockets can really rain hell down on enemy positions. Or you can just bring the whole thing crashing down onto their unsuspecting noggins kamikaze-style. You've got options.
No Man's Land
Vehicular battle dynamics change dramatically between capture-point and resource stealing matches, but the lay of the land makes a big difference in the flow of combat too. Medium-size maps favor ATVs, buggies, and copters for ferrying your team around. They're balanced with numerous pockets of buildings, towers, and structures to fight around, making for smooth transitions between entrenched gunfights and wide open chases.
Despite its other facets, Ravaged is all about the vehicles.
But the biggest maps designed for large-scale vehicular mayhem are staggeringly huge in comparison. So much so that finding yourself out in the middle of open ground without a ride really instills a sense of panic. At one point my ATV caught fire in the middle of a desert chase. I bailed right before it exploded and watched my comrades motor away into the distance. I felt stranded, and it took agonizing minutes of plodding along on-foot over dust-swept desert terrain before I made it back to the action. This really punctuated the fact that, despite its other facets, Ravaged is all about the vehicles.It's a long way down and a long hike back to civilization.
Ravaged doesn't get nearly as creative with its non-motorized weaponry and classes, which are still somewhat fun to play despite being disappointingly generic in scope and function, but the potential for adding crazier new rides to round out the already beefy arsenal - something the development team has hinted at in interviews - is making me salivate. This is a promising game to keep an eye on.