The Road Rage Version Of A Headshot

The lead designer of Rage wants the driving parts of id’s game to feel comfortable for shooter gamers. So, I asked, what’s the road version of a headshot?

Scoring a headshot in a shooter is, after all the most celebrated action in many first-person shooters.

So what is a headshot on wheels in Rage?

I had Matt Hooper, design lead at id as well as creative director Tim Willis and art director Stephan Martiniere stumped for but a moment

“We have discovered that people love running into stuff,” Willits said.

“There’s something very rewarding about doing those head-on maneuvers and the guy goes flying,” Hooper added.

Speed helps. “There’s something satisfying about just pushing up on the accelerator,” Martiniere said.

The vehicles take damage in Rage from these head-on collisions, but Willits said that ramming like that is both the most effective and most fun way to take out enemy vehicles.

You won’t take that much damage, Hooper said, if you play enough to earn “the coolest of the front grills.”

“Its one of the things we learned from testing,” Hooper said. “It’s fun to ram things.”

That’s the headshot. On wheels.