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Some journalists are complaining about this. Personally, I prefer manual saving if given the option, but having to play large parts of the game as it was based on the automatic save system does not sound very fun. Do not come right out and say its anger, but they are very subtle and comments in answer to give.
I actually saw it, so you can trust me. There are both manual and auto saves. Manual save system is fine, but it didn't seem quick as fallout 3, not because save games size is too big but brief animation when load menu. And the real problem is auto save. It exactly works like fallout 3. Auto saves only happens right before when you load a map. But the difference with fallout 3 is a map is a lot bigger than fallout 3's, so you really don't see loading screen often.
Maybe every 25 to 30 minutes or so. And if you die at the end of the level, you have to continue from the end of the previous level and then repeat all over again for 20 minutes. It was bad. I know it won't be big problem on pc. Just press f6 or f5 whatever. It can be done within a second. But on console, you have to bring up menu, and it really breaks immersion. And the game seems a bit harder than regular games. You probably will die a lot. And if you only rely on auto save of the game, you will rage quit a lot.
I remember when you used to actually die in games- to the point of "game over" Remember that? Sure did make me get better at gaming. You play through a whole level and die at the end of it. You will learn. Either to manual save, or be a better player. I kind of take it all with a grain of salt, so it’s not really a concern with me. At least it isn’t an RPG like DA: O, where if you die, you have to go back through 15 minutes of dialogue, just to get back into the action.
I remember him saying something about the auto-save occurring when you enter a new area. But the gripe appears to be that you can be in an area for 30+ minutes. Pretty punishing. There was a live stream yesterday that I watched before it was pulled. The guy went through the entire intro, got through the first town, took a left instead of a right and got owned. He had to replay from the beginning. That was 20+ minutes right there. Not a big deal on PC but console systems needs some sort of quicksave.
Their argument is likely to be that you'll be mindful to manual save more often - and that that hurts the flow and immersion of the game. It might make the player paranoid, causing them to save too often and thus disrupting the experience.
Keep in mind that the folks at ID did not limit the game to two weapons because every other game does, and keep in mind that they designed the game for you the player, and not you the reviewer who by professional necessity has far less patience than your average player.
Personally I like to keep the above in mind when listening to game reviewers whine about autosave points. I would as well keep this in mind, RAGE seems to give you lots of weapons and tools to work with and you get more than just two in your inventory, plus the ability to revive yourself if you go down. And of course the game will provide you with ammo here and there and drop hints like all games as to what is coming or what you might need. And I expect people in town to tell you what to expect and etc. - so I expect the game will give you all the help you really need.
For example I would expect RAGE to just happen to give you some explosive ammo just before you're going to need it, at least early in the game while you're still being introduced to explosive ammo as a new ammo type. Later in the game I expect the game to expect me to be prepared.
I love me some Halo, but RAGE is clearly nothing like Halo. Halo either started or solidified the trend of limiting the player to 2 weapons, check points and auto saving before and after every predetermined encounter and even when moving from one section of a map to another, even if sections are close in terms of travel time. Now you could easily argue that this is all good because it distills and simplifies the game on consoles, maps the controls real tight and keeps the flow of the game nice and fluid. You can say this is evolution and that this is good for gaming and that it's just better.
RAGE is clearly following an older model that is more or less the tried and true bread and butter of the PC space, where games tend to give players more freedom and less hand holding. They don’t limit you to two weapons.
I look forward to RAGE. Personally I think that as a hardcore gamer with many titles under my belt that I can handle the task of saving my game without letting that get in the way of my fun. So personally, I could do without reviewers whining about autosaves, they seem to forget that the average player isn't going to get fired if they don't have that review ready by Monday.