RAGE Review

As a long time fan of id Software, I was ready to take on what they were calling an innovation in shooters. That title is Rage and it see's the pioneers of the first person shooter genre applying their many ideas and design tricks to this new outing. With 20 years of the genre behind them, I was intrigued to see how far the group had come.

Using id Tech 5 developed by world-renowned technical director John Carmack, the promise of a game running at 60 frames-per-second with mega-texture technology on a console sounded too good to be true. In some ways it paid off... in others, it's a full-on letdown.

RAGE is a cross between a first person shooter and a racing game. It's not the open world game that many of us had expected. We all jumped on-board the marketing train and it took us to uncanny valley where we find bits and pieces borrowed from games like Borderlands and Fallout. That's not to say that RAGE is a bad game, it's just set in a post-apocalyptic timeline like many of the games being released at the moment.

The main issue I have with the game is I feel like I'm playing something entirely different from what the developers spoke about during their keynotes at QuakeCon and E3. As I said, the game is not an open world title but we were lead to believing it was. Throw in the fact that the story is lacklustre at best and I begin wondering where the game I heard and read about went because it surely isn't in plain sight here.

I also felt that the game needed a more influential storyline. There is a story but it's tone is mute at best leading to this feeling that it's not really important. The information given throughout the game leads to the plot of an awful government called "The Authority" and to the mess that is the bandits and mutants that lie in wait who are a corrupt bunch that aim to have control over the surrounding areas. It's all passé gargle that won't help tie anyone into the game.

The game flows from mission to mission and requires a good deal of driving and shooting to get the jobs done. I found that each segment was broken up by driving to the place needing to be cleaned out, entering said place and shooting the hell out of anything that dared rear its ugly head. Upon completing a mission, it's time to hand it into whomever was the mission giver and once again time to head out. It's all rather methodological with only a few side missions breaking the pace.

There are lots of guns and items to collect throughout the game. Starting out with a pistol, the game gives out new weapons to keep the shooting frenzy fresh and exciting. With the introduction of a shotgun rather early on, then an assault rifle, rocket launcher, a crossbow and much more; there's plenty of choice when it comes to taking down those ugly foes. Item-wise, most of the stuff collected will be sold to a vendor to fund new guns, ammo and upgrades to one's armour.

As I'd mentioned before, RAGE lets you get behind the wheel of many vehicles. You'll have a buggy to begin with and move on up to bigger and heavier machinery that will help you traverse the games wasteland. Whilst on the wasteland, many battles will ensue where you must use the guns on your vehicle to take down the enemies. Guns and parts for cars can only be collected by taking part in the games many racing events but helps splits up the gun-play and car-play nicely.

I will say that RAGE is a pretty game. The graphics are impressive to the point of wondering how they managed to stop the game from severely lagging on the console. With the promise of 60 frames-per-second at all times, the game flows and sways in perfect synchronicity allowing for some excellent sights as the camera is panned around the world. The guns, non-player characters and enemies also look extremely good, adding to the already lush landscape.

The soundtrack in RAGE is especially eerie. The music caused me to feel the unnerving atmosphere the game carried. The music would ramp up at points when bosses entered the fray or when imminent danger was lurking just around a corner. The suspense added a lot to the game and I praise id highly for their use of the tracks.

The same can't be said for the voice actors however. Enemies of a certain type all had the same voice actor which I found pretty damn strange. The non-player characters in towns were good vocally but there was never any sense of imminent threat... in the end, they made me feel like an errand boy just on my rounds.

Is RAGE a good game? honestly... that depends. The gunplay is sublime, the world is a marvel to behold and the cars are excellent pieces of machinery. Yet, I can't shake this feeling that RAGE tries to be more than what's actually offered, inevitably causing the game to be dragged down by an incomplete story and a true sense that the game is either unfinished or missed many targets during development.

Clocking in a 12 hour play through to finish this game, I feel mixed feelings towards this new id property. I feel that I've missed something throughout my time with this game and it's a daunting thought. I'm finding it hard to justify recommending this game to the people I know and that's never a good sign.

If you have any interest in RAGE, I recommend that you rent or borrow it from a friend before committing to a purchase. I'm sure that anyone who plays RAGE will find something to enjoy about the game but it's when that point comes in that matters.