Being a fan of both the post-apocalyptic themed and open world style of gaming, Rage seemed quite appealing when it was first announced as id Software’s big return to the gaming scene. With creators of some of the most revolutionary shooters which paved the way for modern day juggernauts such as the Call of Duty, Crysis, or Dead Space games at the helm of this project, hopes couldn’t have been higher that we were looking at a truly distinctive game. Rage won Best in Show as just about every convention it was featured during, and it looked beyond beautiful for a console game. In the end, what we got was indeed a game worth playing, but ultimately Rage is a game of empty promises.
id Software knew one thing from the very beginning; they could promise us the best looking game on the console to date. Their primary focus on the advanced graphical capabilities is what got the ball rolling on other promises they made to gamers concerning Rage. It is unfortunate they also decided to assure us that we would get yet another revolutionary shooting experience, and it would be in a super detailed open-world atmosphere. I always hate to start off reviews with negatives, but these are the most poignant points to make.
The gameplay is hardly ground-breaking; the shooting engine has been seen before and while it is very responsive and smooth it isn’t anything too exciting. The armaments available to your character are ultimately limited, and while firing off certain guns can be fun only a few of them are truly effective. Achievements and trophies may inspire the usage of the crossbow to silently snipe out enemies, but I very rarely found myself putting away my shotgun. For long distances the wingstick is undoubtedly the most effective and fun item to use. These are the fancy looking shuriken like weapons demonstrated heavily in prior to the game’s release. Carrying a hundred on me at all times I went crazy with decapitations and lodging them dead into the center of anyone’s head that were unlucky enough to be in my sights. For certain side missions the sniper rifle can prove more useful, such as providing support fire from a far off vantage point. In most of said situations though the wingstick can even be used for quick one-hit kills.
As far as this game’s open-world designation, that is exceptionally deceptive. Yes the map is free to roam, and yes you can choose to undertake side missions before tackling the main game quests; the problem here is that there is absolutely no reason to stray from the main quest line. Side-missions apart from job boards are nearly non-existent. The visuals of the world are impressive, but no matter where you go there are invisible borders everywhere forcing you to take the most conventional path or the path the game wants you to take to get from point A to point B. Three-quarters of the terrain is impossible explore and trivial short-cuts such as jumping over a small barricade to shave three or four seconds are not allowed the majority of the time. The physics engine is sub-par and almost nothing is interactive; shooting a table, a can, a TV set will yield no damage and only ammo and tinkering equipment can be picked up.
Hitting on more positives, the initial promise made concerning the visuals was no embellishment. While Rage might not have featured a more life-like style of character design, like say Crysis 2, the real wonder of the design lies with the detail in movement. Every word spoken is well-matched by the movement of the respective character’s mouth speaking them. Every reaction is well timed and believable in conjunction with the circumstance that caused them, whether it’s a reaction to getting shot or a startled turn toward a loud noise. Movement is smooth and mostly uninterrupted even when making sudden turns or combining large strides with gunfire.
Variety in enemies is also a touted feature which doesn’t completely fall short. Each part of the wasteland is controlled by a particular gang with their own specialties which range from technical savvy to acrobatic hand to hand fighting. The artificial intelligence is also pretty advanced as many times the gangs will react in kind to your destruction of their brethren. They will call for retreats if you are dominant or to move up if they have you cornered. Differentiating each gang is easy and it can be refreshing to go from one territory to another without a complete sense of repetition, but this aspect isn’t infallible either. The one part that does not change during combat is the effective method on how to fight off each tribe. Despite exclusive abilities, I found myself able to take every mob down with a wingstick, a grenade or a shotgun blast to the head. It becomes a matter of timing and positioning, but there is never really a part where long and detailed strategizing to get through an obstacle is required.
One of the most solid features of the game involves the car combat system. There aren’t a whole lot of customization options with the types of buggies you can drive, but whether it’s driving from one location to another, racing, or destroying enemy vehicles for money, being behind the wheel is a welcomed change of scenery. The handling controls are exceptionally sharp, and things can even get pretty competitive in the online races. Ultimately though, this only serves as a way to change things up to strip away the consistency of the mediocre progression of the game. Nobody should buy the game only for the sake of the vehicles.
There is also a pretty generous amount of mini-games to play throughout the game. Though these also only serve as a temporary distraction from everything else, these can actually be some of the most challenging parts of the game. Compiling a winning deck of cards to play Rage’s version of a card combat game (think Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic: The Gathering) may be easy as long as you’re looking in the right places, but playing the game and actually outsmarting your opponent can be tricky. The higher the difficulty, the wiser you must be in choosing your cards. There are also games that involves chance, like rolling dice to determine if your character will shoot an incoming onslaught of mutants or if he will simply stand there and let them get closer each turn. Every mini-game costs you, and can win you money. I assure you however, it is not necessary to be filthy stinking rich in the world of Rage in order to get by.
To put it in short, Rage might as well be Borderlands HD remake only without the RPG elements, and a more pure first person shooting engine. We’ve all seen this game before. That is the feeling that is exuded at every point in the game. There are very few times in the game, if any, where Rage makes any effort to go beyond just being another developer’s iteration of a post-apocalyptic game. The pace starts, continues, and ends all at pretty much the same rate and never really stands out. The company that invented the FPS genre with revolutionary titles could not have delivered a product further from revolutionary in this day and age, and it is that reason why Rage proves to be the most disappointing; we are meant to expect more from established developers. Had this been a fresh up and coming company’s game, then I would be more forgiving; especially since the game as it is presented is not necessarily a bad game. It is simply an ok game which falls short of the hype. Simply put, Rage is not the Doom or the Quake of this age.
Fun Factor: As I mentioned before, wingsticking and car combat is fun. Everything else seems likes it is on a timer from beginning to end on when the fun will run out. If you’ve never played a game like Fallout 3 or Borderlands, you may very well enjoy this game to no end. It just lacks the required reinforcement after an amount of time that playing the game is enjoyable.
Difficulty: Not difficult or particularly challenging in the traditional sense, but may be challenging to maintain a level of dedication throughout the game. Speeding through Rage is not a hard task.
Length: Should take anywhere between 10-15 hours to complete, it is a decent length if you can stay with it from beginning to end.
On the Negative Side: A lack of innovation, mundane story and progression, limited world disguised as an open-world, and unimpressive selection of guns.
Bang for Your Buck: The game is a good game on the surface, and is even an ok game at its core. There are just too many disappointing features to call this a game worth buying. Do rent or gamefly it though if you have the resources, it won’t last long if you just follow through with the story and it can be a nice escape if you haven’t been keeping up to date on your shooters.
