Rage Review

Once I heard id Software was working on this game I was instantly sold, the father of all first-person shooters, id Software was the studio to develop the game Wolfenstein 3D, along with the Doom and Quake series. Rage is a western feel, post-apocalyptic game. An asteroid impacts Earth and all of civilization is destroyed; all but the few humans who survived, and are trying to rebuild humanity.
You are a part of an Ark project designed to help rebuild, you wake up from a cryogenic sleep 106 years later after the event, with a huge bounty on your head. You wake up to a beautiful disaster; a wasteland filled with bandits, mutants, and authority all looking to see you dead. Of course, the wasteland is not all bad; there are people willing to aid you as long as you help them, none the less it’s up to you to rebuild the world.

Rage delivers but also disappoints to a certain degree. From the moment you step out onto the open world to the final level, the art design in the game is magnificent and the graphics are simply impressive. Every location in the game felt fresh, not at all did I ever feel like the areas were repetitive. The problem I did have with the level design was the levels themselves, I felt like more could’ve been done to keep the player entertain like a few boss battles here and there, something to make the player fell like they actually accomplished something and not just a messenger boy for the colonist. Rage also lacks a strong plot, there were moments in the game where I felt like the story was about to pick up but was let down to see it go nowhere. The AI in the game is fairly smart even on the normal setting. Bandits shoot and hide behind cover and if you stay in cover for too long they would run towards you attacking, forcing you to move out of cover. Even after spraying them with bullets, bandits will rise in a final stand and shoot till they collapse. As for the mutants they attack in large numbers surrounding you and the Authority are better trained, attacking in a more military combat style.

Now enough about the level design and campaign lets get to the real juicy part, the gameplay or as I like to call it the gunplay, which id Software did not disappoint. Every gun has a strong reaction, if you shoot a shotgun at someone’s face, his or her head will literally explode. Also, each gun offers different ammo types, for example the shotgun has “pop rockets” which is an explosive round, need I say more? Every weapon and ammo type is as rewarding as the next. The game does not delay in giving you the arsenal you need you survive the wasteland. Another thing that is satisfying about the gunplay are the gadgets. You have wingsticks, which is like a boomerang that can decapitate your enemy. You have remote control cars, which you can detonate around a group of enemies. You have so many gizmos and gadgets the creative way of killing your enemies is endless.

 

The wasteland is big, but don’t worry you won’t have to walk from point A to point B, you can drive instead. Rage delivered the most Mad Max experience, by adding vehicle combat. Letting the player engage in vehicle combat, during their travels adds more to gameplay and is hell of fun. You can tune up your vehicle, with the addition of adding machine guns, rockets, and armor, by attending races and winning Racing Certificates. If you’re not a fan of racing don’t worry, you only need to do at least four races, to win necessary items in the game. The option to fully upgrade your vehicle is all up to you.

Another big part of the game is looting, after you kill an enemy you can search their body for useful items. Unless, you blow up your enemy to smithereens then there will be no body to loot from. Why is looting a big part of the game? Ammo and cash are hard to come by. Also, you get schematics for ammo types, and devices, allowing for some use of everything you pick up in the wasteland. Rage has a set of mini-games, gambling, card games, and even play-along games. Obviously, the developers tried to extend the hours of game play, but even with the little amount of sidequests given to you the game is short.

The multiplayer in Rage is not a first-person shooter, sadly. The multiplayer is third-person car combat; just think of it as Death Race meets Mario Kart. You can race your friends, or just battle it out with weapons. The more you level up, the more stuff you start to unlock like weapons, cars, and emblems. Although, you can’t have a teamdeath match in first-person, you can play two-player co-op in first-person. The co-op mode contains certain missions, so you and your friend can slather enemies together.

 

Rage is a great game that has fallen under the radar. If you're a big fan of the post-apocalyptic theme, or if you’re looking for a good shoot-em up, with amazing an environment and graphics, Rage has everything you’re looking for. Players looking for a good story should look else where, although the story holds up enough for you to continue the game, the ending will leave you disappointed and irritated. The AI in the game is fairly difficult even on the normal setting, but I wished they put some form of boss battles at the end of levels. The game fails to make me feel like I accomplished something. The game is short even with sidequests and playable mini-games, but you can squeeze a few more hours in with the multiplayer and co-op missions.