Rage

Two decades worth of genre defining first-person shooters have made id Software one titan of a developer. Their games always put simplicity over depth, with the majority of their work being boiled down to corridor shooters with no other objective other then ‘shoot everything’. This may sound inferior compared to any other experience you’ve had with a video game of late, thanks to the creative powerhouse the game industry has become, but like I said – two decades worth of games like Doom and Quake. It’s inevitable that you’ve heard of them, and though id’s pattern of monosyllabic genius continues with Rage, it veers off course quite a bit around the edges while still keeping the core ‘id shooter experience’ as the backbone of it all.

Rage, at first glance, is easily compared to Fallout thanks to its wide, desolate, dusty landscapes and post-apocalypse theme. It’s even more comparable to Fallout, however, thanks to the game having almost the exact same opening premise and the fact that both games have identical publishers. The game commences with the player stepping out of an Ark, an underground structure designed to keep humanity alive during the then-impending asteroid strike on the Earth. It’s a century after the apocalypse, and within seconds of stepping outside of the Ark, you’re attacked and saved all in the same moment by the voice of John Goodman with a sniper rifle. Rage doesn’t waste time before throwing you into the action. After a short drive, you’re given a pistol and are told to kill a bunch of guys.

And so your journey begins...

The narratives in previous id games have never really been anything to brag about, with the story acting as a sort of catalyst enabling you to get from shooting sequence to shooting sequence. While Rage does improve on this, the game’s campaign is essentially an amalgamation of forgettable characters, locations, and objectives that give you about as little a story as necessary whilst piling on the opportunities to shoot, drive, and blow stuff up. This is particularly noticeable early on, with the first handful of missions being a means to get yourself your first car, some new weapons, and some armour. That said, this issue almost isn’t an issue at all thanks to the fact that Rage plays like an id game. It’s fast, brutal in spots (on the harder difficulties), and loud. The shooting is the best I’ve experienced this year, with weapons like the shotgun having some real heft behind them making the game an absolute blast to play through.

It is indeed a shame that Rage’s story is so flat, because the world and those that inhabit it make for a truly spectacular sight. It’s safe to say that John Carmack has done it again, with id Tech 5 demonstrating the still untapped potential of current generation hardware. I say this because, even though I reviewed the PC version of the game, it is still very obviously limited (visually) by the console versions of the game. Though the PC version can look better and run faster than its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts, the game suffers from the worst screen tearing I’ve ever seen and some noticeable texture pop-in. The pop-in is minor on the PC, however, and the game looks simply stunning in spots – until you look a bit closer, as many environmental details like pipes, trash, and furniture can look…ugly. In amongst the beautiful yet nasty-up-close world of Rage are some of the most intricately detailed and well animated characters I’ve ever laid eyes on. They have an almost Pixar-like feel to them, with character’s eyes darting about the place if they’re a little crazy, and people’s arms being animated during conversation in such a way that is unique to Rage.

Pretty, right?

It isn’t just story non-player characters that move so well; all enemies in Rage have a similar amount of animated splendour to them, which is part of what makes Rage such a satisfying shooter. Sure, Rage is a bit of a corridor shooter, and enemies will typically be psyched about running toward you – boring, right? Certainly not. Try shooting at a mutant that’s charging at you with intense bloodlust, and he’ll simply find a way to evade the shots in a way that’s reminiscent of parkour. All of this evasion is dynamic, from ducking and rolling to climbing along pipes and jumping off of walls. The way your opponents react to getting hit is also a joy to look at, so long as you don’t take that the wrong way – I don’t actually revel in the pain of others. Seeing someone collapse after getting shot in the leg has been done before, but not in the same way Rage does it. Having an enemy grab his face, scream in pain, but continue to run for a few seconds after has also been done before, but not like Rage. It all looks natural, and again – it’s what makes the shooting in Rage a real ‘ride’ when compared to other shooters.

Aside from the decimating of mutants and general id mayhem that Rage induces, there’s also a car competent to the game that gets you from A to B. It’s part of the many diversions from the main plot of the game, with racing and car combat events being available at each of the two towns you’ll visit. The vehicles are all dilapidated to fit in with the wasteland aesthetic of the world, and are upgradable with better armour, wheels, and weapons. While I didn’t find myself upgrading the vehicles or racing them too often, it’s a good divergence along with mini-games planted around the world like five-finger fillet and a Magic: The Gathering-esque card game. They all offer their own challenge, though I found Rage’s missions and stellar shooting to be more than enough to keep me entertained. I almost get the impression that these mini-games are simply for completionists, and while I didn’t play them as much as id may have liked, I’m definitely not saying that they’re wasted space.

There's something in Rage for everyone...especially DOOM fans!

The game took me around 14 hours to complete, that including the main story and what I believe to be 100% of the side quest content, besides the racing and other mini-games. I can honestly say I did indeed enjoy every minute I played bar the final moments of the game, which were anti-climactic at best. Without saying anything that could be considered to be even slight spoiler material, the game just…ends. Poor ending aside, you’ve then got two multiplayer modes to talk; one of which being a two-player cooperative mode and an adversarial car combat mode. The co-op takes you through familiar environments telling stories that fill in some gaps you weren’t even aware of in the single-player, such as showing you just how those mutant heads showed up in one of the bars. Though the driving is enjoyable, I didn’t feel it was enjoyable enough to put too much time into the car combat mode. That, and my many failed attempts at getting into an online game of said mode also didn’t help the experience.

If you’re looking for something that both looks like and is Fallout, then Rage isn’t your game. However, if you’re looking for a shooter that looks positively spectacular and has shooting that’s just as amazing, than Rage is your game. I particularly recommend this game if you’re a long-time id fan, because although it may be a large departure from the sweet simplicity of games like Doom and Quake, it’s still a marvel of a shooter just as you’d expect.

Joe Marsden

Visit My Website / View My Other Posts

Creator of this fine mess you see before you, as well as all around swell guy. Probably seems like a total PC elitist, but honestly, he's not - really.