Rage Preview

Sometimes I wonder. When you think of the world of ultraviolence from Clockwork Orange, wasn't it really just a premonition of the 90's id Games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, and Doom.
You know, the point of the games  is just finding new ways on how to blast monsters, nazis, or really whatever, to shreds. In his presentation at Eurogamer Expo Tim Willits brought us back in time showing footage from the old classics and also gave them perception with his quote "against Nintendo sensitivity". I got the fortunate chance to chat to him and shake hands and now I'll never wash that hand again. Already banned at work for that, but so worth it!

Mind you they were all great games, single-handedly both inventing and revolutionizing the First-Person Shooter genre with its aspects of violence, great engines, and pvp addition. The other side of the coin being of course that it turned the genre quite stale. You only need to look at the recent Modern Crapfare games to understand that point. The genre has got stuck.

Unfortunately don't expect anything quite as revolutionizing in their recent game Rage. You can come to that conclusion by having a look at the background setting and story. A post-apocalyptic wasteland with a world dominated by "The Authority" and a rebel faction quite aptly and creatively dubbed the "Resistance".
It's a setting that's been beaten to death by now like a reanimated dead horse. It proves that even though id has finally had a go at dialogue and story, it really is just a little loincloth covering the gratuitous violence and gore.
The only thing Rage may be revolutioning is even a negative thing. Namely the gaming industry trying to crack down on second-hand games by offering content tied to the original game. Tsk Tsk...

That's not too say Rage is a bad game, in fact to the contrary. I played it during the Expo and had a blast. Of course expect no depth, instead it's like a virtual game of popping a bubble wrap sheet. Except in this case it's popping heads with a double barrel shotgun to the face and giggling like a 14-year old schoolgirl. And really, would you seriously have it any other way?
The game has vehicles but they're smooth and very reactive to the environment. Drive against a large rock and see your character being plummeted to the high skies and his own embarrassing death. Much to the amusement of any spectators of course. The game's engine has an amazing quality of detail that we've been accustomed to by id. It boasts a weapon arsenal that would make the most perverted gun nut drool like a fat kid looking at cake. You can see a few of them in action in the following video. Especially enjoy the floating balloon of death at 0:28 and what appears like an attached propane tank at 0:40.
You can already imagine that player cackling like a mad German scientist.

You can watch the Uprising trailer it here, with a fitting and beautiful accompanying score of A Perfect Circle:



This article is sponsored by id, because I do like being paid to promote violence.