Rage Review

Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, Doom 3D, ...

id has a legacy of first person shooters that not only helped define the genre, it perhaps single-handedly sculpted its defining aspects and tropes.
It's not unsurprising then that after so many years of silence and hard work on their latest franchise, the stakes were bigger than the distance I tend to keep from Activision.

But did Rage hold up to the hype? Unfortunately the question is more, could Rage ever really stand up to the hype?

I could sum the PC version of the game up in one brilliant picture:








The PC version of Rage is Fubar, and although game releases for that particular platform very rarely ever went smooth, this one has already been listed in the PC annals of a complete cluster fuck due to a lack of correct drivers, and textures looking like they're from the prehistoric year of 2000.
As a game reviewer this gives me a lot of mixed feelings. The technology behind the engine is certainly phenomenal and that is because id took huge risks to once again provide genre-defining graphics, ...
Yet, the amount of problems on the PC release beg the question if enough development and QA went into that platform in the first place?
The end-result is pretty damning for id.

During the Eurogamer Expo we were shown a few early passages in the game, and it looked a vibrant open world. The comparisons with Borderlands and Fallout were never far away, and perhaps by this time it's a reference that's been overdone already.
But playing the game, it doesn't take long to realize the open world and large vibrant wasteland, is nothing more than an optical illusion. At its core Rage is still a corridor shooter, except its walls give you the impression that there's a whole wide world lying open .... in vain.
It's a very fine optical illusion and I think very few would mind playing through it, but I was still reminded of a self-mocking and ironic quote from a Gearbox dev during a preview of Borderlands 2 saying "Our artists did a lot of research, they actually found out there's other colours in the palette"

As amazingly deep and colourful as Rage's characters are, as brownish pale and montone the colour palette in Rage is.

And that brings out another important aspect of Rage. You can compare Rage as a genre-game with an identity crisis. It's a shooter combined with both racing sequences and quite a few what we would call RPG elements such as quests, fleshed-out character personalities, ...
But it's like with Mr' Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the shooter element keeps the RPG elements in check. The world is open but the game still holds your leash tighter than a Beegees pants. Heck, tighter than David Cameron's vagina. And before any Indigned Conservatives start spouting nonsense. Of course he doesn't have a vagina, he's an asexual lizard after all.
But anyway, they included a linear story that still feels generic and bland, etc ...
Rage is more of a cautious attempt of flirting with other genres, but being afraid of stepping too far and for that reason doesn't go as far as it should go.

The good news is, as a shooter Rage is still an id game at its best. You have a vast arsenal of over-the-top and unique weapons that each sound and fire as they should. My favourite being the sniper rifle with a bang and kick as it should be. Additional props also to the Wingsticks, which can be compared to sharp boomerangs you can use when the enemy closes in on you. And don't think Rage makes the mistake of having your melee opponents run into you in a very British queue all lined up to be popped in glee. They're insidious critters hopping and rolling in to claim your head all too eager. As AI goes, it's incredibly good. Also great is the fact that the bullets have a kick and you can see the effects of the impact on your opponents. Shoot them in the leg and you'll more often than not see them hobble towards you instead.

The shooter elements in Rage are all great, and graphically it is a stunning game. But it still doesn't detract from the fact that with the lazy writing, short time-span and too many old clichés in there, it can only be a decent to good game.
Rage is as potentially wasted as its wasteland setting.

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.