Rage Review (PC)

Well its finally happened. My beloved gaming PC has at last encountered a game where I have had to set the graphics to low settings. This is a major blow to my nerd ego as I used to pride myself on my beasts potency. However now I must face the realisation that it is finally time that a new computer is in order or else a major upgrade. Due to my recent acquisition of an Xbox 360, thanks to my significant other, I feel it may be a while before I'm in the position to get a worthy machine. So I reluctantly began to play ID software and Bethesda Software post apocalyptic FPS, Rage.

So before I continue, my panic about having to play the game on low settings turned out to be rather premature. Despite the game being played at about 30% of maximum power (that info provided by the useful benchmarking feature in the games video settings), Rage has ridiculously beautiful graphics. Incredibly jaw dropping scenes of spectacular scenery would often have me stop and try to find a vantage point where I could simply gawk and drool. Crumbling cities, shattered landscapes and amazing desert scenes all greet you in the opening few minutes. So the games graphics are amazing, the character lip syncing can a bit rough at times however the is some great character and environment design. We are rapidly approaching an age where stunningly realistic graphics will be standard, so I will not linger too long on the games presentation. The music is unremarkable but more than adequate, nothing really sticking in my mind. The voice acting is pretty good, John Goodman appearing on the cast and I can even recognise some of the voices from my ongoing epic adventure in Skyrim. Bethesda obviously likes to keep the same voice actors with them through multiple projects. Overall the games graphics are amazing but also as good as I would expect for a new game in this day and age.

The tired post apocalyptic setting, despite its beautiful presentation, no longer holds as much fascination for me as it once did. So the Earth was devastated after a gigantic asteroid obliterates human civilisation. Blah blah blah. Before the impact, Arks were built all over the world to house genetically and nano-technically engineered people to emerge and repopulate the Earth when the time is right. However upon emergence you find that a great deal of humanity has in fact survived, eking out a savage a existence amongst the ruination. Advanced technology still exists, but it is mostly controlled by the Authority, the primary antagonists of the game. However despite the clichéd setting, I enjoyed Rage, it has many redeeming features that left me feeling sated after a few hours of play.

So within about an hour of beginning the game, one thing struck me immediately. Rage is essentially the mutant child of an ungodly coupling between Fallout 3 and Borderlands, where Mad Max was hiding under the bed. The bandits, buggies, ruins, mutants, salvage, desert landscapes, sandbox style gameplay, extended driving scenes and a native population of redneck survivors living in ramshackle towns are all represented here. So infact, rather than playing Borderlands, Fallout and watching Mel Gibson back when he was still Australian, you could just play Rage. Considerable time saver. The games developers even inserted some strange mementoes and easter eggs referencing these games. Well it is amusing I guess if a little strange.

Combat is fun and when played on hard mode can be quite challenging at times. The game has the standard weapon selection. Each gun has different types of ammo and can be upgraded from the games various merchants and shops. The weapons are the usual sort we have all seen before but nonetheless, shooting mutants and other enemies is satisfying and rewarding. The games enemies are decent enough and varied. Some of the mutants are very fast and acrobatic as they scale walls and climb along pipes and other hardware jutting out of walls and ceilings. Several huge boss characters and large monstrous mutants add some variety and new challenges as the game progresses. Ammo is plentiful and cheap and you can easily fill up on what you need after each mission in the games towns.

Rage has several expansive driving sections as the player moves from place to place. Each different mission is usually based in a location that needs to be driven to. The game world is known as the 'Wasteland', an desert region scattered with settlements, towns and bandit hideouts. It is split into 2 sections, but they are small compared to the settings of some more recent titles. There are plenty of jumps and long straights allowing for some excellent high octane travel. You are also occasionally attacked by groups of motorised bandits who attack and pursue you within a certain region. They can be ignored or destroyed, the result of the latter is cash from the towns bar owners for clearing the roads. This can get a little annoying sometimes and ironically can happen in some of the more interesting outdoor areas, often meaning you must clear the bandits before you can get out and look around.

Rage uses a standard RPG format, with the player moving across the wasteland, receiving missions from various NPCs scattered across it. You are based in a particular town between each mission. Each town is richly detailed and enjoyable to explore, though are quite small. They remind me of the towns you could visit in Borderlands though much more interactive and alive. The games cast of characters is also pretty standard, though some are memorable, Dr Kvasir, Mayor Redstone, JK Stiles as well as some of the characters who challenge you to one on one racing can have funny dialogue and are designed well. There has been an attempt to add more detail to the world by adding lots of mini games into the game world. A card trading game, 5 finger Bishop (this), some music mini games, holographic fighting robots, high speed mail delivery and a ton of off road races are all playable at each of the towns from different characters. The mini games were not that exciting and sometimes frustrating, but a nice touch. The racing sections of the game are well developed and can be fun to play. Especially the rocket races where your car is armed with a variety of deadly weapons.

The games plot is not particularly strong. Before the advanced people were sealed in their arks, a renegade general set the time to release himself and his men earlier than originally planned, allowing them to take control. They form the Authority and eventually rule over what is left of mankind in this part of the world. So you must destroy their organisation and liberate the world yadda yadda yadda. Nothing ground breaking but it  moves at a good pace and the Authority technology, soldiers and locations all look distinctive. However it seems to be very similar to Half Life 2's Combine. 

One thing really irked me about Rage. Early on in the game I was in a fire fight with some bandits. All I had was a shitty pistol that did little damage whilst my opponents were armed with assault rifles. The reward for this mission was a shiny new shotgun. So I thought great, I'll kill these two, grab their rifles and then get my shotgun at the end of the mission. After I had dispatched the two bandits I ran over to where they dropped their weapons to pick it up. However I was unable to. I was looking right at it pressing the 'use' key but the gun simply sat there. Confused I then checked the settings went through the controls to see if there was a specific weapon collection button. Finding none I retuned to the game, only to watch the two assault rifles begin to lose detail, became intangible and dissolved to nothing. The two bandits I'd recently killed then began disappearing in a similar manner. It then dawned on my that you can only get new weapons at certain scripted events in the games plot. In this age of epic free roaming adventures and in horrible contrast to the games it tried to emulate so much, Fallout and Borderlands, this was a huge issue for me. Being blocked from picking up a machine gun that landed at me feet after I surgically removed the head of its wielder with a semi-intelligent boomerang from 80 feet behind the skull of a giant neo prehistoric dinosaur suddenly lost its realism. A strange design decision I must say and I felt a little unfair, especially when a mini gun is dropped by a particularly powerful enemy and you must simply ignore it.

There is a basic levelling and inventory system, but it pales in comparison to a proper RPG action titles. Armour can be purchased at certain stages of the game that improve defence, but there are no stats or attributes that can be improved individually and no real character creation settings. You can construct different machines and items using scrap you find around the Wasteland provided you have the blueprints, but this feature is serves more of a distraction. Most of the parts can be bought from vendors so it seems a little pointless and time wasting to need to scour every environment to find the right bits. Constructing many of your items is easy and quick, but if your missing a part it can get annoying when your in some difficult location and need the item in question. The game is also pretty linear. While there are extra missions and jobs to be done, they are all based in areas already visited and seem a little over simplistic and repetitive. But if your anal about certain things like completing everything you can, like me, there is enough here to give a few hours of extra game play without it feeling too tacked on.

To conclude, I enjoyed Rage. The great visuals and fun combat give the player a rewarding and straightforward shooter. While it would have been nice to have some original settings and to see a little effort gone into creating something truly unique but I am aware this is a tall order in these days of recycling old ideas and game franchises that produce sequel after sequel. That said if your looking for a fun but standard shooter I would recommend this. Anyone looking for a decent RPG with any depth should look elsewhere. Overall Id give it 3.5 stars.