I don't know what game the guy who claims to have played through RAGE in nine hours played, because it took me thirty hours to get through all the gameplay in RAGE. Maybe he skipped all the races and side quests. I don't know. This is definitely on the top list of my all time favorite first person shooters, right up there with the original Doom (a masterpiece once you get used to the pixelated imagery), Half Life and Halo. The racing reminds me of, but isn't as good as, the wonderfully entertaining desert buggy stuff from Jak 3. There isn't enough variation in the buggy stuff in RAGE; you get to do a couple of postal runs but then there are no more, the speedway has too many chaotic reach-the-frag-point levels where luck is your only friend, and the second chapter at the subway city had no wasteland to explore at all. But nevertheless, the racing is just an added bonus to what is a really remarkable first person shooter. I jumped out of my seat at least a half dozen times as mutants popped out of every nook and cranny at me. On normal difficulty level it's a perfect combination of strategy and just massacring everything around you. My only qualms are that the driving is not fully realized and the money that you receive for each mission could be a bit more so that you can stock up on more items. The graphics are top notch. I played it using a projector and felt like I was right there in the game at times. Can't wait to play RAGE 2.
7 Reviews
Enjoyable and purposefully retro - many many references
ratcat029 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
First off I should point out that my game experience started with Half-life and I have played every fps and 3rd person game since - so you are reading a review from a very seasoned player. The first thing that will strike you is the absolutely beautiful scenery and graphics, that said the developers have spoiled it by overdoing textures. Its just all too "busy" too much going on but you get used to it after a while. It took some time for this reviewer to realise it but... there are references to just about every first (and third) person shooter that has ever been released. For example when you are fighting the opposition at one stage they come out with "He wiped out the whole squad!" Which is exactly as they said it in FEAR but not only that, the voice is the exact same voice. It is as if they lifted that Wav from fear itself. All through the game you will see references to other first person shooters, you can even buy ID's insignia as an upgrade to one of your vehicles. The slimy growth on the walls comes from Doom 3. Another reviewer said it was dated but in actual fact it is probably because of the references to earlier games. Its hard not to have a bit of fun at the race track a la "Need for speed" when you start a game session but the rest is standard mission - reward - upgrades etc, In one part of the game the Speed track person actually says "do you feel the need? The need for speed?.
No problems as far as hardware were detected and it played smoothly and on full settings. A nice sojourn from reality but takes a little while to get into. Remember the RC car in Duke Nukem Forever? Well there are RC cars in this as well but you need to assemble them which gives you an added task (the more the merrier) There is a job board which you can go to in the town of Wellspring and it is here that you can pick out new tasks as well as the standard on-going tasks for extra credits. These credits come in the form of Dollars and car credits, usually 1 credit is awarded for destroying an enemy bandit car. There is a minimum of 5 credits to spend on any upgrade to your vehicles and you don't just get the one vehicle either. At one stage you can have up to four to choose from. Its possible that the mini games are related to some other form of game other than fps or 3rd persons. Enjoyable-Different-quality. but a bit of been-here-done-that which is a bit sad considering it could be the new Doom 3. Doom 3 being an ID production (10/10) that we all wanted to play over and over again. Sniping is fun and effective with usually one hit to the head taking out your enemy but miss and hit his neck and you will be busy reloading and risking getting taken out. You get at least one chance of re-spawning at the start of the game via a defibrillator which also acts as an electric zapping weapon if enemies are nearby. Give the game a chance before you knock it on the head. On a final note it would seem as though developers have taken heed of the average gamer and moved from linear game-play to this open world-ed type of view. The benefit being that one can extend his game-play by many times if he does every mission or side quest. For some this is not so good. When a scary or high science fiction game that once seemed like a really good movie is now a series of short smash and grab games it is a bit of a let down.
No problems as far as hardware were detected and it played smoothly and on full settings. A nice sojourn from reality but takes a little while to get into. Remember the RC car in Duke Nukem Forever? Well there are RC cars in this as well but you need to assemble them which gives you an added task (the more the merrier) There is a job board which you can go to in the town of Wellspring and it is here that you can pick out new tasks as well as the standard on-going tasks for extra credits. These credits come in the form of Dollars and car credits, usually 1 credit is awarded for destroying an enemy bandit car. There is a minimum of 5 credits to spend on any upgrade to your vehicles and you don't just get the one vehicle either. At one stage you can have up to four to choose from. Its possible that the mini games are related to some other form of game other than fps or 3rd persons. Enjoyable-Different-quality. but a bit of been-here-done-that which is a bit sad considering it could be the new Doom 3. Doom 3 being an ID production (10/10) that we all wanted to play over and over again. Sniping is fun and effective with usually one hit to the head taking out your enemy but miss and hit his neck and you will be busy reloading and risking getting taken out. You get at least one chance of re-spawning at the start of the game via a defibrillator which also acts as an electric zapping weapon if enemies are nearby. Give the game a chance before you knock it on the head. On a final note it would seem as though developers have taken heed of the average gamer and moved from linear game-play to this open world-ed type of view. The benefit being that one can extend his game-play by many times if he does every mission or side quest. For some this is not so good. When a scary or high science fiction game that once seemed like a really good movie is now a series of short smash and grab games it is a bit of a let down.
A lot of good ideas, but leaves you feeling a bit...bleh.
Rob_Taylor1 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Rage has a ton of good ideas... a load of minigames, shooting and driving, radio-controlled car bombs, noisy and stealthy play options, sentry turrets and bots etc. I could go on and on.
But the problem with it all is, for my money, a lack of character development. Your character pops out of cryogenic suspension and, apart from getting better equipment along the way, doesn't change at all.
Why is this bad, you say? Well, because you have no driving force behind your character doing any of the quests/missions. You get money and equipment out of it, but there is no sense of personal progress. No sense that you (the character) are improving and doing it for yourself. Instead you end up doing missions to help others and, ultimately, it ends up feeling like you are doing a job, rather than playing a game! There are other things wrong with the game. The AI isn't brilliant and a lot of the encounters are scripted heavily. This means the bad guys don't appear until you cross an invisible threshold. They always arrive from off-screen, so there is the feel that they have just shown up at a run, but in reality they aren't there at all until you hit the trigger for them.
This was brought home when I used one of the RC cars. I sent it through an entire complex, up and down stairs, all around and saw not one enemy. I drove it back to myself, picked it up, took two steps forward and...bam! Enemies popping up everywhere. Someone didn't think that through, I think.
Nor are the cars much use when the enemies show up, since they shoot them long before they get anywhere near close enough to blow up and hurt anyone.
Another disappointment is the stealth options. Sneaking is rarely a plausible tactic. The enemy nearly always spots you long before you get close enough to take them out, regardless of how careful you are.
The driving is quite good fun but, like the rest of the game, ultimately a little repetitive.
Early levels are re-used, with the character going through them in reverse. This actually works better than it sounds and, although a cheap way to get another level, it doesn't feel too forced.
I mentioned the lack of character development. I can hear you arguing...but there is gear progression! Yeah, not really. Most of the weapons in the game are to be had before you leave the first settlement. Pistol, shotgun, crossbow, sniper rifle. You can also buy an assault rifle there. The other main weapons... rocket launcher, authority MG come quickly after that. Likewise the schematics that let you build RC cars, turrets and bots etc. So not only is there no personal development, but little need to do missions to get better gear. In fact, the side missions are mostly irrelevant and I stuck to the 'main' plot missions after very little time playing it.
Rage looks very pretty and has all the trappings of a great game, but ultimately there is a lack of engagement of the player with the world. You just don't really care about the outcome that much. Certainly not enough to do every quest and visit every corner.
Although far from being a bad game, it lacks the ability to grab the player's attention and make him want to play a bit longer. In fact, this is possibly the first XBox game I continued to play, solely for the achievement points. And a lot of those are easy to get by repeatedly doing the Bash TV events until they pop.
All in all, worth it if you can get a copy cheap. But don't pay full-price.
But the problem with it all is, for my money, a lack of character development. Your character pops out of cryogenic suspension and, apart from getting better equipment along the way, doesn't change at all.
Why is this bad, you say? Well, because you have no driving force behind your character doing any of the quests/missions. You get money and equipment out of it, but there is no sense of personal progress. No sense that you (the character) are improving and doing it for yourself. Instead you end up doing missions to help others and, ultimately, it ends up feeling like you are doing a job, rather than playing a game! There are other things wrong with the game. The AI isn't brilliant and a lot of the encounters are scripted heavily. This means the bad guys don't appear until you cross an invisible threshold. They always arrive from off-screen, so there is the feel that they have just shown up at a run, but in reality they aren't there at all until you hit the trigger for them.
This was brought home when I used one of the RC cars. I sent it through an entire complex, up and down stairs, all around and saw not one enemy. I drove it back to myself, picked it up, took two steps forward and...bam! Enemies popping up everywhere. Someone didn't think that through, I think.
Nor are the cars much use when the enemies show up, since they shoot them long before they get anywhere near close enough to blow up and hurt anyone.
Another disappointment is the stealth options. Sneaking is rarely a plausible tactic. The enemy nearly always spots you long before you get close enough to take them out, regardless of how careful you are.
The driving is quite good fun but, like the rest of the game, ultimately a little repetitive.
Early levels are re-used, with the character going through them in reverse. This actually works better than it sounds and, although a cheap way to get another level, it doesn't feel too forced.
I mentioned the lack of character development. I can hear you arguing...but there is gear progression! Yeah, not really. Most of the weapons in the game are to be had before you leave the first settlement. Pistol, shotgun, crossbow, sniper rifle. You can also buy an assault rifle there. The other main weapons... rocket launcher, authority MG come quickly after that. Likewise the schematics that let you build RC cars, turrets and bots etc. So not only is there no personal development, but little need to do missions to get better gear. In fact, the side missions are mostly irrelevant and I stuck to the 'main' plot missions after very little time playing it.
Rage looks very pretty and has all the trappings of a great game, but ultimately there is a lack of engagement of the player with the world. You just don't really care about the outcome that much. Certainly not enough to do every quest and visit every corner.
Although far from being a bad game, it lacks the ability to grab the player's attention and make him want to play a bit longer. In fact, this is possibly the first XBox game I continued to play, solely for the achievement points. And a lot of those are easy to get by repeatedly doing the Bash TV events until they pop.
All in all, worth it if you can get a copy cheap. But don't pay full-price.
Disappointing, but still fun enough.
Rockwell_Cronenberg11 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Finished this today. For a two-disc game, it was surprisingly pretty short. I clocked in nine hours overall, but a good hour of that was probably from leaving it paused while I was eating or smoking. The game was fun enough, but it was admittedly pretty disappointing given my expectations for it. The action was solid, the shooting was pretty generic stuff, although the AI left a little to be desired. For the most part they just stood in cover and popped up and down waiting for you to pick them off. The driving was initially more fun than I expected it to be, but after a while it got kind of tiring.
I feel like I'm selling it short a bit, the gameplay is what made it really fun for me and I wouldn't have played nine hours if it wasn't engaging the way it was. Also, graphically it was astounding. Honestly the graphics may just be the finest I've seen up to this point. Just really great stuff all the time, on that front.The boss battles were really generic stuff, I kind of wish they hadn't included them because they made you expect a little more and it ended up just being the same kind of fight just with a health bar on the bad guy.
The thing that really holds the game back, aside from the brief playtime, is the story. A lot of people have complained about it and I'm definitely one of them. It takes the entire first disc to really get into the meat of the story, and the second disc is probably only two, maybe three hours worth of gameplay in the main storyline. The ending really leaves you hanging and isn't climatic at all. Like I said, it takes so long for the story to get going. Obviously the entire thing is a setup for a franchise, or at least one sequel, which I think is kind of a ripoff. It feels cheap to play the entire thing just to find out that it's basically the prologue to the actual story which we're not going to see for a while. But I guess in this day and age it's pretty hard to find something that is just a stand-alone game.
I feel like I'm selling it short a bit, the gameplay is what made it really fun for me and I wouldn't have played nine hours if it wasn't engaging the way it was. Also, graphically it was astounding. Honestly the graphics may just be the finest I've seen up to this point. Just really great stuff all the time, on that front.The boss battles were really generic stuff, I kind of wish they hadn't included them because they made you expect a little more and it ended up just being the same kind of fight just with a health bar on the bad guy.
The thing that really holds the game back, aside from the brief playtime, is the story. A lot of people have complained about it and I'm definitely one of them. It takes the entire first disc to really get into the meat of the story, and the second disc is probably only two, maybe three hours worth of gameplay in the main storyline. The ending really leaves you hanging and isn't climatic at all. Like I said, it takes so long for the story to get going. Obviously the entire thing is a setup for a franchise, or at least one sequel, which I think is kind of a ripoff. It feels cheap to play the entire thing just to find out that it's basically the prologue to the actual story which we're not going to see for a while. But I guess in this day and age it's pretty hard to find something that is just a stand-alone game.
Unfinished product.
DustinRahksi6 August 2013
Short review Not going to give a detailed review of the story or anything, since it lacked anything important, mostly just doing b-tch work for other people. I have some pretty big issues with this game, mainly with the fact that it feels like we got only half of a game. The racing multi-player was just a dumb idea, I didn't even bother touching it. The co-op was not fun at all. The multi-player could have been something like the last of us multi-player, since both games revolve around scavenging and crafting supplies. Seriously, this whole game seems to be designed around racing cars around, almost like the FPS elements were an afterthought. I would have preferred more explorable areas and missions. When you break it down, the map is incredibly small. There is no reward for exploring, mainly for the lack of anything to explore. The graphics really aren't that great compared to other 2011 games.
Gameplay: I played through the story twice, first on normal, and finished on Nightmare the second time. After those back to back playthroughs, I haven't touched it since. The first play-through offered a challenge, but it's all smoke and mirrors. The game is incredibly easy, the first play-through took me 12 hours to complete. My nightmare play-through took around 8, if my memory serves me correct. Seriously, I don't think I died once on Nightmare difficulty. The game is a joke if you can master it after one just one play-through. Compare it to Fallout 3, something I played through 4 times, and accumulated 750 hours of play time, just to master it to the point where you know every single detail about the game.
It's a unfinished product, it's fun as all hell, but not worth paying full price for.
Gameplay: I played through the story twice, first on normal, and finished on Nightmare the second time. After those back to back playthroughs, I haven't touched it since. The first play-through offered a challenge, but it's all smoke and mirrors. The game is incredibly easy, the first play-through took me 12 hours to complete. My nightmare play-through took around 8, if my memory serves me correct. Seriously, I don't think I died once on Nightmare difficulty. The game is a joke if you can master it after one just one play-through. Compare it to Fallout 3, something I played through 4 times, and accumulated 750 hours of play time, just to master it to the point where you know every single detail about the game.
It's a unfinished product, it's fun as all hell, but not worth paying full price for.
The most bugged release of all time? Sadly an old fashioned, average shooter
Rick_Terminal14 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Firstly, I am a PC owner, not a console owner - so take my comments in that context.
I refuse to review this in the traditional sense - this game was not tested properly on And systems. There are TWO main graphics cards for PC's: And(ATI) and NVidia - how on GODS EARTH did they mess it up so badly? Check the posts, check the rants - this is not the time for anyone to go in to denial about a serious lapse in judgement. If people pay for a game it should work, and if it does NOT work on one of the most widely used platforms available on Earth, then it WAS NOT READY FOR RELEASE.
Clearly, developers see where the money is - consoles right now. No need to upset the rest of your audience.
After a WEEK of messing about and waiting for this patch or that update so the game would EVEN RUN AT ALL we finally get an old school shooter with below average graphics which seems badly outdated in it's design, graphics, and even marketing. It is a "progresion" from Doom 3 - but if you will recall that was behind the times also.
I will spare you the angst involved in getting this thing working (again - check the internet to see what I mean).
Was this game trying to be "retro" in every respect? The graphics are what you would expect from an old game. Out of date. Faces don't look real, and textures for people come from a 1998 developers colouring book - as you would expect from a "multi platform development" (so not a "port" then, eh ID?). Unlike more recent games, we are forced to wait while characters prattle on before the story moves - we are often blocked by other characters or scenery as a 'story telling device'. You cannot move, because the game design won't let you - and simply because all the hype hides one simple truth; this is a totally linear and basic gaming experience. I thought we were over this old fashioned 1980's schoolboy tripe, but clearly not. Example - why can't my gun totting hero jump over a small shrub? Has the shrub got super powers? It seems impervious to grenades! Why am so often stuck by thin air? Forget immersion or illusion. So after this let down you turn to the action, right? Oh dear. Driving is a below average sub game (I found it tedious - also you cannot save whilst driving on patch 1, ATI as it crashes). When the non-driving action finally tries to get exciting, all the tension is removed by the fact that there is only one way in to a clearing for an enemy to attack you (such as a convenient ramp or doorway) - or even worse, what you thought might be an intelligent engagement is actually scripted nonsense. Flick the switch and monsters attack you - oh please. The less said about the 30 year old "boss" concept the better (shoot the glowing bit, jump left, shoot the glowing bit, jump right...zzzzz) Simply for the "set scenes" (as mutant bash is fun!) this game *scrapes* a 7 in my book - but the PC owner can find much more engaging fiction elsewhere. As reference, 7 years ago "Half-Life 2" had superb character facial animation - yet here we are in 2011 with almost everyone in Rage looking like a Thunderbirds puppet. Only vistas look good, and the various graphical effects do not hide anything. Pouring perfume on a pig does not work - and this is ID's newest engine? I am wondering if ID is even aware of it's competition - as I did when Doom 3 was released.
All of this is sad when you see the references to the game's history (fallout, Doom, etc). It feels like a Swan Song to me. Having seen this, I'm kind of hoping it is. I've seen two software giants (ID and Bethesda) look like they are winding down, and meanwhile Bioware are going to charge people just to play the new Star Wars fame that they have already paid for by making it MMO (I'LL NEVER PAY YOU (a subscription)! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!). So I guess these great software house names are going to disappear just like Microprose, Ocean, and of course Grandslam (er...) Let's hope it is a different team working on the Elder Scrolls V - because I just can't take another poor showing like this, or another waste of my money. I think after Duke Nukem forever the public will speak with it's wallets.
I refuse to review this in the traditional sense - this game was not tested properly on And systems. There are TWO main graphics cards for PC's: And(ATI) and NVidia - how on GODS EARTH did they mess it up so badly? Check the posts, check the rants - this is not the time for anyone to go in to denial about a serious lapse in judgement. If people pay for a game it should work, and if it does NOT work on one of the most widely used platforms available on Earth, then it WAS NOT READY FOR RELEASE.
Clearly, developers see where the money is - consoles right now. No need to upset the rest of your audience.
After a WEEK of messing about and waiting for this patch or that update so the game would EVEN RUN AT ALL we finally get an old school shooter with below average graphics which seems badly outdated in it's design, graphics, and even marketing. It is a "progresion" from Doom 3 - but if you will recall that was behind the times also.
I will spare you the angst involved in getting this thing working (again - check the internet to see what I mean).
Was this game trying to be "retro" in every respect? The graphics are what you would expect from an old game. Out of date. Faces don't look real, and textures for people come from a 1998 developers colouring book - as you would expect from a "multi platform development" (so not a "port" then, eh ID?). Unlike more recent games, we are forced to wait while characters prattle on before the story moves - we are often blocked by other characters or scenery as a 'story telling device'. You cannot move, because the game design won't let you - and simply because all the hype hides one simple truth; this is a totally linear and basic gaming experience. I thought we were over this old fashioned 1980's schoolboy tripe, but clearly not. Example - why can't my gun totting hero jump over a small shrub? Has the shrub got super powers? It seems impervious to grenades! Why am so often stuck by thin air? Forget immersion or illusion. So after this let down you turn to the action, right? Oh dear. Driving is a below average sub game (I found it tedious - also you cannot save whilst driving on patch 1, ATI as it crashes). When the non-driving action finally tries to get exciting, all the tension is removed by the fact that there is only one way in to a clearing for an enemy to attack you (such as a convenient ramp or doorway) - or even worse, what you thought might be an intelligent engagement is actually scripted nonsense. Flick the switch and monsters attack you - oh please. The less said about the 30 year old "boss" concept the better (shoot the glowing bit, jump left, shoot the glowing bit, jump right...zzzzz) Simply for the "set scenes" (as mutant bash is fun!) this game *scrapes* a 7 in my book - but the PC owner can find much more engaging fiction elsewhere. As reference, 7 years ago "Half-Life 2" had superb character facial animation - yet here we are in 2011 with almost everyone in Rage looking like a Thunderbirds puppet. Only vistas look good, and the various graphical effects do not hide anything. Pouring perfume on a pig does not work - and this is ID's newest engine? I am wondering if ID is even aware of it's competition - as I did when Doom 3 was released.
All of this is sad when you see the references to the game's history (fallout, Doom, etc). It feels like a Swan Song to me. Having seen this, I'm kind of hoping it is. I've seen two software giants (ID and Bethesda) look like they are winding down, and meanwhile Bioware are going to charge people just to play the new Star Wars fame that they have already paid for by making it MMO (I'LL NEVER PAY YOU (a subscription)! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!). So I guess these great software house names are going to disappear just like Microprose, Ocean, and of course Grandslam (er...) Let's hope it is a different team working on the Elder Scrolls V - because I just can't take another poor showing like this, or another waste of my money. I think after Duke Nukem forever the public will speak with it's wallets.
Disappointing, over-hyped linear FPS
Amadio7 June 2012
First off, I love FPSs. Second, it's 2012, not 1992. Why this game harps on about being from the developers of Doom and Quake, I don't know.Those games were back in the day, I expect something a LOT more these days. And that is my biggest gripe about Rage, it feels like a flat PC game. Everyone raves about the graphics; are you nuts? Compared to Halo, compared to Fallout 3, compared to Borderlands, this game falls well short. You cannot interact with the environment except where ID says so. Jump on a barrel, table or over a low balcony? No, not unless we let you in a specific place. Pick up a can? Only the ones we designate. Go up a flight of stairs with a broken step? No. Go up a completely busted escalator? Sure, because it is a channel we want you to follow. The environment looks and feels painted on, and you have occasional permission to interact. Incredibly frustrating. "Explore the environment - you never know what you might find!" Yeah, nothing. Boring. Driving is a large part of the game and the control system is difficult to use. Unlike other driving games, where the controls are intuitive, Rage's are awkward and not much fun. With automatic homing, bandits fall at the touch of a button. Not a lot of fun, just a chore. And that is what most of the game felt like to me, a chore. There are a few intense battle arenas, swarms of nasties and big baddie out to get you, but for the most part the arenas feel derivative and stale. Want environment and collecting things? Fallout 3. Lush environment and fun jumping and exploring? Halo. Huge range of customisable weapons and ammo? Borderlands. Rage does not do anything better than any other game, and falls short of others in every department. Bring on Borderlands 2.
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