Rage

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To the casual observer, Rage may portray itself as just another post-apocalyptic RPG/Shooter hybrid.

I have encountered many comparisons to both Fallout and Borderlands in my travels. While there is noticeable commonground between them, Rage manages to inject enough creativity and uniqueness to justify it's own existence as an original, and thoughtful gaming experience, and not a copycat.

The environmental detail in this game is staggering how realistic it is. I almost died several times while I was simply admiring my meticulously crafted surrounding's. The amount of care, and attention to detail that must have went into developing this world is simply beyond my comprehension. It's breathtaking, and it's the best looking game on consoles.

The gameplay is deep, yet very intuitive and accessible. Honestly, Rage is very smooth across the board. The gunplay is varied, with different ammo types for each weapon. Enemy encounters often require tactical thinking, and strategy. Considering the computer AI is so immensely intelligent, conventional shooter methods of engagement would prove futile. Enemies will smoke out campers, dodge incoming attacks, and always respond in such an individualistic way, that there really is no scripted enemy response pattern. This makes the shooting segments so utterly enjoyable for me.

I was initially a bit apprehensive about the implementation of vehicular combat, as i was concerned that it would would come off as tacked on and half-baked (looking at you Borderlands). My concerns were put to rest though, because this isn't a lazy, reproduction of the character movement control scheme. The vehicle controls are fully fleshed out, and function as well as anything the game has to offer.

The story is serviceable at best. If the same amount of investment went into crafting a compelling story, as it did with every other aspect of this game, then Rage would be right up there with Red Dead Redemption as being a modern masterpiece in gaming. As it stands, Rage is a memorable experience, and a great game. Lets hope the inevitable sequel places a greater emphasis on story development, because this franchise has the pottential rise above the competition.

Pros:

Beautifully rendered characters and environments. Everything in this game looks amazing.

Excellent gameplay mechanics. The gunplay is stellar, with interesting gadgets and devices at your disposal. The vehicle sections are fully realized, and not a tacked on afterthought. The enemy AI will blow your mind, as they scale walls, duck for cover, and even shoot while they are bleeding out on the ground. They are not drones with guns, they are very smart, and will kill you swiftly if you underestimate them.

Local Co-op!! Over the last few years, the online movement has pretty much renderend local co-op obsolete. Not Rage though! And thank god for that. I love "split-sreen couch co-op" more than anything online multiplayer has to offer on their best day. Thank you ID software for not leaving gamers like me in the dark, like so many developers do these days. Rage does support online multiplayer too, for those who were wondering. But it is limited to vehicle combat modes.

Even though the story is bland, the voice acting is actually quite good. John Goodman really shines, as do ohers.

CONS:

The story is merely serviceable, which really stands out as a glaring blemish considering how incredible everything else is. Step up your game for the sequel ID!

This game really doesn't support a checkpoint save system. It will save when you enter a new area, but that is it. Instead, it employs a manual save option. This does not bother me persoanlly, because i like being able to save whenever i want. But I realize that most people find this to be annoying, so I thought I would list it as a con.

In Closing:

The expectations for this game were insanely high. I managed to keep my perspective grounded in reality. I wasn't expecting Rage to reinvent the gaming industry. My hope was that it would be a great shooter/rpg hybrid that would bring something new to the table. I can honestly say that Rage met my expectations. I recommend buying this game as soon as humanly possible.

9.5

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The Good

The graphics are interesting in a kind of pseudo-cartoon way, and are beautifully detailed. The gameplay mechanics are excellent, shooting and driving are intuitive and satisfying. The enemies are smart and draw you into fun shoot-outs, with plenty of variation in attack styles. I particularly enjoyed the Gearhead levels.

The Bad

The story is lacking in depth and interest, and you never feel any investment in your objectives. It's difficult to remember the characters or take any interest in their motivations. I just didn't care at all about what I was doing. Where is the rage? The quests are all variations on kill and fetch tasks, and don't require your brain to be activated at all. The rendering is oddly done, as many have mentioned, with detail popping in and out every time you move your head. And the ending is extremely limp and unsatisfying.

The Ugly

Rage took what could have been an excellent FPS and turned it into a mediocre FPS paired with an abysmal RPG. With graphics and mechanics like this, this could have been an amazingly intense experience. But the 'open world' sections sucked all the life out of the game, with no real consequences to your decisions and no depth to the world you are allowed to wander and drive around. The entire game is really just a very pretty 'corridor', with even the shooting sections having no real freedom of movement. You are always just funnelled down a single line of quests and action, apart from trivial side-quests with no real payoff. Where this game should have gone would be to allow you to actively choose your allegiance in this post-apocalyptic world. Do you agree with the need for tyrannical order, and join the Authority? Are you a democrat at heart, joining the Resistance and the settlers? Are you an anarchist, resolved to make a new world without conformity, and join a bandit tribe? That would have been an interesting decision, rather than having various characters ordering you to go and kill large numbers of their enemies several minutes after having met you.

I had a reasonable amount of fun playing Rage, but it's certainly nowhere near as good as it should and could have been.

Buy Rage Now

*** No Spoilers, just game info.

PRO's

+ Highly detailed, grungy, post-apocalyptic world. My favorite! Fast loading, very smooth running, well polished game. The sky is breathtaking!

+ Control and motion come very natural and easy. Menu's and the option to "defib" yourself back into the game are wonderful.

+ Characters are friendly & inviting; their mission requests are not tedious like other games. I enjoy finding a new location, with a new group of people to talk with, and a new set of missions to accomplish. Voice acting is wonderful. Might recognize a few actors.

+ The Enemy AI is very nice. Enemies will hold a wound after being hit or shot, fall down and shoot back, and make inappropriate comments with others about planning your demise.

+ Open world style, great vehicle choice and driving control, Story and over-all style of the game have a lot of thought put into each detail and aspect of the visual game and game play itself.

+ Multiplayer buggy racing is a lot of fun. I could spend hours just on that. Co-op multiplayer missions are fun to complete, if you can find someone to stay with you the entire level.

+ Game Trophies are not annoying or wearisome; they are fun and will most likely be achieved through regular play through of the game. Keep an eye out for the Playing Cards and recipes though.

+ Wonderful music. Perfect for such an atmospheric game. Mesh very well together.

CON's

You need to remember to save. There are no auto-save or checkpoints throughout the level or area you are in. Can get very frustrating when you are really getting into the game and playing for hours, then die and have to play it all over again. Stopping game play to save takes you out of the gaming experience.

There is no split-screen for the full game campaign. There are side story split-screen missions that you can play with a friend or online co-op.

I play a lot of games, and I must say that this is one of the rare times where I got hooked almost immediately. I did not want to stop, so I didn't. I was amazed by the high detail level, yet the incredibly smooth control and game play. Usually games with such high detail are sluggish and lethargic (like Dead Island). Rage is one of the clearest, most detailed, and smoothest running games I have ever played. Visually you can see for quite a vast distance full of clarity and high depth. Yes, there is some texture popping from time to time, however this is not distracting from the game play and I rather have some texture loading than sluggish game play.

People can compare Rage to many other games, however it reminds me most of Borderlands with a touch of Fallout and a pinch of Mad Max. However Rage has something new to offer. Yes, it is similar to other games, however what game is not? "O, he is holding a rifle, so this game reminds me of Modern Warfare 2". Rage has a style all its own and really pulls off what they were going for. This is a very grungy game, yet it has times of bright sunny skies and colorful scenes.

There are fun, albeit frustrating, little mini games throughout the world that you can play to earn cash so you can buy things in one of the shops around the towns. Sort of reminds me of the little mini games in Red Dead Redemption. Each game is a trophy if you beat the last level of that mini game challenge.

At the shops you can buy quite a plethora of items. Ammunition for your weapons and vehicle weapons, recipes for building weapons or devices, and a lot more can all be purchased from a shop. You earn money by completing mission, racing, or selling the items you find in your journeys.

The Multiplayer is a lot of fun as well. Playing co-op missions have their pros and cons. It is fun to play with another so you can back each other up and revive if necessary. However I have had many times where the other player dropped out or left in the middle of playing which can get very annoying if you are trying to get the multiplayer trophies.

It is a shooter game, not a role-playing game. But it has more to offer than just random mind numbing killing like many FPS. It does have a story with missions and characters, a spacious area and cool locations, and solid game play any fan of FPS or RPG should be happy. It is not an adventure game as much as just a shooter. A lot depends on the way you play it. I have spend hours and hours just walking around looking for stuff. But you can also just go to your destination and shoot anything that moves.

Rage is a beautiful game graphically. I often find myself walking along and I stop just to look around at the breathtaking sky and the powerful detail in each and every little thing. I still cannot get over how smooth the game runs for how detailed it is. This new id Tech 5 Engine will blow any predeceasing game out of the water and I cannot wait to see what gaming future holds for this powerful engine.

Rage has entered in game of the year territory and they have already announced a sequel, maybe a prequel. Any gamer teetering whether to get this or not should not hesitate. It has enough of a variety of game play to please any gamer.

Read Best Reviews of Rage Here

As a fan of both the FPS and RPG genre, I figured RAGE would be something to feed my (hardcore) gaming appetite before the release of the many heavy hitters coming this fall-I'm sure you all know them, no need to list. As I booted it up (after the 15 minute long 8GB installation...meh) and played for an hour or so, I quickly realized that I should have considered this to be one of the "heavy hitters". Please don't take my ignorance for naivety. As an avid gamer and fan of Doom, Quake, Fallout, Borderlands etc. this title still proves to be refreshing among the many (well done) "post-apocalyptic" titles. So far, visuals are top notch, voice acting is on point, sound is believable and exciting, and controls are easy to manage.

Presentation:

From what I have seen, I would loosely compare RAGE to the infamous quote "Good from afar, but far from good". Allow me to explain...from a distance, I was wowed by the massive landscapes and environments that surrounded me. They're, in a word, beautiful. However, when approaching items up close, I did tend to notice rough edges and blurred images. This is not a complaint, but a mere note. I am not one to nitpick too much about these things, especially in a game where battles are so fast paced that you rarely noticed these things. RAGE looks fantastic.

Game play:

The mechanics are very easy to use and to adapt to. Top triggers control shooting, zooming and grenades with select opening up your inventory and the d-pad serving as a quick select. Driving is fluid as is walking. The pace of walking is a bit quick, but I like it that way. Be that as it may, I often slowed down my pace to really take note to the detailed environments of the caves, tunnels and dilapidated buildings I scrounged through. The enemies are a joy to fight and have a mind of their own. From scaling the walls to jumping at the last second to dodge your attack, it quickly reminded me of the splicers who walked the ceilings of rapture in Bioshock. This makes it all the more challenging and enjoyable. Lastly, RAGE incorporates some RPG elements to help sooth that part of my gaming palate in the forms of customization, upgrades and side missions. All of that and a vehicle only multi-player tacked on? I believe that's a pretty good package.

Story:

As I said, I'm only an hour or so into the game, but so far so good. I do believe the story may take a back seat to the rest of what RAGE has to offer, but that is okay. After all, THIS IS A SHOOTER at heart.

All in all, I am happy with this purchase and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys shooters with creative atmospheres. I have read mixed reviews about it's length not being what people had hoped (about 10-12 hours) but then again, many of the shooters I have completed were only about 8 hours. With the existence of towns throughout, this will allow me to pace my gameplay and savor the experience without blowing through it a la any other mindless shooter. Do I believe this will be Game of the Year? No, but it's definitely one to sink your teeth into.

Rage on.

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I read in a Game Stop review how this was going to be a revolutionary game. That the world would be completely open and you could go anywhere etc... This is so far from the truth. First, if you ever played Red Faction Guerrilla that is an example of an open world game. Almost anything you shoot or use the AX on will be damaged or will come crumbling down or blow up (bridges, buildings, vehicles gun turrets, etc...). This is not the case with Rage and I feel stupid for buying in to the marketing hype I read before it came out. I should have waited until after it came out and REAL people wrote reviews like this one. I would have saved a lot of time and money. Also, Game Stop offered me $6 bucks for it so that should tell you something about it's popularity. It came out at the end of 2011 so it's not like it's real old either. My faith in ID software for producing top-notch games has also decreased tremendously.