- May 20, 2010
- 4,020
- 1
- 81
RAGE isn't a bad game. But it isn't a good game either. And here in-lies the biggest problem with RAGE. It's a game that was born without a soul. Now I love ID games going all the way back to Wolfenstein 3D when I was a big member of the modding community, and have played and enjoyed all the ID games since (yes even Doom 3). But RAGE is just lacking something...
Esthetically and gameplay wise it's like a mutant child of Fallout 3 and Borderlands. Unfortunately it's not nearly as good as either of those games. The art style of the game is a mishmash of cartoonish wild west, and futuristic si-fi. On their own neither one of these looks is bad, but they never really blend properly even in the context of the story.
For those of you who don't know, this game is broken into 2 parts. A first person shooter (with some RPG elements sprinkled in), and a buggy racing game. Sounds like a game that's got it all, but in the end in never really excels at anything. The missions are pretty generic overall. Most consist of go here, shoot your way through the level, pick up item/blow up thing, escape, return to base. This formula pretty well repeats for the entirety of the game. Most missions climax by a sequence where you are swarmed by a group of enemies, which typically are not very difficult to take out.
The racing, for the most part is terrible. The tracks are generic dust bowls. The AI is dimwitted. The "rocket rally" events that make up about 50% of the races are utterly frustrating, while the normal races and time trials are far too easy. The worst part by far though is the physics which can send your car tumbling uncontrollably for pretty much no reason. Overall it just doesn't achieve the right feel.
Another issue with this game is that it is just far too easy. I played on hard mode, and only died a hand full of times. Not only do you have regenerating health, but you also have access to bandages to heal mid battle. In the event that you do manage to get yourself killed you can easily revive yourself by playing a defibrillator mini-game. Boss fights in this game are practically non existent. There are a few boss stages, but they barely provide any challenge at all. The end of the game (no spoilers) doesn't even have a boss fight! Just another generic wave of enemies, followed by a 20 second cut scene.
The game really falls down on some core issues. For instance you are given all of the weapons (except one) very early on in the game. This ruins a sense of accomplishment the player would have by discovering new weapons more gradually. There are a few types of ammo for each weapon, but this only pads things out slightly. Another issue is with switching weapons. There is no ability to cancel reloads to switch weapons, and several times I found myself needing to hammer the number keys to switch weapons as it would not work on the first press.
Graphically the game is OK. It does a good job with character models, as well as at showing large vistas which it showcases a few of early on in the game. Texture work is about average. Lighting is good, but at times it can behave strangely. You could be in an area with a brown tinted color and simply by taking a couple of steps the entire area may turn blue. It's hard to explain, but the affect comes off as strange and unnatural. Overall being a new engine from ID I was expecting more. The whole "megatextures" thing was slightly exaggerated.
As a game that was being marketed as "open world" it is exceedingly short. The game clocks in at about 12 hours even if you do all of the races, and what few side quests you can manage to find. The few RPG elements in the game take away more than add to it. There is a rudimentary crafting system which never really feels necessary, and you need to loot enemies rather than simply walk over them to pick up their drops. Something which is more of an annoyance than an addition.
As I said it's not a bad game per-se, but certainly not something that is worth $60 (luckily I only payed $15). At it's core it's a very basic FPS that feels exactly average. You could do worse, but you could also do much better.
Esthetically and gameplay wise it's like a mutant child of Fallout 3 and Borderlands. Unfortunately it's not nearly as good as either of those games. The art style of the game is a mishmash of cartoonish wild west, and futuristic si-fi. On their own neither one of these looks is bad, but they never really blend properly even in the context of the story.
For those of you who don't know, this game is broken into 2 parts. A first person shooter (with some RPG elements sprinkled in), and a buggy racing game. Sounds like a game that's got it all, but in the end in never really excels at anything. The missions are pretty generic overall. Most consist of go here, shoot your way through the level, pick up item/blow up thing, escape, return to base. This formula pretty well repeats for the entirety of the game. Most missions climax by a sequence where you are swarmed by a group of enemies, which typically are not very difficult to take out.
The racing, for the most part is terrible. The tracks are generic dust bowls. The AI is dimwitted. The "rocket rally" events that make up about 50% of the races are utterly frustrating, while the normal races and time trials are far too easy. The worst part by far though is the physics which can send your car tumbling uncontrollably for pretty much no reason. Overall it just doesn't achieve the right feel.
Another issue with this game is that it is just far too easy. I played on hard mode, and only died a hand full of times. Not only do you have regenerating health, but you also have access to bandages to heal mid battle. In the event that you do manage to get yourself killed you can easily revive yourself by playing a defibrillator mini-game. Boss fights in this game are practically non existent. There are a few boss stages, but they barely provide any challenge at all. The end of the game (no spoilers) doesn't even have a boss fight! Just another generic wave of enemies, followed by a 20 second cut scene.
The game really falls down on some core issues. For instance you are given all of the weapons (except one) very early on in the game. This ruins a sense of accomplishment the player would have by discovering new weapons more gradually. There are a few types of ammo for each weapon, but this only pads things out slightly. Another issue is with switching weapons. There is no ability to cancel reloads to switch weapons, and several times I found myself needing to hammer the number keys to switch weapons as it would not work on the first press.
Graphically the game is OK. It does a good job with character models, as well as at showing large vistas which it showcases a few of early on in the game. Texture work is about average. Lighting is good, but at times it can behave strangely. You could be in an area with a brown tinted color and simply by taking a couple of steps the entire area may turn blue. It's hard to explain, but the affect comes off as strange and unnatural. Overall being a new engine from ID I was expecting more. The whole "megatextures" thing was slightly exaggerated.
As a game that was being marketed as "open world" it is exceedingly short. The game clocks in at about 12 hours even if you do all of the races, and what few side quests you can manage to find. The few RPG elements in the game take away more than add to it. There is a rudimentary crafting system which never really feels necessary, and you need to loot enemies rather than simply walk over them to pick up their drops. Something which is more of an annoyance than an addition.
As I said it's not a bad game per-se, but certainly not something that is worth $60 (luckily I only payed $15). At it's core it's a very basic FPS that feels exactly average. You could do worse, but you could also do much better.
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