RAGE

I am about 8 hours into Rage and overall I am enjoying the game quite a lot. I feel that there is two games here that don't really gel that well, but overall I think this game is worth buying.

On the one hand you have a straight up FPS that features classic id weapons that feel good to shoot like the sawn off shotgun (anarchy edition) and the assualt rifle. Plus you have enemies that show AI that is more interesting than most FPS around today. These bad guys will dodge and jump railings and do their best most of the time to avoid being shot in the face. And it makes combat more fun and interesting than something like COD where they just act like cannon fodder. You can also upgrade weapons and create new ammo or buy it with stuff you find in the levels, it adds a Fallout vibe to the game looting dead bodies and scavenging for items , but it's not as deep as most would like and at the end of the day this is not a rpg at all, it's a standard FPS in terms of the main game.

You've also got this driving section of the game that feels a lot weaker than the fps action. You drive from A to B doing missions like delivering "Stuff" to people you don't know or care about, and on the way you must tackle these other cars and buggies that are out to kill you for reasons that I still don't really know or care about. That sums up the whole story for me so far, it's all very weak and just there to get you from A to B to kill stuff. But it's like they tried to add depth to the game by adding these driving sections and races/time trial. I just didn't care for them and couldn't wait to get back to the real action which is the enjoyable combat on foot. You can add rockets and a machine gun thing to your car but the car combat still feels a bit like a after thought and not as fun as I would have liked.

The graphics are very good but do have textures that load a second after you look at the object, this didn't bother me after a few minutes of playing to be honest, I see lots of people complaining about how terrible it is, but it doesn't bother me I just enjoy playing the game. Sound and music is also good, the guns sound like they mean business and the music is also decent and adds to the tension of the FPS combat levels which are dark and moody.

Rage is a strange game to sum up, it's a classic and enjoyable id FPS, that looks really great. Then you've got this Bethesda influence of Fallout where you loot bodies and scavenge for items in the "wasteland" and go here and their to talk to characters, but they've also added in a driving mode that feels very alien and under developed when put next to the on foot combat with it's great enemy AI and guns that are a pleasure to kill stuff with.

I enjoyed some levels a great deal, others felt like a waste of time and dull (fetch quests)with you delivering things in your car that show the very average side of this game. But overall I am enjoying the game because the FPS combat that id do so well is solid and a lot of fun for me. I can understand why people are upset with this game, but when you accept that it's not a epic game like Fallout 3 and just play it as a shooter, you should get a good 15+ hours out of this game. Just don't let the driving sections kill your motivation to carry on as there is a good game underneath the bits that are not so good.

I am only about half way through the game and can safely say I will replay it again, there is a lot of stuff to do in this game if you wish, from mini games and side quests and things to collect in the world. Just don't start on easy or normal if you want a challenge as they are to easy, start on hard to make the game at least feel a bit challenging and save often as their is no auto save most of the time which means you can lose up to a hour progress if you don't manually save every so often.

I feel that Rage is a game that was very close to being truly great, but somewhere along the way all these ideas that got thrown in became to much for the developers to really get to grips with. And in the end they just had to release the game knowing it's not as good as they would have liked. But even though it's flawed, there is still some great gaming to be had here if you can look past the flaws.

I bought this game when it was on sale for £9.99 about 2 weeks ago. Yes, for that price this game is a STEAL! Nevertheless, I wasn't expecting it to be all that great since a game that drops in price so radically after only 2 months is likely to be a bad game. This is not the case with RAGE. After reading the mixed reviews, I was expecting this to be merely playable. Nevertheless, the game is actually a lot more fun that most of the reviews it seems to be getting.

As most people have highlighted, the graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The wasteland is colorful and highly detailed, and the character models are very unique and don't get repeated (except of course for the enemies). The shooting is absolutely great as you would expect from an ID Software game and the fact that it runs at 60FPS just adds to the fun in shooting mechanics. The driving has received mixed reviews as well, but imo it works and complements the game really well.

The downside is that the game is really all about completing missions/side missions without a strong storyline to guide you. The story is nothing we haven't already seen and there is no element that truly engages you. There are other issues such as texture pop-in about 2-5 seconds each time you turn around, but this was not an issue for me. You will hardly notice this while driving or moving around quickly. The only times I actually consciously noticed this problem was when I was crouching or walking slowly in an area full of enemies. Another problem is that you end up being sent to the same places to do missions, which makes it quite repetitive after a while.

The multiplayer component is divided into 2 player co-op missions which are completely unrelated to the campaign, and racing. Both can be fun for a while but they are nothing special. I would've preferred a traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag type of multiplayer, but for this price it's no big deal.

The PS3 version is > than the Xbox 360 version. Something we rarely get to see in multiplatform games. Thus, if you're undecided on which version to get then get this one as it runs better and is graphically superior. If you have a powerful PC then obviously get that Do keep in mind that the PC version still has some issues, although it's mostly fixed by now.

If you want a captivating story and you are picky about texture pop-ins, no autosaves and other minor details then this is may not be the best investment for you. However, if you want to have some mindless fun shooting enemies with brilliant shooting mechanics, 60FPS on console, a relatively open ended world where you can pick which missions to do (aside from the story missions), and enjoy beautiful graphics then this game is for you. ;)

This game is brilliant. Superb graphics, no juddering or blurring and very fast moving.
The concept of the game does remind me of when I used to play Doom on the PS1 all those years ago. This is not just a typical MW type shooter, the single player mode is so addictive. I started playing this game yesterday when I got it and ended up glued to it for 12 hours, went to bed and back on it this morning. It's a long time since a game had this effect on me.

Highly recommended

*****UPDATE**********

SHAME IT'S SO SHORT!!!