RAGE

Its the end of the world as we know it....

Is it just me or are we getting a wee bit obsessed with the world ending? Post apocolyptic storylines are coming out of the wood-work of late and to be honest I dont mind one bit. I cant get enough. Being a big Fallout fan I simply couldnt ignore the premise of ID's latest offering - RAGE.

Set a hundred (or so) years in the future after the planet has been hit by a giant asteroid and all has gone to hell. The world is a wasteland. A big wasteland filled with small raggedy bastions of humanity, lairs of bandits and hives of mutants. Its a recipe that we are all too familiar with these days. But a succesful recipe nontheless.

Enter the protagonist - an ARK survivor. Before the asteroid hit Earth a series of Arks were created and humanities best were put inside and cryogenically frozen - in hope that they would survive and come forth to re-populate the earth after the dust had settled. So you play as one of these guys. With a basic introduction you are thrust into the wild world of the wasteland, no longer safe inside the Ark. Rage doesnt take long to get going and before you know it you will be introduced to your first friendly NPC, given something of a base camp and a vehicle.

Let me just get this out of the way now - Rage, despite a small resemblance to Fallout, is not a Role-play-game. By this I mean there are no stats, no perks and no levelling up. So it isnt a roleplay game in the traditional sense of the term but.....there are factors concerned that will be decided by player-choice and development tastes. Its up to you if you want to engage in side-quests to earn more money, gamble it away or spend it on ammunition, ingredients for recipes etc etc I'll get onto that soon though. Just ultimately think of this game as role-play lite if it makes you feel a bit more confident in parting with your cash for this product. I do believe that there is something for everyone in this game.

Crafting and resources

Rage offers the player recipes. As you progress through the game you will earn, discover and buy new blueprints for new items. Ingredients for these recipes can be discovered across the wasteland, inside bandit lairs and so on. At first you will unlock simple things such as healing aids, health boosters and tools aimed at progession (ie the lock grinder - some missions contain areas with locked doors but once you reach a certain point you can make a lock-grinder to reach these areas - so it is worth going back to previously visited locations). later into the game and you will have access to turrets and spider like sentry bots, effectively giving you more killing power.

FPS heaven

Rage handles well. Its smooth and the combat is really satisfying. Pop a bad guy in the leg and he will believably hit the deck and crawl away for cover. Pop him in the body and if the momentum takes him he's going down again. Given the fact that you have a decent arsenal at your disposal then it really pays to experiment with the options. The standard revolver can be upgraded early into the game with a magnified sight, allowing precision head shots, couple that with more devestating ammunition called Fatboy ammo and you have a one-hit-one-kill weapon. Of course this applies early into the game when opponents arent heavily armored but thats what Rage is about - understanding your weapons and more importantly the ammo types.
Each weapon has various ammunition available. Personally I like the Crossbow with electro bolts. If you hit someone normally they will react with convulsions while being hammered by an electric current, similiar to the electro bolt from Bioshock might I add. Hit someone in water, or even a group of enemies in water, and that electrical bolt is going to spell lights out.
Plenty of weapons and ammo choices, and some ammo does need to be crafted using the recipes I mentioned. And given the fact that money and supplies are not endless in this game...it pays to flash the cash sensibly and invest in the upgrades that suit your style of play.

Racing for life

I love the racing on this game and the vehicle exploration. Its cool. Its arcadey. Its like Mad Max. Its what Fallout would possibly be like if it had vehicles in it.
You will, after a couple of hours of play, be awarded your own buggy. And then you are free to speed off into the sunset...well, kind of. There are simple diversions available to you if you like the vehicle side of Rage. This game does not force you into racing although you will use it a lot in the exploration side of things as it isnt advised to be hoofing it about on foot everywhere as the Bandits have rides too. There are maybe two, three races that Rage forces you to participate in. This is for main story progression. After that it is up to you if you want to get out onto the track.
Racing offers awards in the style of race flags with 15 up for grabs in every event. Race flags can then be exchanged for vehicle upgrades (please note that race flags are the only means of buying vehicle upgrades - cash wont do). The racing is far from Forza 4 but its fast, arcadey and purely designed to be fun. I'm not very good at racing games full stop but even on the harder difficulty settings I can beat the racing on this game. So thats a thumbs up from me.
Anyway back to upgrades. Vehicles can be upgraded in several or more areas. New engines, boosters, armour, paint and deco styles, weapons; ocket launchers and so on. It certainly pays to win races and spend those flags because it makes hunting down those bandit drivers in the wasteland more fun and yes, the vehicle combat is quite satisfying.

Rage's storyline isnt brilliant I am afraid but then again its more about the action and gameplay modes on offer. The variation of FPS and racing is quite refreshing and the makers of Doom and Wolfenstein do know how to make a good shooter. Like I mentioned earlier this game could be considered RPG-lite and there is a decent amount of exploration to be had but this is not Fallout. Do not expect multiple path conversations or perks - Rage is a true FPS wrapped up in a believable world with options for the player to pursue, or not pursue.

The Anarchy edition of this game offers spiked gloves (brilliant in the early part of the game as they literally kill the bad guys with 2 hits, helping conserve ammo), A Rat Rod buggy (unlocked once you reach the first major settlement in the game) which boasts slightly better armour than the normal buggy and it looks cool, a double barrel shotgun (Mad max style). Finally you get some exclusive armour called the Crimson Elite armour. This armour has combined abilities of all three normal armours available within the standard edition.

Finally if you buy the game new then you get the Wasteland Sewer mission pack DLC. Basically this will allow you into the sewers, several are dotted around the wasteland. You can then face off against lots of mutants and steal there stuff. A nice distraction.

Finally .....

Rage looks great,plays great and is sure to win over a lot of fans.

A good offering from ID and a solid 8/10.

Okay, I'm probably not the only person who initially upon seeing this game thought, just another Fallout. I was wrong, while it is similar in style, this game does what fallout failed to do several times. It introduces multiple environments, outside and in, along with an jaw dropping array of enemies which turn a gun fight scenario into a harrowing "lets get the hell out of here!" Zombie style scene. The variety of weapons is pleasantly enhanced by in used of a variety of ammo choices for each gun, making one weapon into several. The use of vehicles, while not in depth, still provides significant portion of enjoyable gameplay, due to a variety of vehicles and customisations, including big guns!
If I had to give the gold medal to one weapon in this game it would have to go to the Wingstick. A surprisingly useful bomerang style weapon, the Wingstick allows room for tactics as well as just plain looking more skilful than you are.
I would recommend buying the anarchy addition as extra levels, weapons, vehicles and armour maximises the enjoyment potential of this game. I sincerely recommend this game to anyone who likes Fable and Call of Duty, or anyone who likes either of the games to a strong extent.
It'll scare, it'll, test you, and it'll constantly remind you that you chose the right game!

RAGE is one of the best FPS that I have ever played. Although it is lacking a 'shooter style' competitive multiplayer, single player side is so much fun to play and that will keep you busy for sometime for sure. Including all of the side quests, its single player experience is slightly longer than the other FPS titles around. Graphics, sounds, feeling of the guns, movements of the AI are very mature and incredibly satisfying. I highly recommend this game to any FPS fan. Such a bargain for that price!