Rage Review

Written by Erik Kubik, kube00 Wednesday, 12 October 2011 11:00

Rage is id Software’s newest FPS. The good news is that Rage is different from most of the FPS games people have played this year, and there’s plenty of room in the market for something like Rage.

The most unique thing about Rage is that even though it's an FPS, it has an active inventory and some light RPG elements. The game also takes place in a post-apocalyptic world similar to Fallout 2. This alone is a welcome change to the same old same old every year of Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, etc.

After playing the game, Rage feels one part Fallout 2, one part Borderlands, and one part standard FPS. You’ve got the upgradable weapons and items. There’s a bit of driving from point A to point B, and some racing. There’s a bit of split screen and online co-op thrown in and some multi player racing. The story unfolds through NPCs who guide players as they explore the world. And following the tradition of modern shooters, the game is somewhat linear.

Rage is very polished and the enviorments are detailed. Several times I stopped just to look at things I would normally pass over in other games. Overall, Rage is a very good looking game. I imagine it looks even better on a high end PC. Rage’s release date is perfect, as the game came out right before Battlefield 3 and before MW3. Rage is a good game to pick it up for a few hours play, and I never found myself getting bored with the game.

The best part of the game is the weapons and thier upgrades. There are multiple kinds of ammo, which sets the game apart from the others. In addition to the standard grenades, there are wingdings (boomerang-like objects) and a host of other lethal weapons, which the player can create and utilize to kill mutants.

The big question here is not why you should buy Rage, but rather who would buy Rage? I think the game will appeal to anyone who likes post apocalyptic settings, as well as anyone who enjoyed Borderlands. Rage does a good job of injecting humor and keeping the game play interesting. There are several neat Easter Eggs in the game that play homage to games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. This goes to show the guys at id had some fun developing the game. The humor and gun play are what kept me interested in the game’s 10+ hours it took for me to get through. More FPS games need things like this in their games, as too may of them have become generic.

You can buy Rage brand new today on Amazon for just under $60.