Rage
Review
Has the sage of shooters done it again?
by Chris Davis
reviewed on PC
You Aren’t Alone Out There
Id Software has a varied history when it comes to multiplayer. While the Quake series has seen massive success on this front its other series never really hit the ball out of the park. Doom 3’s multiplayer seemed like an afterthought done boring, but with the way most shooters are going these days you are all but obligated to include a multiplayer component in your AAA title. Rage is no exception to this rule and it is here where you will find that id has not been rather successful.
Variety is something that is easily acquired in Rage’s multiplayer as you have almost every flavor under the sun available to you in the form of cooperative play as well as competitive car combat. The co-op, entitled Legends of the Wasteland, places you and your partner in the roles of NPC characters from the singleplayer campaign in missions that take place canonically before the singleplayer begins. Each of the nine missions detail a story or event hinted at during the game and are unlocked progressively meaning you will have to play them in order to experience them all. The end result is what you’d expect: fun, but clearly needing more to flesh it out. Experienced Rage players will enjoy themselves but those looking for more will find themselves not coming back after completing them.
The competitive part of the multiplayer is Road Rage, a four player affair spread across three rally modes and a classic vehicular combat mode called Carnage. The meat of the experience is Carnage wherein you battle one another to get the highest score before the time or score limit is reached in a decidedly id Software take on classic Twisted Metal. Rally events are fun but won’t keep you excited for long as they all feel the same and with only a very limited level of customization for your ride and a handful of maps you probably won’t be playing it past a week or two.
The thing about the multiplayer is that it has so much potential that it is squandered by just how little there is to do. Traditional deathmatch play screams for inclusion and yet it is frustratingly absent. Races too would have been quite fun and probably would have felt like a post-apocalyptic Mario Kart had they been included. As it stands, however, it is quite a wasted opportunity.
The Attractiveness of Desolation
Seven years is a long time to go without releasing a new game but id found justification in the creation of their new game engine. Called Id Tech 5, this behemoth of an engine has Rage as its flagship title. While the full capabilities of the engine are never explored in its initial outing (developers are still pushing the Unreal 3 engine) it is clear that Id Tech 5 can do amazing things.
Texture detail, especially in the Wasteland’s rock formations, can be incredibly impressive at times and really make you wonder whether what you are looking at is an artist’s creation or a photo taken at Monument Valley. Animations for NPCs and enemies are wonderfully well done with very well hidden transitional animations and movement patterns that make you sit back and go “wow.” As you blast into a charging mutant and watch as they elegantly leap off a wall toward you only to be at the wrong end of some buckshot you will find yourself agreeing with me that this is one of the most beautifully animated titles since Uncharted.
What really sells Id Tech 5 however is Rage’s fantastically smooth framerate. Id was able to deliver a sold 60fps on the home consoles, something that is an increasing rarity in games these days if your name doesn’t include the word “Duty.” Blazing along the trails of the Wasteland and hitting a bandit car head-on yields absolutely no drop in framerate and, despite my best efforts, I could not find a single instance of lag. Id has done a masterful job on their new engine and I can only hope that it gets the attention from the development community it much deserves.
One final note I must mention is that I love id’s style in Rage. Every developer utilizes old assets in their games but id Software has the habit of reinterpreting them for the world they are making next. Within Rage you will find a remarkable number of textures and geometry (a style I would call Techno-Gothic) that comes directly from Doom 3. Dan Hagar has a Doom marine bobblehead on the dash of his buggy and one character you meet later in the game even has the Martian drawing of the Cyberdemon tattooed on his head! Id is clearly aware of its heritage and, while forging onward with their technology they have still found a way to make the old relevant.
Contain Your Rage
When you sit down to name a game its designation has to be something that resonates with the core theme of the game. Wolfenstein told you that you were going up against the Third Reich. Doom told you that you were about to face the minions of Hell and probably wouldn’t survive. Quake, in so far as the original title goes, placed you in the role of a god-like character who made enemies tremble before you. With Rage however, it seems that naming your game after a raw emotional state just doesn’t quite translate to the overall experience. The game’s great singleplayer experience feels excellent until it drops off abhorrently at the end in a manner that is sequel-mongering at its finest and the multiplayer seems almost tacked on at times.
Rage is a solid experience but it shames me to say that the game is not as true to id Software’s legacy. While the development of a new engine is an almost adequate excuse for the game’s shortcomings it doesn’t make up for them. You will enjoy Rage for what it delivers on the singleplayer front, but those looking for fun with friends should hold off to see what the game’s DLC is like. Maybe one day I will get to have a son who sits in my lap and helps me play Rage 3 but unless id Software really delivers with Doom 4, I fear that the magic may be beginning to fade.
8.0
fun score
Pros
Excellent singleplayer campaign
Cons
Multiplayer is lacking
