VideoGame Flawed, but still a fun ride
After a brief opening the player takes control of their character and enters the wasteland only to be attacked as soon as he sets foot outside the safety of his Ark. Luckily, he is saved by a settler who takes him back to his town and gives him a few jobs as he slowly adapts to his new life. So begins Rage, a FPS taking place in a futuristic world set a few years after an asteroid collides with the planet's surface. Even the early levels are beautiful, detailed, and flat out awe-inspiring in some cases. The atmosphere created from looking out over the destroyed landscape from tall buildings really helps to make the player feel like they are exploring a only a small part of a massive ruined world.
This is what makes one of its biggest flaws all the more glaring, however. While the game is very pretty to look at, you'll spend the majority of it on a set path that doesn't allow you to move past even the flimsiest barricades, gates, or debris. In fact, its far too easy to get caught on objects than should be acceptable in a first person game where it is harder to see where your character is moving. While a few doors can be opened with lock grinders, most are inaccessible and only there for show. Fortunately, there are a few sandbox elements to help make up for this such as the various games, distractions, and sidequests you can take part in if you want to take a break from the main quest. There's also a decent multiplayer for added replay value.
The game's biggest flaw is, without a doubt, its ending. Even Fallout 3 had a much better ending than what you get here. Anticlimax Boss doesn't even begin to describe it. To rub extra salt in the wound, after you beat the short final level you are treated to a very brief cutscene that resolves almost nothing and only serves to make you feel like the developers simply ran out of time and tacked on what they though would pass as a story resolution. It's kind of like turning the channel during the last 5 minutes of your favorite t.v. show only find that you missed the big season finale. As bad as this is though, Rage still manages to be a fun game thats worth a look if you're a sci-fi / post-apocalyptic fan. If you have money to spare go ahead and give it a try, but if you have to make a choice you might want to pick up a copy of Fallout 3 or New Vegas instead.
VideoGame This game is pure mediocrity.
Hooboy... What is there to say about this game.
The good: It's not a bad game.
The bad: It's isn't a good game either, definitely not $60 good. I'd place its value in the $30 range.
Suffice to say Rage is just plain mediocre in every conceivable way. Graphically speaking, it is simply not impressive, absolutely nothing about it separates it from anything everybody else is doing.
Combat is pedestrian and repetitive, nothing really innovative. Weapons are mostly generic. AI is more artificial than intelligent. And health? It's the same recharging style we've seen ever since Halo came out. While you can carry your full arsenal with you, you'll find the sniper rifle and the shotgun or assault rifle is enough to beat nearly any level. The overall gameplay mechanics seems as if nobody could decide if it should be a Borderlands-like RPG-FPS or a straight FPS game, ultimately settling on something in between (skewing more towards the latter) and doing neither style particularly well.
Story is as weak and forgettable as it could get. Missions are repetitive. Non-outside maps are linear because it's almost all No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom where you can't even jump over some knee-high objects due to invisible walls. Real boss battles are rare, and don't appear where you would expect them to, this includes the very final level. Yes, this game ends not with a adrenaline-filled boss fight, but a feeble mook rush that the player can easily dispatch of with no problem what-so-ever. And the ending... Okay, that straight up sucked. As FMV that lasts less than a minute that resolves nothing. You never meet the supposed Big Bad leading the enemies. Or anyone in charge of even some them. The main antagonists of the story have zero characterization at all. Aside from that, the four bosses the game does offer are wimps, and offer no real challenge at all.
The races are not interesting, upgrade the engine and tires and you're virtually unbeatable at racing. Rally (a.k.a. haphazardly placed checkpoint) races tend to be more frustrating than fun. The entire game world feels much smaller than one, maybe two, average Borderlands maps, consists almost entirely of canyons, and happily falls into the trap of Real Is Brown for the first half and Real is Grey for the second.
VideoGame A Blast Through The Apocolypse
Rage isn't the best game out there but it offers a pretty good thrill to any one who likes games like Fallout 3 or even Halo.The flaws of the game aren't major but you'll have to be pretty patient if you truly want to experience this game.The first flaw would have to be the physics engine.You can barely even jump and when you do there is some invisible background wall that prevents you from jumping over almost anything.The combat isn't original and it can take 3 shotgun blasts just to stun a enemy.The characters don't get development either.In fact the main character doesn't even speak.
The good things though are interesting (yet very easy) boss battles and amazing enemy designs.The best boss battle had to be the giant mutant boss battle.Racing in the game is okay but hard to move around without getting stuck in a hard place.