Rage Initial Impressions

Tuesday saw the launch of a few highly anticipated games. NBA 2K12 and Dark Souls had gamers at my local store lined up well before midnight. But I was there for only one thing: Rage. Id Software's latest first person shooter/Racer/Post-apocalyptic simulator has been in the works for years, and has finally been released. I've played for a few hours, and I've got a few things to say.

Is this Rage, Fallout, Borderlands, Red Dead Redemption, or an actual desert? Let's find out!

I guess you could say I am a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre. There's just something about the idea of walking around a desolate world fighting off zombies, mutants, and raiders that scratches an itch. So when I first heard about Rage, you can bet I was excited. That was, however, a few years ago. 

"A few years? Hah. Pansy."

So, yea, maybe I decided to skip the hype and wait until a few days before the game came out to care about it. I believe that people are more and more influenced by hype today that it begins to influence how we perceive how the actual product has come out. I prefer to go into something I already know I'm going to buy with as little outside information as I can so I can decide how I feel about the game rather than looking out for things that other people have noticed. 

[Minor story spoilers follow]

So the game begins with a rather effective cut scene showing the cause of the soon-to-be apocalypse, a huge asteroid, flying through our solar system. It really sets a mood of helplessness as we see it smash through Jupiter's ring, violently skim off of the moon, and  gives a major sense of scale when it finally smashes into the Earth. 

The player then wakes up from his Ark, a sort of life pod that stored people underground until it was safe to emerge to the surface again. You gain control of your character, listen to a recording from the president giving some back story, and then dramatically emerge from the Ark into the blinding wasteland. Whereupon you are almost immediately attacked by raiders and are nearly killed. 

Luckily, the player is saved by Dan Hagar, voiced by John Goodman (who seems to be the only recognizable big name actor in the cast). He explains that the wasteland is quite a dangerous place, and that Ark survivors such as yourself go for a high price to the Authority, who seem to be a highly organized force in the wasteland. From there your game begins in earnest, and the story more or less drops away.

[End minor story spoilers] 

As I've only been playing for a few hours, I only wanted to give my impressions of the game so far. This won't be a comprehensive review, but it should be enough to help you decide whether or not you would enjoy the game.

My first, and probably the most obvious observation, is how similar things are to the Fallout series. The Arks (Vaults), being blinded as you emerge from it, the wasteland, the mutants (ghouls), and the fact that it's published by Bethesda all draw a few similarities to Fallout. Hell, I even found a Vault Boy Bobblehead in the game.

No, I'm serious. This is in Rage. It's even called a Vault Boy Bobblehead.

That's not to say that's a bad thing. My favorite game of all time is Fallout 3. But while the similarities are all there, this game really isn't at all like Fallout. The wasteland of Rage has an even more desert-like feel to it than the wastelands of Fallout 3 or even New Vegas, which was actually set in a desert. The gunplay is also much more front and center in Rage. As an Id title, the creators of Doom, Quake, and the first person shooter genre in general, the shooting is much more solid than anything Fallout has to offer. Finally, Rage, while having some crafting and item gathering mechanics, is nowhere as deep as a Fallout title. But that is fine, because it isn't trying to be Fallout, it's trying to be Rage. So let's look at some of the good and bad aspects.

First off, the Good. As I'm sure everyone knows by now, Rage is a gorgeous game. I'm currently playing it on the Playstation 3, but from what I understand (despite some PC issues currently), Rage runs well on all platforms. Not only does Rage look great, but it runs great too. So far I haven't run into any slow down or lag during even the most intense shootouts.

 The world of Rage is beautifully crafted. While walking through the first Raider hideout, I actually caught myself stopping to stare out from a balcony across the bleak but stunning vista. The environments are highly detailed, and I don't remember ever spotting a repeating texture or redundant environment anywhere. 

Yes. The game actually does look this good on console. Well, with a catch....

Sure, it may look good, but how does it play? Well, with Id's pedigree, you can expect it to handle very well, and it does. Shooting is solid, and the guns sound powerful and deadly as you fire them. There are several different raider clans in the game, and they all require different and unique tactics. The Ghost clan is stealthy and agile, which requires you to be quick on your toes, while the Wasted clan is more tactical and reserved, even retreating if things start going badly. This keeps your head in the game and makes sure the game doesn't get stale, which would happen if you were to have to fight the same enemies in different skins and with different health values.

Another surprise in this game was how well the driving segments handle. Usually in a game such as this the driving is shoehorned in and controls passably at best (I'm looking at you Borderlands...Shame on you). But in Rage, driving is an integral part of the game. You will be upgrading your vehicles with better guns, engines,  tires, and so on throughout the game. Vehicle combat is both surprisingly simple, and surprisingly fun. There is an auto lock on feature to the weapons on the vehicle, but strategy and skill is still necessary through positioning and use of power up and repair items. 

So far, there has been plenty to do. There are all of the side missions you would expect in a game like this on top of the main quests, such as racing, an arena-type area called Mutant Bash TV, delivery missions, and odd jobs to do, as well as mini games such as five finger fillet (think the knife trick in Aliens, or the mini game from Red Dead Redemption) and a full fledged collectible card game called Frenzy (which, thankfully, is nowhere near as complicated as Caravan from New Vegas, or as stupid as Triple Triad from Final Fantasy VIII). 

"You've activated my trap card: Spider Turret!"

But the game is not perfect. Alas, time for the Bad. Texture pop-in is rampant. Nothing too big or bad, like a whole town popping up out of nowhere, but it's a lot of little stuff that is immediately noticeable. Right when you first wake up from your Ark pod, you'll see textures slowly form on all of the other pods, the walls the floors, the doors, the items, basically anything you look at, a texture will pop up on it a half a second later. Right now the internet isn't helping me with answering this, but this seems to be true on all versions of the game, and especially the PC version. However, Bethesda has said they are working on the PC problem, but I haven't been able to find any info on whether the console problems will be patched, or if it even is a problem on all of the consoles or just the Playstation 3. G4TV.com has a comparison video, but I still can't really tell which one is better off. 

Also, if you are a big fan of story, you may be a little disappointed. It's not that the story is bad, it's that there really isn't one. After stepping out of the Ark, there isn't really any motivation for the character to be doing what he's doing other than the fact that he owes some people favors. Granted, I am only a few hours into the game, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of clear antagonist or character motivation for the main character. Just don't expect an epic or sweeping tale from Rage. Id isn't really known for their storytelling ability, but rather for making fun and good looking games.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the whole install scandal. You see, to have a game this beautiful on console, the textures need to be read from the hard drive. That meant that for the Playstation 3, an 8 gigabyte mandatory install was necessary to get it to where it is. For the Xbox 360, it was 3 discs and a 22 gigabyte optional install. Naturally, this upset some people. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 launched with 20 Gigabyte hard drives, and although larger ones are available (a bit trickier on PS3), many are upset about the need to buy a larger hard drive for one game. This applies mainly to Xbox 360 owners, due to the fact that the 22 GB install is larger than the standard 20 GB hard drive can hold. It wasn't a problem for me, but it is a problem worth mentioning. 

"Come on, guys, all you need to play is this simple server set up in your home!"

Those are my impressions on Rage. If I had to sum up the game so far in words, I'd have to say I'm enjoying it. If I had to sum it up with an Arbitrary Number, I would give it a 412/436. If you're a fan of shooters, of post-apocalyptic settings, or brief appearances by John Goodman, this is your game.

"You mark that frame an 8 and you're in a world of pain. A world of pain."

Wow. I made it through the whole article without one Mad Max reference. Guess I should just walk away. Oh, damn it. Couldn't resist.