Rage (2011)

After getting bored with Skyrim, I decided to try and find another game that will fill the time between now and the release of Mass Effect 3 (March 9th). After a recommendation for Rage, I thought I'd give it a go. After all it looked like it could potentially be an entertaining game and it is from id Software who aren't known for making crap computer games.

So after getting this game I discovered it required an amazing 25GB of hard drive space for an install which is to say the least probably the largest amount of hard drive space of any game I've ever installed. To put this in perspective, Skyrim required 6GB and that game is vastly more impressive perhaps not necessarily superior graphically but definitely in terms of game play and the open arena, open ended nature of the game. Bethesda put this down to the superior way in which the textures are compressed. I feel that id should probably have applied this to Rage since the game was in no way graphically leaps and bounds above any other game of the current generation. So this monster took me two hours to install and then a further hour getting my graphics drivers up to date so I could play the game. And then how long did it take me to play it through to completion? Just 10 hours. In all honesty though that was enough because the storyline was a little boring and nowhere near as in depth as the last several games I've played.

So the plot? In truth there isn't one, or at least one that is interesting. Basically the game starts out with a massive asteroid hitting Earth and during this time you are put into cryogenic sleep to wait it out whilst the surface once again becomes inhabitable. When you do eventually reawaken 106 years later, you awaken to find a post-apocalyptic planet where gangs and mutants have taken over the world in a style not dissimilar to Fallout. But this is really where the similarities end. The game is impressive graphically but it feels a little clunky and unrefined and the characters are very one-dimensional. You must fight the hoards of bad-guys to accomplish what are mostly simple linear fetch quests and find yourself up against the main antagonists of the game - the authority whom it is never made clear or at least wasn't during my play through exactly what makes them the bad guys. They are supposedly responsible for the mutant threat but even this doesn't seem to be confirmed during the game.

It had some perks such as the ability to partake in races in dune buggies and trucks and race across the wasteland in style but somehow it just lacked the immense enjoyableness of other Bethesda games. I really feel that if this game had been more of an open-world RPG it could have been much much better. The game uses the idTech 5 engine which does make for stunning visuals and does allow you to customise just about every aspect of your inventory including the ability to build items such as sentry bots and remote control toy cars which explode. The enemies you face also utilise a degree of intelligence such as ducking behind walls and objects to prevent giving you a direct line of sight, usually meaning that you'll have to employ cunning tactics to defeat them. At its core though, this game is really just a standard FPS, nothing more, nothing less.

Overall, it's worth a dabble but it's nothing special.