GameXplain reviews single player and multiplayer separately

An apocalypse that doesn't illicit that much emotion.

Very few gamers are unaware of the legacy of id Software. I was a console gamer growing up yet I still remember my PC gaming friends talk excitedly about Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. It wasn’t until Doom 3 that I was able to play an id game, and I ended up walking away unimpressed. The graphics looked great, but the gameplay lacked any kind of hook to keep me invested, often resorting to mobbing players with monsters anytime an item was picked up. Upon starting Rage, I hoped that the developer had learned from its mistakes and given gamers a meaty game to go along with the gorgeous visuals. Did they succeed? Well…

I am a gamer who loves story. It can make a mediocre game more interesting and a great game instantly memorable. I can barely call Rage’s plot a story. Hell, I can barely call it a plot. The game begins with a massive asteroid heading for Earth. Your nameless character and hundreds of other people are put into a cryogenic sleep deep beneath the surface to rebuild the planet in the aftermath. When you awaken, the other people in your pod are dead, and you immediately encounter bandits. Of course, you’re saved and given a small introduction to this standard post-apocalyptic world. Rage attempts to build a mythos around your character, having NPCs constantly talk about the danger you could bring down on them. This danger is represented by the Authority, a governing body that keeps people underfoot. The problem is, players barely see what kind of threat the Authority poses. Sure they try to kill you at certain points and occupy towns, but not once do players see them commit a heinous act. Instead, we’re constantly told what they do and what they’ve done. I’ve rarely felt such disconnect between who I’m fighting and why in a game. At least with the different bandit clans, I can see why they’d be causing problems. The narrative never becomes cohesive and, because of that, players will never care about the people they meet. It’s a shame because there is potential here. It just never manifests.

Fortunately, a game doesn’t need an enthralling story to be good. Good gameplay can makes players forget about the lack of plot and just enjoy what’s there. The problem is I hated the first hour and a half of Rage. It’s just a series of quests that feel too guided, too safe, and too dull. There is nothing that really hooks the player and makes him want to keep playing. But then, when I was finally able to get a sense of Rage’s bigger picture, everything clicked. Each element that felt so disconnected came together and worked. The thing to realize about Rage is that it is equal parts racer and shooter. Neither is strong enough to entertain on its own but switching between the two keeps the gameplay fresh and fun.

Gunplay works like many other FPSs and, despite the futuristic setting, the gun selection is pretty standard: a pistol, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, a bow, a rocket launcher, etc. The twist comes in the form of different ammunition types and engineering options. Players can either buy new types of bullets for their guns ranging from stronger slugs to homing rockets to shotgun ammo capable of adding an EMP pulse. It changes up the strategy and ensures that you’ll be using every gun by the end of the game. In my case, I used the pistol up until the very end. I liked the alternate ammunition that much. Even better was that every gun was available to use at any time though only four could be assigned to a quick select option. It’s been a long time since I actually used every gun in a FPS consistently. Engineering options come in to play as backup to the guns and can help in a variety of ways. Some provide new weapons in the form of explosive RC cars, deadly boomerangs called wingsticks, and turrets. Others can create rare forms of ammunition that are especially devastating. And others can actually help your stats in the form of increasing health or damage for a short time. It’s a good system that allows each player to use whatever works best for them.

Of course, gunplay would be nothing without enemies to use them on and Rage provides a wide assortment of bad guys. There are various clans that all behave differently and while certain strategies work with all of them, you’ll be forced to change things up just enough to feel the difference. But what really makes these enemies click is the way they move. I’ve rarely seen more mobile enemies than these. They jump off walls, flip over barriers, scurry across ceilings, and never stop coming at you. Even if they only have melee weapons, they’re still a threat and can easily overwhelm you with how quick they are. Those that aren’t quick make up for it with tactics; hiding behind cover, blind firing, pressing an attack or retreating when things look bad. The AI at play here is incredibly impressive. However, the enemies can simply take too much damage. It became ridiculous at time where I would unload bullets into their head and half a clip later, they’d finally be dead. Some ammo works better than others, but it’s always the rarer stuff. It feels like an artificial way of increasing difficulty.

The other half of the gameplay is the driving sections. The world of Rage is rather big and the quickest way to get around is with buggies and cars. In each of the two hub cities in the game, players can sign up for races to earn certificates that they can then spend on car upgrades. These upgrades increase the armor, handling, or change up the look. The races themselves are never that difficult and have four different variations. Time Trial is a race against the clock, Pure Race is racing with no weapons, Rocket Race is racing with weapons, and Rocket Rally where the player competes to reach checkpoints first. While the races are only necessary a few times in the game, earning certificates is worthwhile since it will help the player ward off wandering bandits in the Wasteland. They never posed too much of a threat, but I made sure to keep my vehicle well-armed each time I went out. Machine guns and rockets are the standard, but players can also equip four sub-items that range from defensive shields to mines to a concussive pulse.

The racing and shooting sections do a good job of making the game fun, but Rage tries to add more variety with side missions and betting games. The side missions are pretty standard and usually force the player to return to a previously cleared area to retrieve an item. It gets old quick because barely anything new is added to the experience. However, there are a few side missions where the player takes the role of a sniper and has to protect a caravan while it travels from one area to another. It’s not always the most exciting but at least it’s something different. And that’s the problem with the side missions, they’re tedious. Fortunately, the betting games offer some fun. There’s a dice game, a knife game like in Red Dead Redemption, and, strangely enough, a collectible card game. All of them are nothing more than distractions, but they can be nice ways to earn a little extra cash. There's also a gladiator arena where players can take on waves of enemies in exchange for money. However, it's in a separate area from the hub city, and I often had trouble finding it again due to the lack of a world map.

The first thing anyone will notice about Rage is how absolutely gorgeous it is. The world is extremely detailed, and the characters have a nice mix of stylization and realism. Character movement is also impressive both in the way they move and gesture. However, the package isn’t perfect. Despite an 8GB install on my PS3, the textures still failed to load more times than I can count. In one instance, I was able to watch each graphical layer of texture form on my car. It doesn’t detract from the gameplay, but it immediately takes you out of this world. What is unfortunate is that the load times are surprisingly long despite the install. Each time a new area is entered, you can expect to wait 5 to 10 seconds for the game to load it making it especially bad during races when the load screen popped up before and after each race. The world itself also lacks any kind of interactivity. Objects can't be picked up and thrown and incidental items like vases can't be shattered. The sound design is minimal but effective enough. Screams from mutants can give you chills and the guns sound powerful if a bit tinny. The music usually only plays during tense scenes and allows the ambience to set the mood most of the time. The voice acting is actually quite good with some noticeable talent filling some of the roles. It’s just a shame they weren’t voicing interesting characters.

Rage doesn’t illicit much emotion from me. It doesn’t make me love the game or outright hate it. The story isn’t memorable, but there is fun to be had in its 12-15 hour runtime. Gamers looking for another take on the post-apocalypse may enjoy it and loyal id fans shouldn’t be disappointed. Rage just failed to connect with me. Perhaps it will do better with you.

Whether on the road or part of a legend, it's surprisingly fun.

After the somewhat disappointing single player, I didn't have much hope for the multiplayer. But to my surprise, I ended up having a lot of fun with both of the available modes. Road Rage centers on car combat between four players and has several different modes to choose from. Chain Rally tasks each player with driving though rally points and taking out opponents in order to achieve the highest score. The more rally points you consistantly drive through, the higher your score multiplayer will be. It really pushes the players to learn the maps, the spawn points, and the fastest way to each one. Add in some Twisted Metal-styled combat and you have a high pressure mode that's incredibly fun. Triad Rally is essentially the same as Chain Rally except that in order to score, players must reach three rally points in a row. If another player gets one before you, then your chain is broken and you must start over. I don't think it's quite as fun as Chain Rally, but it has its moments.

Meteor Rally is all about collecting fallen meteors and driving them to capture zones in order to score. It's very similar to Chain Rally but the extra element of returning with the meteor adds some challenge. Finally, there's Carnage mode which is the typical free-for-all deathmatch. It's here that I got a full sense of Twisted Metal, but it still felt unique thanks to the available car upgrades. As you play through Road Rage, points are earned which unlocks new weapons, sub-weapons, and body types. It allows for a healthy amount of customization and choosing which sub-weapons to take into matches changes up the dynamics quite a bit. No one person feels overpowered. It's not what I expected of Rage, but I certainly enjoyed it.

The other multiplayer mode is Wasteland Legends. In it players can team up with a partner in either splitscreen or online to take on co-op missions that tell side-stories of characters you've likely forgotten about in the single player. However, the fun of the mode can't be denied, and it's great to have a partner to take on the hoards of enemies. Strategies can even be used with one player going close range to absorb attacks while another holds back with long range weapons. Each of the nine missions is fun and unique, offering something slightly different in each case. The only problem is that there are only nine missions. They can be taken on at higher difficulties, but it won't be long until you see everything there is to see.

Rage's multiplayer is a fun distraction, and I can see plenty of gamers getting addicted to the car combat and upgrading system. It's more fun to trick out your car and seeing the differences rather than upgrading a soldier but not really seeing the changes. Wasteland Legends is also a great way to get your friends in the action. Unfortunately, I can't see either mode having much staying power. It's a great ride while it lasts though.