RAGE

So RAGE came out last week. Developed by id Software, the creators of Doom and Quake, and published by Bethesda Softworks. This post-apocalyptic world is full of bandits, mutants, and the "Authority". There is a lot of content that you can do in this game.  The downside is that most of the extra content is not really as deep as it may first appear. This does not take apart from the fact that the game is extremely gorgeous with the open world environment feeling alive. So inside this review you can check for all the good, the bad, and the ugly of what RAGE has to bring.

So the story is that you are a ARK survivor. Before there was this wasteland the world was thriving. It was not until a meteor hit the earth that caused it to become the way it is now. The ARK program was made in order to ensure the survival of some technology and mankind. You wake up not sure what the year is only to be quickly attacked by bandits. Saved by a local villager you go with him back to the town of Hagar. With the "Authority" looking for ARK survivors and paying for them you need to blend in. This is where RAGE starts out. You are now in control and go on the first of many quests that will explain more of the world and all that has happened in your sleep.

The game play for this game is very mediocre with nothing to memorable about it. This is one of the downsides to RAGE. The game just feels like another shooter with only so many weapons where you can do some minimal customization, along with change the ammo type. The characters are very well done and look good but most of the game is them telling you to do stuff for them while they work on something. The game does go from fetch quest to fetch quest with a couple "dungeons", where you go into a bandit stronghold, authority place, etc, where you will then just do some task that you were sent out to do. These can get tedious after a while but they do help the story along. There are so many different elements of game play though none of them feel as complete for example, there is a trading card game where you can challenge this guy to this game where you collect cards in the game and can challenge this one guy. The problem here is that it is the one guy with another guy later. This does not really make collecting the cards worth a lot of the time. Another thing would be the racing, though fun it is  a couple tracks over and over with them occasionally reversing the direction you drive. You then win these racing tickets that let you get upgrades for the few vehicles you get in this game. So this game does many things but none of them are anything more then a distraction from the main quest and can be left alone. The saving grace of this game is the combat, with some items you can craft, you can make RC cars that have bombs and can explode, there is also the wingstick that can be thrown and sometimes breaks but does good damage against enemies. The guns feel a little weak considering how many shots it takes to down an enemy but ammo is not always in short supply. The enemy AI feels good with them avoiding grenades and staying behind cover and taking shots at you when they can.

So what works for this game would be the combat and the enemies along with the beautiful world. This makes the game enjoyable for the most part, with the good level of difficulty and pacing. The game has a good steady pace with a couple alternate tasks in between missions to keep yourself from getting burnt out. The game fails when it comes to the added side content. This is not fleshed out and does not make it worth doing more then the first couple times. The added racing is not terrible but it does feel extremely easy as long as you know what you are doing.

So this game is available for the Xbox 360 , PS3, and PC. This game is a good title with some minor things that do keep it from being a great one. It does have its similarities to Borderlands but it is completely different and they should not really be compared. I am having a good time playing RAGE and I think that it is a good game but for people who want the best, should hang on to their money. I would give this game a 8.5/10 it is good, takes some time to complete and it is gorgeous plays well in the combat with just the added stuff feeling useless. I would buy it again but maybe wait for price to drop before purchasing.