id has lost their bearings. Once the most cutting edge PC engine maker, now a console lapdog and all that it implies.
But then came Doom 3. Not a bad game on its own, but it had to compete with Half Life 2, which is superior in every way. But I had faith. I knew id would have something in store for us. Then I realized Quake 4 was in development by Raven (and when I played it and realized it was crap, tears were shed). I felt betrayed. I felt id was tossing the confidence us PC players had placed in it in the glory days, and everything was crumbling down.
Eventually, news from Rage development came out. Of course, I was a bit cautious, given how it was a multi-platform release. But the screenshots looked gorgeous, and it was a new IP, so it could actually be good.
My dream was torn and smashed to bits in the last 10 hours or so of playtime.
Rage has a generic, derivative, unoriginal and forgettable story. You are the only survivor from the Ark (read: Vault) emerging to the Wasteland. It would be fine if the game had the manners to ease you into your character, or at least give you a background other than the rock hitting the Earth, but no. You are rescued by a dude who instantly sends you to kill bandits because he can't and apparently you do because you have nanotrites on your body. And so begins the pinball game in which you are the ball bouncing around everywhere while people send you to kill things or fetch things to defeat "The Authority" (the bad guys). Oh, and the good guys are called "The Resistance". Take that for original...
Graphically, the PC version sucks major ass. Which hurts, because not only this game comes from the company who used to make bleeding edge graphic engines, but also because its blatantly obvious that the detriment in quality has been implemented only to meet the console low standards. So yeah, the game looks great, by the standards of 2005, which was the year the console this game was designed for came out.
Which is a total shame, because this one has to be one of the most beautiful games around, artistically and conceptually speaking. The vistas this game show you are amazing and original, and the character concepts are fantastic. The locations are inspired and unique, and the color schemes are very well used throughout. Regrettably, all gets lost as soon as you look a bit closer. Then everything is a blurry mess.
Gameplay-wise, Rage isn't revolutionary. There are different ammo types, there is the ever-present self-regenerating health with mandatory red screen (helped with some bandages if the health can't catch up), wingsticks are nice but not enough,etc. But that's the minimum we expected. The gunplay is satisfactory, but the same can be said from pretty much all the shooters out there. Buggy combat is bombastic, but tends to be tedious at times, and the absence of real multiplayer in a game created by the Kings of Arena Shooters is a total slap in the face. Coop is half assed (8 missions just don't cut it) and buggy deathmatch is even worse. The single player campaign is good, but not too long and ends abruptly.
So there you have it. The game we waited 6 years for, by the company who created the genre, is a mediocre shooter with terrible graphics, saved by its artistic design. Shame, total shame.