Rage is Id Software’s first game in ten years. The makers of Doom and Quake are doing what they do best with Rage. Rage is set in a post apocalyptic wasteland where mutants roam the land. Society has fragmented into several different cities and factions. Rage will focus on cinematic conversations, fast paced combat, and varied, detailed environments.
First off, the gun combat looks very cool. The main character has a weapon called a wingstick that is basically a boomerang with knifes on it. Just throw it and it will slice through enemies. Other weapons include the standard pistol, SMG, and shotgun. Guns have a lot of fine detail to their look and the sound of the guns firing is great. In dark places the muzzle flash will light up the corridor. The pop up menu for switching between weapons looks very sleek and easy to use.
Vehicle combat will play an important role in the game. Throughout the game you will be able to buy new weapons and upgrades for your car. On the way to the first city, the guy driving the car was ambushed by a bunch of mutants driving buggy’s. The car combat was fast and looked very fun. The city had a theme of having some sort of Asian/samurai influence. The city was full of life and there was a ton of detail in all of the buildings. The city is filled with Leaky pipes, piles of trash, guys playing futuristic holograph games, and even the people themselves have a lot of detail.
Rage includes the ability to create different machines, turrents, and gadgets. Throughout the game you will collect schemetics for different gadgets. To be able to build these items, you will need to find the necessary parts to build it. Once this is done, you will be able to build the item wherever you are. You won’t need to go back to a workshop or city to build them. Some of gadgets shown off were a standing turret, a turret with spider legs that walked around and shot mutants, and a device that can pick certain locks.
Next, I want to talk about the environment and the enemies. Enemies change with the location just like the people in the towns. Out of the surface of the planet, most of the mutants ran at you with clubs and only a few used guns. In the underground facility we were shown, mutants were much more acrobatic. They would swing from the overhead pipes and somersault off of catwalks. The animation was very cool and they seemed very different than earlier enemies. The next area was called Dead City. It was giant metropolis with half destroyed sky scrapers and collapsed freeways. The enemies here were much less human-like and almost resembled Golem from Lord of the Rings. As the guy demoing was fighting these creatures a larger enemy with a rocket launcher showed up. The fight with this enemy was very spectacular. Then the ground started shaking and a Giant 20 story monster came around the corner. That is where the demo ended.
Although a lot of the game had an air of familiarity, there seemed to be a lot of new aspects to Rage. I’m definitely anxious to see more of the game.
