When I was deciding to purchase a new game recently I debated between RAGE and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, my initial reaction was to go with Deus Ex as I look for games with more substance, not story wise but diversity in game-play.

Anyway, after listening to several reviews and one by Machinima on youtube I decided I'd go with RAGE even though they got fairly equal reviews, RAGE seeming to be a little better.

So my impression so far;

Storyline:

As much as I hate the popular post-apocalyptic (I feel like it's an easy way out to make bland environments and go easy on frames) I decided maybe there was more to it, maybe there was actually a cool story this time that wasn't just about bandits/ex-cons running around in the dirt-scape trying to pick on the innocent local people.

First off, it doesn't feel open-world at all...in fact I've visited the same exact places dozens of times but maybe it's my fault? Either way nothing looks that interesting, should i just go discover more dirt?

Secondly, I completely disagree with the Machinima guy on the fact that even though at the surface it looks typical it isn't...it's very typical, the little settlements are predictable...hell I almost predict the personalities in the game. But there was nothing magical or memorable about the settlements thus far.

Very predictable, very bland...I'm really really dumbfounded about why this theme is so popular...everyone is dressed in throw-backs from the wild west days however technology is extremely futuristic. Why did people decide this was the new dress code? If society goes to crap tomorrow should my first trip be to the western boot store to grab me some snake skins? I just don't get it. Or do we dress like Marty from Back to the Future from the 80's? I hate to be so judgmental but where has creativity gone for new ideas?

At this point I really don't care about anything or anyone other than shooting things...which is meh

Gameplay: (hard - which feels more like normal/easy)

I feel like in the reviews this was highly overrated in terms of how good weapons feel because these are the guys who made Doom and Quake, but isn't that kinda the problem? It feels like I'm using retro weapons, I expected more a exciting range of weapons than the typical. Your weapons always feel like super soaker sized bubbly models that somehow shoot deadly projectiles that you can only really tell cause pain from the over the top blood splats that spew noticeably from any distance. It's like they just want you to be able to just spray to get kills.

So it just feels like another hallway shooter, I know where the enemies are, i know where they're coming from. There were only a few moments that I felt a little nervous but even the big monsters that take lots of damage don't fight that well, it's actually easy to fight most things with your fist by jumping around in circles and bobbing and weaving, the threat is only in numbers that you kinda have to make hard for yourself in most situations.

The driving control is very nice ( which you spend a decent amount of time doing), it goes where you want it, surprising using a keyboard and mouse honestly, probably the most impressive part of the game for me. Otherwise though it's very easy to kill other vehicles and win races, all you have to do is stop and let the bandits pass you and it's an easy kill. I even stopped worrying about upgrades. I'm thinking about just buying shields and ramming everything.

Then on top of it, if you die you have to start from some way back checkpoint. Now I don't hardly die unless it's from something silly, for example died just a while ago and that's because I didn't wait for the elevator to level off with the next floor on those last two feet, jumped up and forward and got squashed.

All in all, I would probably recommend this game to a young nephew or what not that hasn't played many video games before because then he'll be easily satisfied by just playing FPS. It feels pretty well and it's easy to feel like a good player, they don't make you loot a tons of crap, everything for the most part can be used and money isn't scarce. However those looking for a challenging FPS with something that adds a new flavor if not a new experience I can't imagine would not be disappointed unless they just really had a hard-on for post-apocalyptic themes.

I wasn't looking for magic, but I was looking to be entertained, and I didn't really find much of either.

Conclusion.

I'm not really going to get into detail with sound and graphics. Graphics are satisfactory I guess, looks like a console port can only look so good with blanket textures that mimic a variety of real life objects, but it's not a game killer, it's alright. The sound is fine, nothing really out of the ordinary, the ambient sounds are fairly good for the most part.

But If you're a tough critic (like me) i don't think this game does enough to impress. It sells like it's more than it is, and I figured that obviously but really its getting boring way too fast because it's really becoming redundant at this point and being the game is so easy you could care-less about upgrades and doing any side quests for cash.

I'm struggling to push on and finish the game, I'd like to meet the Authority(the elite fighters of the game I presume)...however at this point I just anticipate a more heavily armored/better equipped version of the strangely Brittish bandits (although the towns-folk are southern) that won't use very clever tactics to take me out. So far I've had my way and although i could turn up the difficulty I feel like I'll just be more frustrated as It'll just mean spending more time and ammo taking out the same dumb enemies whom half the time I can snipe while out of their reach, punch in the face without taking a hit, or straffing with any weapon you choose while jumping and bouncing around. The game feels very doomish, you'll be backing into a corner and fighting several enemies in a small room hopping around and waiting for them to turn a corner or just rushing and getting it over with.

My only memorable part was the gameshow, that was actually pretty fun but probably because it reminded me of the movie "The Running Man"

Verdict:

7/10 for kids/novice gamers - It's "cool" and not too tough, easy to learn weapons and you just follow the quest markers or easy directions and you shouldn't get lost or confused much. Probably not much replay value though after that.

6/10 for experienced FPS (unless this is just your cup of tea and enjoy the theme) redundant, easy to dominate, predictable and to be expected...nothing you haven't done or seen before...almost to the T which for me limits the fun factor, there just doesn't seem like enough depth. Satisfactory quality but it's like instead of driving a camry you drive a corrolla, nothing exciting.

After spending 60 bucks for this game because it's a console port, I do feel pretty ripped off, not to mention the graphics don't really merit pc use. Had some trouble with Vsync which I had to force through Nforce, otherwise stable framerate, but I'd trade it in if I could...however now I hear Deus Ex is a console port I'll probably wait for games to go on sale before risking losing that much money over not so exciting games that don't really need to be played urgently, nothing new here to see.

I totally 100% do not agree with anything you said but I thought your review was great. If I would have been here looking for a review deciding if Rage was for me your post would have made my decision, I wouldn't be picking it up. Even though we are on different sides of this I respect your opinion more than any other I've seen on here. Thank You for not putting the normal "game svcks" in the header then in the "game really svcks" in the topic.

Personally I love it. I think it is a very well done game. Graphics are by far the best my trusty samsung has ever seen. Anyway this is about your opinion so I'll get out of your hair. Great review, very well said., just don't agree with you.

I personally think this is one of the best games I've played in a while. And i can totally see where you are coming at with this game being being rather easy. But hopefully ID will send out a better graphics patch like they did for Crysis 2. The game has very good graphics and i see why they would release a version which is only 25 gb large. But i have a 1tb hard drive to fill up and im more than willing to make room for an updated graphics version . I dont have a source but i recall hearing that ID said they would release a better looking version for PCs. But great review its nice to see other peoples opinions.

I agree with all of what you have said OP, except I don't think it has anything to do with being a console port. Devs have made incredibably fun games that work great on consoles and PCs; as well as have a lot of substance....unlike RAGE.