RAGE is creatively and mechanically bankrupt, but it sure is pretty

RAGE does a few things right. The game runs on the id Tech 5 engine, and it's absolutely beautiful. PC copies of the game haven't been unlocked yet—Ars will have coverage later—but on the 360 the game is an absolute stunner. The engine handles internal and wide open areas with ease, with a solid frame rate and only a little texture pop-in after Ars installed the game on the 360's hard drive. The racing sections and minigames are fun.

[PCRockStar]

I'm really enjoying it. Good stuff Id!
Poor review. Missed out on many factors related to the game.

[StanLatMarveldotCom]

I almost let many of these negative reviews keep me from picking up this game but Gametrailers has one of the best reviews of this game. It's spot on.

[guitarded77]

I got it in the mail today and it's been good so far... the only issues I've seen are texture pop in and some load time (not too bad), after a 7+ gb install I expected it to be a bit faster, but nothing game breaking. I think GT, Gamespot and IGN have all been fair to the game... I thought it was funny that GT's gripes (voice acting/script) were Gamespot's praises. Just goes to show reviews are subjective, I just pay attention to the performance aspects of the reviews.

[JaredH]

The game kind of reminds me of Jak 3 on ps2. The racing, upgrades and desert setting all remind me of it and I'm not completely sure why. I am liking the game though.

[inveni0]

I like that the game is so pretty, and I love the hit reactions on the enemies. The AI is fair, but not perfect, and I'm a little puzzled that there are absolutely NO environmental physics in the game. It is all very static, and that tends to pull me out. The environments don't seem very alive, either. When I was being driven to the first settlement, I kept thinking, "Oh, look...everyone is just standing there, waiting for me to come over and push the action button." It just doesn't suck me into the world.

However, the way this game looks is how Fallout 3 SHOULD HAVE looked...

[da_2pacalypse]

I'm loving this game. Not only is it probably the best graphics I've seen on this generation consoles, but the gameplay is also very fun, along with the fact that there is tons of side quests. I wish there was story co op though. nevertheless, this is a poor review

[Gamer-Z]

@StanLatMarveldotCom

Yeah I like Gametrailer's reviews, i find their reviews to be reasonable and not as biased as some of the other guys.

[Christopher]

I just want to reply to one item from the article.

*** The Authority seems to be bad, and no one has really explained why, but that's fine; you seem perfectly content to just slaughter whoever your new friends tell you deserves death.***

I just started the game and had my first talk with Phallinx Hagar. And what does he say (approximately)? "Your that Ark feller? Haven't seen much of other Ark survivors since the Authority came around and started killing them all."

Color me f'n surprised, but when there's a group of people specifically killing other Ark survivors, you sure as heck can bet I don't give a rats arse what they think and I'll kill them whenever I get the chance.

And this is barely 5 minutes into the game. I'm told straight from the get-go that, hey, these people like killing you type of people. Sounds like enough motive.

Perhaps they don't build upon it enough for the author, but if I can get that much in only 5 minutes...

[Neoninja]

I like many feel that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but darn dude! I agree that its not so much of a story, and it is more linear than what I expected, but other than that I think its a pretty good game. The review also didn't mention key things like gunplay, animation, enemy ai, etc. By no means a skip in my opinion, but you know that old saying.

[Godmars290]

What you bring up leans towards the "it sure is pretty" part of his opinion.

One thing I'd like to know, as someone who's never been a Rage fan, is are there only human enemies? No animals?

@Neoninja:
You mean the *HUMAN* shaped mutants? The ones in the trailer that are a few stories tall?

Just saying, as much of an issue has been made of textures, just looking at trailers I can see that Borderlands and Fallout have more monster verity.

[Neoninja]

As far as I'm aware the closet thing to animal enemies would be mutants. They come in a few different variations.

@Godmars290:
Its more than just human shaped mutants. I don't want to give too much away do to spoilers, but all the mutants were humans at one point I believe.

Borderlands and Fallout definitely have more variety!

[STK026]

Borderlands having more variety in enemies? There were like 10 enemy types in Borderlands, maybe less, all they did is change their colour, their size and added some prefix or suffix to the name to make you realize it's not the same enemy you fought 5 hours earlier in the game.

And, while I respect your opinion, I'd much rather have humanoid enemies rather than having yet another game ruined by non human enemies (Psi-Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy immediately comes to mind).

[Thecraft1989]

Sometimes I wonder if some of these reviewers bother playing for more than a few hours.

[HowarthsNJ]

It seems this reviewer played it to the end on 360 and then will play through the PC version.

It's just one opinion, but I found it useful.

I'll read another one to hear about the good things.

[Bolts]

I will LOL when the PC reviews come out. The game is buggy to point of unplayable for some people. Thankfully the issue seems to be mostly driver related with a few optimization needed here and there.

[ezcex]

So this game is like a graphical borderlands.

[ZugZug II]

why does everyone say this?

It's not even remotely close to borderlands, besides the post apocalyptic setting.

[Ch1d0r1]

Don't compare this garbage to borderlands. All that hype for this game and it turned out to be another pathetic shooter.

[Eiffel]

@Ch1d0r1 I think it's fair to set it higher than Borderlands, that game was boring as a singleplayer and repetitive as a shooter, and the quests? MY god, felt like Gearbox didn't even care.

I'll be avoiding the sequel like the plague. One of my most regrettable purchases this gen.

[kennyboy]

im watching the walkthrough and it seems good to me the main purpose of rage wasnt probably making a good game entirely but making the id 5 tech thats where the money made is going to happen for id when developers want to use this engine for their games

[phantomexe]

i'm enjoying it. Been playing it all day.

[A7XEric]

Like the game so far, lots of graphical bugs and low-res textures though. Would have MUCH preferred the game to run at 30 fps and look sharper.

[Ulf]

A DVD drive only spins so fast. Chopping the FR of the game wouldn't help the pop-in or texture quality much, and since the 360 doesn't have a required HDD install (and is not allowed to "know" its installed at all), it can't do any intelligent streaming decisions based on the (lack of) knowledge about streaming speeds.

[gamingdroid]

Well to be fair, the Xbox 360 has the ability to use more VRAM than other consoles so it would be the least likely to be affected by texture quality.

This video shows the PS3 version having significantly more texture pop-ins (screenshots also shows it's more blurry):

http://www.gameblurb.net/fe...

If you install the game on Xbox 360, it will perform as good if not better than the PS3 version too boot since all the content it needs to run the game is on the hard drive.

[CrzyFooL]

Install the game for best results.

[jbiz330]

I havent played the game yet but this seems to be the persisting complaint on RAGE so far. To be honest I had the same issues with Doom 3 on the original xbox. Beautiful game for the time/era but almost like an pretty egg with no middle. compared to a shooter like Halo that was not only pretty or the time but was also amazing gameplay wise.

[Bimkoblerutso]

If there is one thing you cannot fault the game for, it's the lack of amazing gameplay. It's quick, tight and very precise. It doesn't do many things new (then again, we're comparing it to Halo here), but what it does do, it does exceedingly well. The shooting is spot on.

[Ulf]

Every iD game is bland, when if comes to plot and characters, and general gameplay.

To expect different is silly. The real punchline to this whole thing is that iD is now owned by Bethesda -- they are no longer independant. Thus, iD Tech 5 will have FAR less effect on the industry than previous incarnations of iD's engine did, despite how cool it is (or seems).

However, Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 4 may rock the world, graphically. I'm kinda lookin' forward to that.

[Grimhammer00]

Iv'e put in about 3 hrs into the campiagn, raced mp for 2hrs and got owned in co-op legends mode.

This game is brilliant! not for it's beauty or it's 60fps....but it does each of the above exceedingly well!

Don't believe reviews - I see a lot of tool reviewers not understanding that this is NOT a RPG!It's a FPS with exploration, racing and co-op....and some sweeet mini-games....(mostly the amazing MtG rip-off).

Also, the AI is really good...co-op. Also, I'm playing on Nightmare in single plyr...super sweet.

To date....my fav FPS this year. I played Crysis2, R3, KZ3....Rage just feels so different. The story is probably it's weakiest part....but it's motivating and kinda believable.

I mean....you wake up to some dude saving your life, your in kinda indebted to him and you probably figure, i'll learn what I can from friendlies.

Funny - I love ars technica, but this review is the farthest I've ever been from on a game.

I'm not the only one....I think eurogamer (notoriously tough) gave it a 9.4/10

[gumchewinasskikr]

Eurogamer gave it an 8.

[snipes101]

problem is that the game has no hook. Why explore when there isn't really anything to find? The game gives you pretty much everything you need with a few exceptions.
Why have an open world when there isn't really anything to do in it?

The arena mini game did not do it for me at all either and the fact that the game forces you through the arena once for "story" purposes was just annoying.

The vehicles are probably the best part and, given a game with a more open environment, could probably be a lot more fun to drive as the over world between each city/dungeon is pretty linear.

There are not really any original ideas in gaming anymore, most are rehashes of something older. What makes a good game is when they make it so that they give you a reason to give this rehash your time and rage doesnt really do that.

I wont argue that the game isnt a technical marvel, the animation and graphics are gorgeous and even on the ps3 gamepad, one I am usually uncomfortable with, the controls felt tight. Problem is, like I said, the game just does not hook me even three hours in. Not good.

[MasterD919]

id tends to make linear games...PREY & DOOM both are. This is not something new but the games they do make are usually high quality and FUN.

RAGE isn't as popular as Doom but it will have its own niche. I haven't played it yet but I'm dying to get my hands on it and make up my own mind.

[kevnb]

I think its just damn fun above all else, like games are supposed to be. maybe its because im a pc gamer, but i found the shooting portions real awkward without keyboard and mouse, but the driving more enjoyable with gamepad... i switched back and forth while playing.

[bluegoblin]

its a fun game with great graphics and smooth gameplay. i must say online is fun and co op is very interesting

[TheGameFoxJTV]

Yeah, surely this guy wasn't expecting a ultra deep story considering they said the game has Co-Op. lol

[MikEyG]

Ok here's my problem The games been in dev for 5 years and knowbody caught that texture pop in shyt, not even the people who tested the final game and all the demoing,was it not happening on there versions or was it purposely being overlooked?? Im still having a blast but Im wondering whether or not id will patch this texture streaming problem

[Jazz4108]

I have the 360 version installed and have noticed no texture pop ins or screen tearing. The game plays beautiful. This has been my personal experience as I am about three hours into missions in wellspring.

[kevnb]

Theres always a bit, but it isnt that noticeable.

[taijutsu363]

This game gives me a Fallout + Borderlands feel and i enjoyed both games so Kudos!

[clarkdef]

Graphics wise how does it compare to PS3 exclusives? Because on youtube it looks awesome, youtube may not be the best source for seeing everything a game has graphically, it does tend to give you a good idea on graphic quality.

[kevnb]

Game is really fun, screw everything else reviewers want from a game.

[showtimefolks]

For a game that was in development for 5 years and I know a new engine was also made in that time. The story is pretty bad and the story is pretty short. For a game that is on 3 disks or 7 gb install on ps3, I was expecting a little better story and a longer story. ID can make pretty looking game but they need to hire people for story for their next games. And I know many of you will disagree with me but the game was suppose to set new bars for graphics and how a game runs but the launch has not been that great hopefully patches later on will fix many issues.

[maxmill]

This game fukn owns

[Ser]

Not to sound like pretentious moron, but I kind of agree.

I've been trying to play this game for hours, and I just can't "get into it."

I usually just end up putting Dark Souls back in. Rage, to me, feels like every other shooter out there. But it DOES look fantastic, and I like using the wingsticks.

[bluegoblin]

I have to disagree completly, while some of his points are valid in his own point of view i cant help to see that he only focused on whats bad about the game and even for those things i feel as if he exaggerated for most of them.

1st of all the game is indeed very good looking. 1st thing i did when i came out into the open world was justa stare at it for a while. Quite impressive to be honest. Then he goes an critisizes the save system. just save ur game whenever u want simple as that, if ur too dumb to do so then thats ur fault no the games. Also he failed to mention how good the enemy AI is in most cases and how they react to where you shoot them. Multiplayer is fun, legends of the wasteland has certainly caught my attention, even though ive only played the 1st mission, and last but not least the gameplay is nearly flawless which is the most important in a game and the guns have a very solid feel to them. I also thought the idea of being able to use different types of ammo for every gun was pretty neat.

Its a very good game.

[AO1JMM]

Gotta love all the negative reviews thisgame is getting for issues that none of these two bit websites will mention for other high profile games.

[Bolts]

The iD 5 engine sucks. There's way too much compromise. The game is designed to look good far away and at medium distance but when you get up close there's blurry textures everywhere. This is specially noticeable when you get in tight environments in doors. Another problem is the lack of environmental physics and real time lighting. Everything is nailed down and all the lighting is static.

I can see why iD said they're no longer in the engine business, because with limitations like this, I can't see anyone else using this engine for their game.

[AO1JMM]

You apparently never listened to what Carmack said. He stated the textures look blurry up close. He stated that long before the release of the game!

[MilkMan]

Rage is dope.
A keeper. Its long, its fun, it's beautiful to look at. It has varied things to do. What more could you want from your shooter?

You rock Id! Don't worry about haters, its easy to criticize, its harder to create.

There aint a damn thing wrong with your game.