Before we get going with the Rage 3 for PS3 review, we’d like you to be acquainted with the fact that Rage is a first person shooter made by folks who are known to have pioneered the genre with classics such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. And since then it has been churning out strings of titles, only to revitalize this much loved genre. That being said, if there’s one thing this developer doesn’t need to be taught, it’s the recipe for making near-perfect first person shooters. Rage takes things to a whole new level by introducing vehicular combat which though not that practical, contributes immaculately to the game’s overall appeal. But one thing we’d really like to cheer this title for is the extraordinarily rich visual style and artwork which never fail to justify the 8GB of install space which it hustles up on the PS3.
Push Start for the first time, and you are greeted by a video account of the premises. This stunning video sets the pace for the title by revealing the basic plot elements. The tried and tested post apocalyptic setting makes its way into the game, wherein an asteroid named Apophis has struck the earth in 2029, causing colossal destruction of life on the planet. Our protagonist is part of a society which took selected chaps and froze them underground so they could rebuild earth after this calamity. But as fate would have it, this plan turned out to be a huge dud and most of the chosen ones either died or are yet to be awakened. You play as one such survivor who needs to get to terms with what’s happening around him and at the same time endure the threat of mutants and other survivors who don’t quite enjoy the company of outsiders.
The Rage game’s environments are simply spellbinding, to say the least. The levels of intricate details that are seen throughout the whole title make it known that the folks over at id Software have toiled over delivering such striking visuals. The skies, the canyons, the characters, the weapons, you name it. The developer has turned every little thing into a piece of art. However, one little drawback here is that this title suffers from the texture pop-in syndrome. This disorder is characterized mainly by texture details (like scratches on walls and patterns on other surfaces) materializing a second or so later than intended. It takes a huge amount of time for you to stop noticing it, but we guess something like this can be unavoidable with a game which eats away 8GB of your dearly loved space.
Gameplay-wise, Rage looks to go the Battlefield way by imbibing this first person shooter with vehicular combat. What sets them both apart is that the camera in Rage swings backwards to give you a third person view of the automobile, as opposed to the first person view in EA’s shooter. Driving vehicles can be amusing if you enter the optional races, but during missions it just feels like something that needs to be gotten over with. The four mean machines that are on offer require you to look after them by constantly paying for repairs and re-ammunition. Coming towards the weapons, there’s really not much to be talked about there. Not that they’re average or anything, they’re really fine, but there isn’t much to be all cheery about. Only four of them can be active at a time and you can choose which ones to include in the inventory any time during the game. This helps you plan out your jobs before you venture out on them.
Missions in missions are also a feature which Rage adopts satisfactorily, letting you complete those little side quests and minigames even when you’re assigned a particular job. At the same time, we can’t quite understand why the character is not allowed to run for over 5 to 6 seconds without huffing and puffing his lungs out. One more thing that you’ll notice while playing the game is that it makes use of just a small amount of cut scenes, with all conversations taking place in first person view. For us it seemed like a good addition considering that these jibber jabbers can be skipped by simply moving away from the characters. Another exciting element is the new recovery mechanism which gives you a second chance before you die, by asking you to mash certain key combos.
Killing people and mutants is an absolutely satisfying experience with this game. However sadistic we may have sounded when we said that, we must mention that the way these enemies die is something you’d definitely want to watch over and over again. Take for instance, that someone is running at you at a fast pace and you wield out your ever so reliable shotgun. Shooting at that guy’s leg would make him tumble his way towards you, shooting his shoulder would make him spin or worse even, shooting his head might even make him do a backflip before perishing. Now you tell us how that can’t be a satisfying gaming experience to have.
Final Word: Rage does have a few hitches which simply can’t be neglected. It could have done with a more full-bodied save system as the available one just erases all the mission progress once you die, thus forcing you to set checkpoints yourself by saving manually. The game’s narrative too is dismal and so are its characters who can by no means be called memorable. The campaign seems to have been brought to an end in a hurry. And it leaves you with visuals that are surely suggestive of a sequel. So let’s wait and watch what id Software has in store for us in the future. Meanwhile, here’s the score for Rage.
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sounds: 8/10
Environments: 10/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 8/10
Overall (not an average): 9/10