Rage

Preview from Luke - Thursday, 06 October 2011 @ 4:07am

They are considered the father of the First Person Shooter genre after creating some of gaming’s most notable series such as Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake. Now the legendary id Software is back with their brand new title, Rage.

Set in the near future the player awakens inside of an Ark which was designed to help rebuild our society after an asteroid pummels the planet. Each person inside the Ark was carefully picked due to their special traits; however you’re the only one to have survived inside of humanities last hope. After emerging outside the pod it becomes apparent that this is going to be a very different experience that you’re akin to with an id Software title. No longer are players confined to corridors, Rage gives us some space to breathe in what’s left of this post-apocalyptic Earth.

From here you’re introduced to a range of different characters and locations throughout the world where you’ll receive quests to complete - ultimately earning you rewards and fat loot. This combination helps build the overarching narrative that’s present and gives players something unexpected in an id title. Sitting down with Tim Willits he described their previous games as being very “story light”, but with Rage they decided from the start of development that story would play a much bigger role this time around…and it’s something I noticed straight away.

We’ve been given some classic weapons by id over the years, and you’re sure to see some of them return throughout the game including a lot of fancy new additions to the arsenal. I had a chance to learn something a little different early on in the game - the wing stick. Basically this is a boomerang you can throw at enemies and if you aim it right it should return. You can modify your guns to take a variety of different bullets; this affects the type of damage and shot that the weapon does
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The enemies you encounter will be a refreshing burst of thinking power to your brain thanks to the AI. In a lot of games we are accommodated to the bad guys who either just duck and hide behind cover while laying down a spray of bullets, or the ones who just run straight at you screaming like you’ve stolen their delicious chocolate out of the fridge they been saving for the past 3 days. Both of these are present here, but with a few extra touches. During my playthrough I had enemies dodging, running along walls, jumping and even swinging from objects scattered in the environment to try and avoid the array of firepower dispersing from my weapon. They would roll from cover to cover if I had placed myself in a better position to them, if I managed to wound an attacker they would drag themselves along the ground trying to work their way behind an object so I couldn’t put any more shots in them…all while attempting to still counter back and put some holes in my body.

Injected into the AI are characteristics like fear and aggression. In one instance I managed to clear out an entire room except for one member of the ghost clan. From behind cover I could hear him talking to himself and contemplating his next actions. After eliminating all of his buddies he wasn’t convinced that he could take me on so quickly bailed out of there and ran like hell. The AI was very impressive and it’s great to see someone trying to push some boundaries in the way enemy characters interact.

I’m excited to see what id Software can do when delivering a proper narrative and expanding outside the world of just a corridor. But even though I only got a chance to play through the first few hours of Rage, walking away I was keen to jump back in and kick some more ass.