Didn't know 'Rage' could be so beautiful

Release: October 4, 2011

Developer: id Software

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Genre: First-person shoot (FPS)

Systems: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Locked in a vault called an Ark, you are one of the few chosen to become the last best hope for the survival of the human race. As you are being locked in the Ark, a large asteroid is barreling towards Earth.

A hundred plus years later, you emerge from the Ark into a world just short of hell. A world where good people are beaten down by the oppressive government regime simply known as The Authority and are in constant fear of bandit raids and mutant attacks.

Simply put, welcome to the world of Rage .

And what a big beautiful world it is, one that is developed by the legendary first-person shooter (fps) developer id Software (Doom and Quake) all while using their new id Tech 5 engine that makes its impact when the player steps outside the Ark for the first time.

The environment, characters, and even the little details are top notch and should be admired between blowing the heads off of bandits or mutants.

Speaking of shooting and blowing stuff up, the game play in Rage is actually a little surprising in both  good ways and bad. At its core, Rage is a fps that feels great, with a lot of satisfaction coming from the feel of power coming from the weapons. Id Software has done what it does best, and that is make a quality fps action.

Id Software scores brownie points with its addition of a driving element that is as much fun as the fps side of things. Do I want to strap rocket launchers and mini-guns on a dune buggy and go out racing or blow up enemy vehicles?

With a great sense of speed, and the kind of detail that could give a racing simulator a run for its money, hell yes I want to do this. It's easy to have a lot of fun with driving element in this game, making this usually risky addition to a fps feel very natural in Rage.

Another thing that begins to feel natural, unfortunately, is the feeling of an errand boy. There is no real cohesive story in Rage, just you being sent out on tasks that have a little something to do with what is considered a story. Basically, these tasks are meant to throw the player into the action, and I have no huge problem with this as long as the action is good and there is lots of tension.

Rage  has no problems with action or tension, thus making the lack of a real story less important.

The enemy creates this action and tension being both smart and crazy fast, and with various enemy types the players will be kept on their toes when going into places like a bandit hangout or an Authority prison. And with the various ammo types, it's always fun to see what works best with what enemy.

The one major disappointment in Rage comes for the multiplayer, and the fact that it lacks the variation the rest of the game embraces. The multiplayer features a co-op mode and a mode called road rage.

Road rage uses the fantastic driving element in a player versus player game type, and though interesting at first, it gets tiresome pretty quick. The co-op has players doing one off missions that are not connected to the campaign.

Seeing this lackluster multiplayer, Rage should have been strictly single player campaign all the way. The multiplayer just feels like an afterthought, and this is truly a shame.

It's a shame, because this beautiful game called Rage would be excellent without it. It is still a well crafted game from the father of the fps genre that is id Software, and even with the disappointment of a bad multiplayer,  Rage is a beautiful and fun fps.

Grade: B