So RAGE has finally graced my doddering 2nd Gen iPod Touch and, bless id, it is a shooter, viewed in the first-person no less. Rather than a free-roaming FPS, however, what we have here is an on-rails run ‘n’ gunner in the vein of Virtua Cop. In fact imagine Sega’s seminal light-gun game draped in the skin of Smash TV and you pretty much have RAGE in a nutshell. So job done, review over.
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Well okay, there’s more to say than that: It looks lush, for example, id’s megatexture technology apparently freeing its artists to marry impressive levels of variation and detail (yes yes, noticeable even on the iPod’s diminutive screen, I admit!) Note, though, that the presence of geometric and textural variation does not guarantee thematic variety – RAGE is visually samey throughout its meagre three (yes, you read that right) episodes and that there are only a handful of enemy types will almost certainly disappoint. At least initially…
The interesting thing is, play RAGE for a little while and it soon becomes apparent that its threadbare components have been balanced with intricate care: Standard mutants (hey, at least they aren’t frigging zombies) range from quick-and-stabby to sloooow-and-wallopy, the central gameplay conceit being to prioritise the greatest threat based on where each type emerges in relation to the others. Things are spiced up by the need to reload in a timely fashion and deftly avoid any attacks that a mutant might survive long enough to make – particularly true of the stationary, distant and all-important brick throwers.
Ah yes, the brick throwers! Pelting you from afar, these guys absolutely necessitate the use of the dodge button. You could dispatch them as a priority, of course, but by keeping ‘em (or, rather, one of ‘em) alive savvy players can force the game to wait until they’re good and ready to progress, taking the time they need to collect any ammo, cash or health that may be in the area and reload their heaviest weaponry. RAGE is on-rails alright, but reactive enough to give you a measure of control over your fate… if you can avoid getting your head stoved-in in the process.
Unfortunately control is also an area where the game fumbles the ball somewhat. Sweep the view right, as you must on occasion, and you inevitably end up with your fingers obscuring the view; do likewise left and it’s not uncommon to simply run out of screen. Missing a juicy pick-up or taking a blade to the face in such circumstances is particularly galling, and it’s hard not to concede that the level design demands too wide a viewing arc in places. Add to this the unfortunate fact that the pause screen is easily triggered by accident and you’ve a game that is regularly frustrating to interact with.
But y’know what? RAGE never falls so low as to give unimaginative reviewers an excuse to use its name against it (“RAGE? It’ll certainly put you in one da-dum-tishhh” etc) and, as a hack critic, I’m disappointed at that. Or at least I would be if I weren’t too busy trying to headshot mutant scum. “Rage hard/Into the light”, as Franke Goes To Hollywood so succinctly put it, “Doing it mostly right/Doing it mostly right” [Er, did you check those lyrics? -Ed]