Game #995: Rage

  What if Doom and Borderlands had a child?

 I'll be completely honest, I never cared about Rage until the sequel came out and its 90's Hokuto no Ken-like aesthetics won me over. Heck, I'm pretty sure I played a bit of this very same game at a friend's, as I could remember the boomerang.

 If I had to describe it, it'd be Borderlands without the cell-shading, RPG elements as well as a toned-down humor, with a little bit of Doom sparkled it. Heck, it even has the same issue as DOOM on PS4, in which unless you look at an object for like 2-seconds straight its textures won't load. On the flip side, the game runs at 60FPS and it has some fantastic character models, they're so good they'd feel right at home on a PS4 game. The game is set on a post-apocalyptic wasteland, like Mad Max's, and you'll also get to drive cars made out of junk across the desertic landscapes. And when you're not driving, you'll be exploring the dilapidated ruins of the world... and it looks really good, while making post-apocalyptic worlds isn't particularly tough, I feel like environments are very well designed and immersive.

 Speaking of driving... it's surprisingly fun. Borderlands has been at it for four games straight and it hasn't felt this good yet, so I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent more time than necessary partaking in optional races, in order to upgrade my wasteland vehicles! Don't get me wrong, it's not amazing or anything, but the driving works well enough. While the game is played in first person, driving is done in third person, which makes sense, at least to me, I never liked driving in first person.

 While there's a main storyline, the game is filled with sidequests. Sadly, since there's no XP or upgrades, outside the ones you can buy, they feel a bit useless. That said, bullets are a rare commodity, so the extra income or valuable trash you may find might help you stock up with money... assuming the sidequest wasn't too taxing on your stock! And to be fair, sometimes you'll get recipes to craft more items.

 The combat feels pretty nice, you get about 8 different weapons and can assign up to four to your weapon panel for quick access. Every weapons sans the BFG and the Sniper rifle even get alternate ammo types! I liked the combat, it feels pretty nice, although not as fast-paced at Doom, it's still pretty fun. That said, enemies become damage sponges by the end of the game if you ignore alternate ammo types. I decided to start purchasing alternate ammo way too late in the game, I kinda wish I had done that sooner! If I didn't like one thing is that headshots are basically useless unless you use alternate ammunition. That said, a headshot done with the shotgun feels SO good since the enemies' heads pop in a very satisfying brain-storm.

 To aid you, you can also equip up to four item types on your digital pad. And there are a lot of items, from basic bandages to heal you up quickly, since the game has regenerative health, to grenades, RC Bomb Cars, deployable sentries, as well as the game's centerpiece, the Wingstick, a boomerang that loves decapitating enemies.

 I think the game is a lot of fun, it has great first-person shooting and some decent driving mechanics. The world of Rage is very appealing too, from well designed wastelands to the very distinctive NPCs that give you missions or flavor dialogue. But there are two things in which it falters. Firstly, DLC. My copy was new and came with the code, a code I didn't bother redeeming, but spread through the wasteland are sewers. Even the game will tell you about them... so you walk towards one of them, try to enter and... Nope, the game tells you to buy the DLC. This is beyond egregious. When that happened it really put a sour taste in my mouth, very uncool. The fact that a code came inside the game's case proves that it was taken out of the game in order to sell it to players that bought the game used. Disgusting.

 The other issue is that the game ends on a whimper. So, it's time for the final mission, you get the BFG, which takes the form a very useful energy minigun. And throughout the level you try conserve ammo, since surely you'll need it to make mincemeat out of the final boss. Except that there's no final boss. All you get at the end of the game are a few waves of very easy enemies. And the ending? What ending? It lasts, what, 30 seconds? Thankfully, the story element was never the game's focus, and I feel like in this game the journey is what really mattered....

 I had a blast with Rage, it does so many things really well that it's easy to forgive most of its shortcomings. It's a shame the game came out when publishers were at its worst when it came to DLC practices Regardless, I liked this game so much... I think I'm interested in the sequel now.

 8.5