Game review: ‘Rage’ (Playstation 3)

By Lee Robinson
Ames247 Staff Writer

“Rage” is a visual masterpiece, boasting some of the best graphics I’ve seen on console to date. But does the rest of the game back up these breath-taking graphics?

“Rage“ was developed by iD Software , published by Bethesda Softworks, and released on Oct. 4, 2011. After close to a month of playtime on Playstation, I’ve had a blast playing this free-roaming, post-apocalyptic, first-person shooter. The game play feels solid and runs smooth. Voice acting is top notch, and the character models are beautifully depicted.

Even though this was advertised as a free-roaming title, the areas in which you can roam are limited and some parts are locked until you progress in the story mode. Outside of the main storyline, which is very addicting, there are side missions and tasks you can complete around the land. One of my favorite parts about “Rage” is the racing. Not only can you drive you car/buggy around in the open world, you can also compete in Motorstorm like racing in certain areas of the world. These races were merely a bonus, but provided me with a couple hours of extra playtime. After winning these races, you can unlock visual upgrades and modifications for your ride to show off and protect you in the “wasteland.”

There were a couple of things that weren’t so great, however. First and foremost, the lack of a map in the free-roaming world is quite ridiculous if you ask me. There were times when I would find myself driving around aimlessly trying to find a weapons vendor or other side missons. Also, while the graphics are great, the game has texture-popping issues. This basically acts like the focus of a camera. When you are looking at, say, a mountain, the graphics looks amazing. However, if you turn to the left quickly, sometimes certain textures on objects will take awhile to load. This gives the game an unprofessional feel and can be annoying at times.

Overall, I’d say iD Software did a lot of things right with this title and it will continue to get great reviews. Maybe they can address and fix the texture-popping issues in a later update. Until then, “Rage” for Playstation 3 gets an 8 out 10 in my book.