Rage (video game)

Rage is a first-person shooter video game by id Software which was released on October 4, 2011 in North America. It uses the company's new OpenGL based id Tech 5 engine. The game was first shown as a tech demo on June 11, 2007, at Apple's WWDC, and was officially announced on August 2, 2007, at QuakeCon. On the same day, a trailer for the game was released by GameTrailers.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, which has been described as similar to the movie Mad Max 2 and that of other popular video games such as Fallout and Borderlands. In an interview with GameSpot, designer Tim Willits revealed that the game is set in the near future following the impact of the asteroid 99942 Apophis. Author Matthew J. Costello worked on the Rage plot. Influences on the driving and racing gameplay include games such as MotorStorm and Burnout. Players can upgrade their cars with racing certificates won from races.
==Gameplay==
The user plays as a survivor of the 2029 Apophis asteroid impact who has just woken up inside an Ark (part of a worldwide movement which buried VIPs underground in cryo-pods in order to rebuild Earth). The player awakens to the realization that his Ark has malfunctioned and that he is the only survivor from it. The game primarily consists of first person shooter and driving segments, with the player using his vehicle to explore the world and travel between missions.
Combat is undertaken from a first-person perspective; the player is armed with a variety of firearms, as well as a crossbow, and boomerang-like weapons called "wingsticks". There are several types of ammunition available for each weapon, to allow the player to further customize his or her player style. As an example, the crossbow's primary ammunition is metal bolts, but it also can shoot electrified bolts, explosive bolts, and more. There are two standard varieties of enemies, enemies with firearms which will take cover and exchange fire with the player, and melee enemies that will charge the player and attack with melee weapons.
There are a variety of vehicular events for the player to participate in, including races and checkpoint rallies. Racing events may or may not have opponents, and some of them are armed races while others are not. Players have the ability to augment their cars with various items and upgrades they can gain by completing events.
Rage also features some role-playing game (RPG) elements, including an inventory system, looting system, and different types of ammo. Players have the option to customize their weapons and vehicles, as well as build a wide assortment of items using collected recipes. There are also side missions and a number of other minor exploratory elements.
===Multiplayer===
Rage has two multiplayer modes: Road Rage and Legends of the Wasteland. In Road Rage, up to four players compete in a free-for-all match that takes place in an arena designed to make use of the vehicles. The objective is to collect rally points that appear around the arena while killing your opponents and stealing their points. Legends of the Wasteland is a series of two-player co-op missions based on stories that are heard throughout the single player campaign. There are a total of 9 objectives in this game type.
==Plot==
In Rage's story, the Apophis asteroid strikes on August 23, 2029, and the few pockets of survivors are forced to begin a new civilization.
The world is populated by human survivors of the impact, who have come together to form settlements around oases and other practical or habitable locations, including racetracks. These fragile homes are diligently defended by the inhabitants against bandits and mutants, which are divided into various gangs and organizations of their own.
The Ark Survivor emerges into this setting in year 2135, 106 years after being put into stasis inside an underground shelter called an Ark. The Arks are the direct result of the Eden Project, a massive international undertaking in which hundreds of Arks containing cryogenic pods were sealed under the surface of the Earth in order to preserve enough of the human population to rebuild civilization in the future. The Eden Project, however, was far less successful than hoped. The Ark Survivor's Ark in particular is heavily damaged, with all of the other residents of the Ark having died, and the equipment of the Ark is destroyed as well, and so the Ark Survivor, the player character, wakes up alone and uninformed. With no memory of his identity or objective, the Ark Survivor is forced to head for the surface.
When the Survivor reaches the surface, he is attacked by members of the ghost clan. Dan Hagar (played by John Goodman), a wasteland settler, saves him and brings him to his settlement. Dan informs the Ark Survivor that The Authority, a hostile faction, is looking for him and other Ark survivors for an unknown purpose. The Ark Survivor helps Dan's settlement and the Outrigger settlements by completing a few easy jobs. Because his presence is too dangerous for the settlement, the player leaves and goes to the nearby town of Wellspring.
During his stay in Wellspring, the Survivor helps the town with various problems such as fighting off bandits and mutants and ferrying supplies. Eventually, he comes into contact with Dr. Kvasir, an elderly scientist who used to work for the Authority. Kvasir tells the Ark Survivor about the inhumane experiments the Authority was responsible for, such as the creation of the mutants. Kvasir puts the Ark Survivor into contact with the Resistance, an anti-Authority group. After rescuing their leader, Captain Marshall, the Ark Survivor begins attracting attention from the Authority, forcing him to flee Wellspring and then join the Resistance at their headquarters in Subway Town. Like he did for Wellspring, the Ark Survivor earns the trust and gratitude of the citizens of Subway Town by assisting them with various problems. The Ark Survivor also learns what had happened in the past century from Marshall, who is an Ark survivor himself. Shortly before Apophis struck, one of the generals in charge of the Ark project sabotaged the operation by ensuring that only the Arks with people loyal to him would be opened, leaving the rest to stay underground in hibernation. These Ark survivors would eventually form the Authority.
With the Authority beginning to forcefully expand its influence on the Wasteland settlements, the Resistance is forced to act. With the help of the Ark Survivor, they are able to recover data that shows the location of every Ark on the planet. Marshall plans to use this data to activate all the Arks and form an army that can defeat the Authority. However, the only way to do this is to transmit the data from Capital Prime, the main headquarters for the Authority. Alone, the Ark Survivor fights his way through Capital Prime and manages to transmit the Ark activation code. The game then ends as all of the remaining Arks simultaneously activate and surface.
==Development==
Rage was originally intended to have a 'Teen' rating, but ended up receiving an 'M' instead. The Windows, and Xbox 360 versions ship on three dual-layer DVD discs, while the PlayStation 3 version ships on one Blu-ray Disc. John Carmack has revealed that an uncompressed software build of Rage is one terabyte in size. The Windows version uses OpenGL 3.3 as the graphics API. While a GNU/Linux version is speculated, there has been no confirmation of an official build. Timothee Besset had stated that he would try to make GNU/Linux builds for Rage much as he had done in the past, and was expected sometime in 2012 but he resigned his position at iD Software.
Id announced its decision to partner with Electronic Arts for publication of Rage. On March 9, 2009, the company's CEO Todd Hollenshead told GameTrailers TV, "No, it won't be out this year," when asked about a possible release date. A trailer and several screenshots were released on August 13, 2009 at QuakeCon where it showcased various locations, racing and first-person gameplay, and a brief insight into the storyline of the game. During Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Electronic Arts released four new screenshots for Rage.
In 2009, John Carmack stated id Software is not planning to support dedicated servers for the Windows version, and instead would use a matchmaking system not unlike console games. ZeniMax Media Inc., who had acquired developer id Software in June 2009, announced that it had picked up the publishing rights to Rage, and that EA would not be involved in the sales or marketing of the title. The announcement also noted that the development of Rage had not been affected by the new deal. Creative director Tim Willits confirmed to videogames blog VG247 that the game would miss releasing in 2010, and would now launch in 2011. Willits later accepted the award from IGN Media for "Best Game" and "Best First Person Shooter" at E3. Additionally, the game was awarded Best First-Person Shooter, Best New IP, Best Xbox 360, Windows, and PlayStation 3 game as well as the Game of the Show of E3 2010 by GameTrailers.
In his keynote speech at QuakeCon 2010 on August 12, 2010, Carmack announced that id was developing a Rage-related game for Apple's iOS. He later described the mobile Rage as a "little slice of Rage ... [about] 'Mutant Bash TV', a post-apocalyptic combat game show in the Rage wasteland", and separately hinted that he might try to port Rage Mobile to Android, although he later stated no id titles would be coming to Android due to lack of financial viability.
At QuakeCon 2011, Carmack offered many technical insights of the development and differences between the three main platforms (Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), noting that it was not easy developing such an optimized engine to be able to smoothly run on consoles and still having the best artistically looking game on consoles. He also affirmed that the PC platform at the time was as much as 10 times faster than the current generation of gaming consoles, but this did not mean 10x the performance because of the extra layers of abstraction found in PC compatible operating systems.
On September 16, 2011 Bethesda announced Rage had gone gold.
Rage was released on October 4, 2011 and is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows.
On February 2, 2012 Rage was released for Mac via digital download. The Mac version, dubbed RAGE: Campaign Edition, includes the bonus content found in RAGE's Anarchy Edition on other systems. However multiplayer content is absent in the initial Mac release.
==Marketing==
On January 20, 2011, Bethesda vice president of public relations Pete Hines told VG247 that a demo of the game is not likely.
On April 18, 2011 it was revealed that those who pre-ordered the game would receive an automatic upgrade to the Anarchy Edition of the game, which includes four exclusive in-game items.
Tim Willits confirmed modding tools will be available a couple of days after release.
The game was featured on the fourth season episodes "Problem Dog" and "Hermanos" of Breaking Bad. On September 13, 2011, it was reported that Breaking Bad will be referenced in-game in three specific ways.
A viral campaign was released that features Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin in which he performs stunts to get himself in the game such as dunking over a tiger to impress the developers.
===Releated Media===
On November 18, 2010, id Software released the mobile game, Rage HD, for iOS devices. John Carmack also hinted that he intends to release another iPhone app based on the Rage universe that focuses on the racing aspect of the game.
On March 11, 2011, Bethesda and Dark Horse Comics announced a three-issue comic book series based on Rage. The original miniseries was written by Arvid Nelson, and penciled by Andrea Mutti. The cover art is being created by Glenn Fabry.
The comic series, developed with the direct participation of Rage's creative director, Tim Willits, presents a new twist on the post-apocalyptic near future as one woman discovers that the survival of humankind does not necessarily mean the survival of humanity. The Earth has been devastated by a collision with an asteroid, with a tiny fraction of the population surviving in life-sustaining Arks buried deep below its surface. Those who survive emerge to find a wasteland controlled by a global military dictatorship called the Authority. But a rescued scientist learns that the Authority has lied to her and the other survivors about how this new world came to be.
On March 30, 2011, Bethesda announced that they would team up with Del Rey Books to create a novel based on Rage. The novel was written by Matthew J. Costello, also responsible for the video game. It was released on August 30, 2011.
==Critical Reception==
===Pre-Release===
The game received a great deal of recognition prior to its release. It won the Game Critics Awards of E3 2010 for "Best Console Game," and "Best Action Game," along with the "Special Commendation for Graphics." IGN awarded it their "Best Overall Game" and "Best Shooter" in their E3 2010 awards.It also won many of GameTrailers' E3 2010 awards, including "Best New IP," "Best First Person Shooter," "Best PS3 Game," "Best Xbox 360 Game," "Best PC Game," and "Game of the Show."
===Post-Release===
Upon release, Rage has received positive reviews from critics, with a score of 81 on Metacritic for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as a 79 for the Windows respectively. The game has received high praise for its graphics and shooting mechanics, with criticism mostly leveled at the game's story and poor out-of-the-box PC compatibility. The PC port was poorly received by players, with a user score of 4.4 out of 10 on Metacritic.
Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game, giving it a score of 9.5/10. They stated that the game features impressive visuals, brutal and satisfying combat, fluid animations and advanced enemy AI, numerous entertaining side-missions, and an addictive multiplayer component. The one complaint they had with Rage was that the final boss fight was unsatisfying compared to the rest of the game's impressive combat scenarios.
Ars Technica gave a more negative review of the Xbox 360 version, criticizing lack of story, undeveloped characters, uninteresting quests and a "broken save system" (autosave checkpoints being too far apart, forcing frequent manual saves which are slow on the Xbox 360), while acknowledging the quality of the visuals.
Game Informer gave the game a 9 out of 10, saying that "while most people will rave about Rage's technology, this game's most impressive component is its gunplay... the mutated hostiles of the wastes... crawl out of the woodwork, scamper along walls, and create a sense of absolute terror," and "the challenge posed to the player is to put them down quickly or pray that every close range shotgun blast takes a large chunk of flesh." The soundtrack was described as "appropriately moody," and the animation system as one of the most "impressive" ever made. However, the review also argued that "the driving sections are no more than optional diversions" and "the lack of content in the overworld is disappointing." In conclusion, the story and overworld were described as "dated", but the "pulse-pounding gunplay" was hailed as "a nice change of pace" that "stands out in a crowded market."
IGN praised the game's graphics, calling them some of the best ever, but criticized the game's story and forgettable characters.
===Awards===
Rage has also been recognized in several 2011 end-of-year award ceremonies. It was nominated for "Best Graphics" and "Best New Franchise" in Xbox360Achievements' Game of the Year 2011 Awards. GameTrailers nominated it for "Best First Person Shooter" and "Best New IP." At the 2011 Spike VGAs, it was nominated for "Best Graphics" and "Best Shooter."
===Sales===
Rage has sold 500,000 units on the Xbox360 in its first month of release.
==Links==
*Official website
*QuakeCon 2011 - John Carmack Keynote Q&A
*Some cool Rage Screenshots, and Videos
*"Rage for PlayStation 3 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic".
*"Rage for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic".
*"Rage for Xbox 360 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic".
Category:2011 video games
Category:Pc Games
Category:Most Wanted Games