facebook rss twitter

Rage - Xbox 360, PS3, PC

by Steven Williamson on 29 August 2008, 11:09

Tags: Rage, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA), PC, Xbox 360, PS3, FPS

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qao4o

Add to My Vault: x

Blending the genres

It's always exciting to see a developer try something new and iD Software's latest project, a fusion of the FPS and racing genres, certainly looks as though it will offer something uniquely stimulating.

With the developer's past work including the likes of Doom and Quake, it's no surprise to see that Rage will feature a variety of hideous looking monsters that we'll no doubt have to blast to pieces with a range of futuristic weapons. Rage isn't just a straight-forward shooter though, it will also incorporate competitive racing along its dusty mountain tracks and around its superbly designed steam-punk architecture.

Rage is set in a Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic world where, 75 years after a comet has hit the earth, various factions, including mutants and settlers, are struggling to re-build society and are fighting over the future of the planet.

The first trailer was launched at Quakecon in 2007 and shows some visually impressive footage, which suggests that the races in the game will be similar to Motorstorm, certainly in terms of looks anyway. We also know that the aim of the races will be to win money which can be spent on upgrading our cars.
The latest trailer, however, released earlier this month, gives us an indication as to what we can expect from the FPS component and it looks like it's going to be as fast-paced and action -packed as any of iD's previous projects. The game engine used will be the brand new cross-platform id Tech 5, which will also be showcased in Doom 4.
The genre-blending doesn't stopped there as the game will also feature weapon crafting and a semi open-world environment allowing us to explore the caverns and mountains.

Whilst the trailers for Rage do look amazing, the technology used in the game has also posed a problem for the developer. PS3 owners can gloat at the fact that Rage will undoubtedly look better on Sony's console, due to the space afforded by the Blu-Ray disc. The Xbox 360 version, however, will be compressed onto two discs, which will take away some of the quality of the graphics and performance of the game. iD Software ideally wanted to put the Xbox 360 version on three discs, but the high charges demanded by Microsoft made it a commercially unfeasible decision.

Undoubtedly, providing you've got the PC to cope with it, Rage is almost certainly going to best played on the PC version and with iD's pedigree set firmly on that platform, we know which version we'd rather play.

Although a co-op mode has been confirmed, iD Software is still hard at work on a competitive multiplayer mode.

Screenshots overleaf.

NEXT PAGE »