Rage!

Rage, the latest game from ID software, came through the post yesterday and I've had a good go on it already and my first impressions are that it's still got that distinctive ID software feel to the movement - it's fluid, yet sharp and feels brilliant!

As you can probably tell already I am a big fan of ID software. Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3 are 3 of my favourite game ever. I can still play them now and enjoy them thoroughly!

ID software aren't wholly responsible for Rage's production, they worked along side Bethesda and if I was to describe my first impressions of Rage I would say, it is Fallout for people with ADD. You have the post apocalyptic landscape, dotted with towns and settlements, between which there are bandits and mutants and many places to explore.

I feel that the top developers for this game must be keep petrol-heads who played too much Necromunda or even Rogue Trader back in the 90s, and possibly still do!

The game sees you going between settlements in custom built buggies or 4x4s with big V8s, completing missions for the residents, playing games in the bars and/or participating in violent races across the dusty wastelands for extra rewards.

The graphics are beautiful, but then the game does consist of 3 DVDs worth of data?!?! 3! I installed each one of them before starting the game up so I have the best performance. The guns are well designed and feel nice. Everything has a nice, well thought out appearance and seems just right considering the setting.

An aspect of the game I've not explored greatly yet is the engineering. As you wander the wilderness you can pick up bits and pieces which, when you've found a "recipe" you can forge into an extra bit of kit to help you along the way, this could be a more effective healing balm or a sentry gun. They all require different items to be forged and they add a nice extra bit of depth to the combat.

The bad guys I've faced so far are split into bandits and mutants. The bandits are just malicious people trying to take whatever they can from whoever they can, and the mutants, I think, are products of the apocalyptic disaster that struck the earth 100 years before, they're everywhere and wild and crazy people!

Anyway, I'll let you know more when I've played some more, but I already feel like it's going to be a fantastic game and can't wait to get into the meat of the story.