RAGE is a first-person shooter and racing game developed by id Software. It uses the company's new id Tech 5 engine. The game was first shown as a tech demo on June 11, 2007 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, and was officially announced on August 2, 2007 at QuakeCon. On the same day, a trailer for the game was released by Gametrailers.com.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world similar to that of films such as Mad Max. In an interview with GameSpot, designer Tim Willits revealed that the game is set in the near future following an asteroid impact. Matthew J. Costello, who worked on the plot of Doom 3, has worked on the Rage plot. Influences on the driving and racing gameplay include games such as MotorStorm and Burnout, according to another Willits interview by Shacknews. Players will be able to upgrade their cars with money won from races.
Story[ | ]
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic version of a wasteland created by an asteroid impact, based on the real life asteroid 99942 “Apophis”, which will pass by Earth in 2036. In RAGE's story, the asteroid strikes in December 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. These fragile homes are diligently defended by the inhabitants against bandits and mutants, which are divided into various gangs and tribes of their own. Bandits and mutants serve as the player's main enemies for much of the game, with later addition of more organized and dangerous forces.
The protagonist emerges into this setting after being preserved inside an underground cryogenic shelter called "Ark". The Arks are the direct result of the "Eden" project, a massive international undertaking in which hundreds of Arks were sealed under the surface of the Earth with twelve people inside each. Each passenger possessed a special ability or trait that, combined with those of the other members, would help them rebuild society. The project, however, was far less successful than hoped. The protagonist's Ark in particular is in bad shape at the start of the game. All of the other residents of the Ark are dead, and its equipment is destroyed as well, so the protagonist wakes up alone and uninformed. With no information on his location or objectives, he is forced to head for the surface to find sustenance and allies.
Gameplay[ | ]
Rage features some role-playing game (RPG) elements — an inventory system and the capabilities of weapons that are based around types of ammo. Players also have the option to customize their weapons and select one of three (four with the Anarchy Edition or Campaign Edition) outfits after completing several story quests. There are also side missions.
Creative director Tim Willits stated that at the game's core is a first-person shooter with vehicle combat added without the racing being the central focal point. Players have the ability to augment their vehicles with various items and upgrades they can gain by completing races.
Rage has two multiplayer modes: Road Rage and Wasteland Legends. 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. Wasteland Legends is a series of two-player co-op missions based on stories that the players hear about as they play the single-player campaign.
Development[ | ]
Reports indicated that id is developing Rage with a "T-for-Teen" rating in mind, and that the Windows, Mac, and Xbox 360 versions will ship on either two or three dual-layer DVD discs, while the PS3 version will ship on one Blu-ray disc. John Carmack has revealed that an uncompressed software build of Rage is one terabyte in size.
On July 14, 2008, 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.
On November 5, 2009, John Carmack stated id Software is not planning to support dedicated servers for the PC version, and instead will use a matchmaking system not unlike console games.
On December 15, 2009, ZeniMax Media, who had acquired developer id Software in June 2009, announced that it has picked up the publishing rights to Rage, and that EA will not be involved in the sales or marketing of the title. The announcement also notes development of Rage has not been affected by this new deal.
On May 3, 2010, creative director Tim Willits confirmed to video games blog VG247 that the game would miss releasing in 2010, and will now launch in 2011.
On June 17, at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo Tim Willits accepted the award from IGN Media for "Best Game" and "Best First Person Shooter".
On October 4, 2011, Rage was released in the United States for Windows, Xbox and PS3. Australasian release was announced on October 6, and the European release on October 7.
On October 8, 2011, patch for the Windows version was released which added various graphical options to the game and fixed a number of driver related graphical issues.
On February 2, 2012, RAGE was released worldwide for Macintosh in the form of digital download by Aspyr Media, Inc. The Macintosh version was called the Campaign Edition, as the multiplayer content was cut from the game.
On February 2, 2012, second patch for the Windows version was released which offered visual improvements, added new features and addressed various compatibility and performance issues.
Linux port[ | ]
Regarding the status of the Linux port after the July 14, 2008 announcement, John Carmack said "It isn't a launch platform for us, but an executable may still show up". Later he said that a Linux port is unlikely in response to an email where he says "It isn't out of the question, but I don't think we will be able to justify the work" and "It probably wouldn't be all that bad to get it running on the nVidia binary drivers, but the chance of it working correctly and acceptably anywhere else would be small". Three weeks later Timothee Besset, the person in charge of porting id's products to Linux, discussed the future of the Linux port in a more positive light, stating on September 13, 2009 that "Fundamentally nothing has changed with our policy regarding Linux games… I'll be damned if we don't find the time to get Linux builds done".
System Requirements[ | ]
Minimum[ | ]
- OS: Windows XP SP3, Vista or Windows 7
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD
- RAM: 2 GB
- HDD: 25 GB free disk space
- Graphics: 265 MB graphics memory
- Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible
- DirectX: Version 9
Recommended[ | ]
- OS: Windows XP SP3, Vista or Windows 7
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad or equivalent AMD
- RAM: 4 GB
- HDD: 25 GB free disk space
- Graphics: 512 MB graphics memory
- Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible
- DirectX: Version 9
External links[ | ]
- Official website
- id Software
- RAGE at Xbox.com
- RAGE at PlayStation.com
- RAGE at Aspyr.com