Rage HD
Who said Apple devices are for casual gamers?
Posted December 5, 2010
Coming as a full length feature title to the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2011 from id Software and Bethesda Softworks, Rage is a post-apocalyptic RPG shooter that tells the story of a single survivor waking up in the future after an asteroid ravaged the surface of the Earth. Rage HD, for the iPad, serves as a tech demo of sorts, showing off the world that’s been created as well as many of the mutant enemies that you will face. The stylized presentation revolves around a television show called Mutant Bash TV and basically puts the player into a rail shooter armed with a variety of weaponry to survive to the end of each episode. It’s one of the best looking iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad games currently in existence, likely only second to the upcoming Infinity Blade this week. There’s no actual narrative tied into the game, just the knowledge that you are competing on "The Running Man" television show.
The controls are easy to learn right off the bat. As the movement of the actual player is controlled by the game, your left thumb controls the aiming of the weapon and your right thumb has access to the fire button, dodge, reload or swapping out your weapon. There’s also a control scheme for using the accelerometer / gyroscope of the iPhone 4 / 4th gen iPod Touch to control aiming of the weapon. It’s a bit more difficult to get the hang of, but ultimately a faster way to wipe out the onslaught of mutants. You get three weapons to shoot, a handgun with an infinite number of bullets as well as a machine gun & shotgun with expendable ammo. Ammunition, health and money can be snatched up while moving through the level, but you have to be extremely quick to nab it before moving to the next area.
Firing weapons is extremely easy and reloading them is a snap. The developer also included the ability to interrupt your reload and fire the weapon after loading the last bullet or shell, extremely helpful when mutants are crawling out of the woodwork at all times. Mutants don’t carry weapons, but they can charge you to slash with knifes or throw rocks / bricks at your head. Avoiding their attacks is easy enough with the dodge button, but trying to balance which of the 5 attacking mutants you have to pay attention to first is not.
Strangely, there’s no GameCenter support included with the game; extremely odd considering there are collectibles to grab and bullseye targets to shoot during the levels. This type of game statistic would have been perfect for achievements or even leaderboards. Unfortunately, you only get to see your performance at the end of each episode. There are also no multiplayer modes included within the game, but that’s more understandably considering the rail shooter design.
Visually, it’s really quite astounding to see this game in action. The graphics are definitely as good as early Xbox 360 games and the animations are incredibly fluid. Character models are painstakingly detailed and those mutants are some nasty looking dudes. If I had one quibble, it would be that this type of level environment has been seen countless times in similar games like Borderlands and the Fallout series. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that you are playing this on your iPhone or iPad; astounding to me that the visual quality of the game is at Xbox 360 / PS3 levels. Loading times are very quick and the design of the menus is perfect for jumping into a game quickly.
The sound effects, voice work and musical score are also on par with a console release. While these are likely the same assets that we will hear in the 2011 release of the main game, the quality is excellent. Everything from the quips of the announcer to the throaty punch of my shotgun is perfect for the game. It also sounds infinitely better with a quality set of headphones over using the internal speakers of the Apple devices.
The main problem with the game is a lack of replay value, basically clocking in at about 20 to 30 minutes to complete the three short levels. There’s little incentive to replay all the episodes, perhaps only to show friends what level of graphics that the Apple platforms are able to pull off. That being said, it’s fairly entertaining to play though once and moderately priced at $1.99. A word of warning, the game is about 750Mb in size and requires an astounding 1.2GB of space to play. Pick up Rage HD if you are interested in showing off the best of what the iPhone / iPad can offer graphically and if you enjoy rail shooters. Otherwise, wait a few days for Infinity Blade to get a more complete game for your money.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum
The controls are easy to learn right off the bat. As the movement of the actual player is controlled by the game, your left thumb controls the aiming of the weapon and your right thumb has access to the fire button, dodge, reload or swapping out your weapon. There’s also a control scheme for using the accelerometer / gyroscope of the iPhone 4 / 4th gen iPod Touch to control aiming of the weapon. It’s a bit more difficult to get the hang of, but ultimately a faster way to wipe out the onslaught of mutants. You get three weapons to shoot, a handgun with an infinite number of bullets as well as a machine gun & shotgun with expendable ammo. Ammunition, health and money can be snatched up while moving through the level, but you have to be extremely quick to nab it before moving to the next area.
Firing weapons is extremely easy and reloading them is a snap. The developer also included the ability to interrupt your reload and fire the weapon after loading the last bullet or shell, extremely helpful when mutants are crawling out of the woodwork at all times. Mutants don’t carry weapons, but they can charge you to slash with knifes or throw rocks / bricks at your head. Avoiding their attacks is easy enough with the dodge button, but trying to balance which of the 5 attacking mutants you have to pay attention to first is not.
Strangely, there’s no GameCenter support included with the game; extremely odd considering there are collectibles to grab and bullseye targets to shoot during the levels. This type of game statistic would have been perfect for achievements or even leaderboards. Unfortunately, you only get to see your performance at the end of each episode. There are also no multiplayer modes included within the game, but that’s more understandably considering the rail shooter design.
Graphics
Visually, it’s really quite astounding to see this game in action. The graphics are definitely as good as early Xbox 360 games and the animations are incredibly fluid. Character models are painstakingly detailed and those mutants are some nasty looking dudes. If I had one quibble, it would be that this type of level environment has been seen countless times in similar games like Borderlands and the Fallout series. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that you are playing this on your iPhone or iPad; astounding to me that the visual quality of the game is at Xbox 360 / PS3 levels. Loading times are very quick and the design of the menus is perfect for jumping into a game quickly.
Audio
The sound effects, voice work and musical score are also on par with a console release. While these are likely the same assets that we will hear in the 2011 release of the main game, the quality is excellent. Everything from the quips of the announcer to the throaty punch of my shotgun is perfect for the game. It also sounds infinitely better with a quality set of headphones over using the internal speakers of the Apple devices.
Conclusion
The main problem with the game is a lack of replay value, basically clocking in at about 20 to 30 minutes to complete the three short levels. There’s little incentive to replay all the episodes, perhaps only to show friends what level of graphics that the Apple platforms are able to pull off. That being said, it’s fairly entertaining to play though once and moderately priced at $1.99. A word of warning, the game is about 750Mb in size and requires an astounding 1.2GB of space to play. Pick up Rage HD if you are interested in showing off the best of what the iPhone / iPad can offer graphically and if you enjoy rail shooters. Otherwise, wait a few days for Infinity Blade to get a more complete game for your money.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum