There are thousands of games to play out there, and unless we wire up someones brain into a computer, no one would be able to play them all. Gaming is a hobby, it’s not something that should cause stress or make you feel like you’re “wasting your time”, but it’s not always that easy. Time is a finite resource, and sometimes even I feel like the hours I’ve spent playing a certain game could’ve been better spent on something else. It’s a natural feeling to have, even if it isn’t accurate.
Rage was sadly one of those games.
I used to play the demo for Rage as a kid, and since children aren’t generally as critical of what they consume (unless it’s fucking food) I thought the game was super cool. I ran around the main city, exploring and killing stuff. I thought the atmosphere was super badass, and it really tickled that “Michael Bay movies are cool” part of my mind. Recently, I saw the game on gamepass, and I thought to myself “why not? I liked the demo as a kid” and decided to play it. Sadly, I watched the credits feeling unsatisfied and thinking: “Could I have spent my time better?”
It’s not a very complex game, and it’s very important to take into account the what the game was trying to do during the time it was released. During the 2010’s, gaming was steeped in the “brown filter” corridor shooter genre. It was abundant and redundant, but at the time it was the current “fad”. Rage is one of those. You drive around in a semi open world from one mission to the next. The world is pretty empty, with a few side objectives to do. Driving was good though. Once you get to a mission you’ll make your way to an instanced area and fight through a corridor of enemies until you reach the objective, mainly a glowing object to interact with. You redo this until the game is done. Nothing about the actual gameplay stand out. You’ve got some weapons, a car that’s fun to drive, some very niche side objectives and some collectibles to gather.
Aside from the monotonous gameplay, the music and story wasn’t anything that really stood out to me either. The story is extremely cookie cutter, and the music wasn’t memorable. I don’t even remember if the game had music. You’re a supersoldier who needs to save this post apocalyptic world by fighting the evil “masters”. The ending is also surprisingly abrupt, and leaves more questions than answers.
Then you got the absolutely abhorrent UI…
Like I mentioned earlier, it’s very important to look at the game you’re reviewing through the lens of what they were trying to do during their time. If I played this game as an adult during the 2010’s, I would have probably enjoyed it much more, and I respect that. There’s definitely some sort of “old school” charm to it, that I believe some people would enjoy – sadly I just wasn’t one of them.
It’s important to also mention that during this year, games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock, Halo: Reach and Metro were also released. One year earlier we got Borderlands 1. Is it unfair to compare them? Maybe, definitely – but we got games that were unique and daring, games with more depth and charm. So even for its time, it didn’t really stand out or do anything particularly crazy.
I want to go back to what I mentioned earlier about “wasting time”. I don’t believe anyone should feel that way about a hobby. Unless it gets way out of hand that is. Even something mundane can be informative and inspiring, and everyone will enjoy different things. Find what you like, and be daring enough to give things a try. Even Rage could become someones favorite game.
Just not mine. 5/10.