Every media artist needs to indulge in video games every once in a while. Games have become quite cinematic over the years, and ID's new project and recent release "RAGE" is no exception. I enjoy usually about 2 good games a year, due to a crazy production schedules and workload, but it always helps  to have a game in the wings to blow off some "Steam" with; pun intended. Back in in my youth I was a huge fan of ID software. I felt the fear from interstellar demons of DOOM, I cranked up the decibels and shook the neighbors above in my apartment with QUAKE, and last but not least I braved the blue labyrinth of WOLFENSTEIN. I played these games until it was said until I would go blind, so much so that when, if ever I get an opportunity to play modern multi-players and I get called a "noob" - I briefly remind the players that I was modding DOOM , swapping soundfiles, leveling, and customizing and pushing envelopes - while they were just a glimmer in their "Donkey Kong" playing dad's eye.

WHAT IS RAGE?
Years after a devastating meteor hits earth, the world is in the process of recouping its losses and learning about survival, and beginning again by collecting junk, and fighting mutants and gangs. Total anarchy. Smile. Its a beautiful day at the end of life as we know it, and you could just be the Saviour. RAGE is a post apocalyptic first person shooter, but the type of first person shooter that made ID famous with some major overhauls that allows it to compete on the playing field of with some other  excellent ground breaking games that push boundaries and break moulds.  RAGE, once I was able to get it working, was inspiring. It reminds me that Games are a very stable media genre that evolve, push boundaries, and despite many of the older generation's gripes continue to inspire imaginations the way movies do and continue to do. The tech 5 game engine that has been developed shows promise. At times when driving through the wasteland, it looks as if you are looking through the eyes of Mad Max (venturing for Thunderdome), or having free range in the movie Book of Eli. This is a high compliment. It's beauty is unmatched of anything that I have seen in the past 5 years.

HOW IS RAGE'S GAMEPLAY?
Rage is a slight step to the side from most things you'd expect from ID. ID has been primarily coined as a "corridor" shooter, due to its past of darkness, flashlights and linear game play. ID is desperately trying to maintain its legacy while branching out to some gameplay that involves actions beyond weapon acquisition, and colored keys for certain colored doors, and it shows. Its hard to fall head over heels for this game after being waist deep in BORDERLANDS, but its a step in the right direction for ID. I feel game players want the exploration factor- Open ended games are the future. I enjoy revisiting past levels just to relive some excitement and initially that's where RAGE falls short. If RAGE incorporated just a few more open ended and less linear elements that closed off after completion this game would be the be all end all. That being said, elements that seemed would get tiring like piloting dune buggy's and stolen 4 wheeler ATV's through a breathtaking landscape does not get old. Far from it. Some of the missions reek of early resident evil elements and are a tad Zelda-esque. You know the drill: go here find this guy, run over here give this to this guy- gets tiring- coupled with the fact that past exploits are blocked off, so even if you liked a certain level - you have to move on. I feel that this game would have perhaps benefited from enemies and items that are respawned upon a trigger at some point because I love the weapons, I love creating things from the junk collected to use - just not enough people to use them on, and said junk seems super limited. The mini-games are addictive, and the racing, which I thought would be my least favorite part end up being a source of unending excitement and beauty.


GROUNDBREAKING ELEMENTS.
The enemies are dynamic and fun, shoot off legs and not make a kill- they can still shoot, mutants jump and come at you like a spider monkey. They hide and seem to have some intelligence, and use it in certain scenarios. They could use some variety though, but you keep forgetting  that because its just so damn beautiful. At times you feel like you are walking around in the movie "Final Fantasy(spirits within)". Mix that and the thrill of controlling  an character in a very Mad Max similar landscape. Did I mention the graphics? Lol. Yeah. That.

WHAT IS RAGE ANARCHY EDITION?
RAGE's Anarchy Edition includes FISTS OF RAGE (knuckles with blades), a very suspiciously looking MAD MAX double barreled shotgun, a very character fulfilling RAT ROD BUGGY, and CRIMSON ELITE ARMOR (which seems like all the other good armors available to you rolled all into one. Does anyone know if the added missions are part of the Anarchy edition? They added a ton of sewer missions via a code on a card in the box insert.( not sure if just anarchy Edition or not).

PC vs CONSOLES.
PC's are what drove the ID games in the past and I can't help but feel a little forsaken, when it comes to games nowadays. Companies make games for consoles, because they are stable and forget the rest ( cry whine whatever). But one thing that game companies do not take into consideration is "the communities" behind the games. Games like LEFT FOR DEAD 1 and 2. The communities are strong and I can testify to the fact that I have tested many levels from them that used elements that ended up in future games (flame rounds etc.) In LEFT for DEAD2. LEFT for DEAD even uses community maps now and feedback via steam to ensure a worthwhile evolutionary game experience. PC gamers push boundaries, create, mod, toil, code, map,  and its known that PC players are a very good resource, and a barometer for understanding gameplay problems, needed patches and fixings. PC "geeks" are pragmatic and get things done. A dying breed, our casualties increasing in the console wars, but not without  constant harassment from our "stick in a disc and just play" brethren. The benefits of playing an awesome rig are not met without its share of problems, but the communities are there, and we are often rewarded with endless gameplay and unlimited levels and mods.
The release of RAGE was a little shaky in the PC realm. The release was plagued with hangs, shutdowns upon opens, glitches, and missing textures. John Carmack himself (the Steve Jobs of Gaming), seemed a little unsympathetic stating  to users to just update you drivers. This just didn't do. There are thousands of people having problems out there having problems with RAGE for PC, getting RAGE to run and getting it to look its best or at worst getting it to play at all. I hope that's not a giant finger to the crowd that made him, and his products successful, and continue to evolve the game industry but man it didn't set well. RAGE experienced problems with both Nvidia and ATI graphics cards. Hmmm. Both? Awesome game engine, millions of fans, and anticipation met with frustration and ironically "RAGE". The Forums lit up- collecting fingers back at the publishers from serious gamers and fans. But we have community. We have pragmatism, and game communities and programmers would not go down without a fight. ID was not the first company to leave a fanbase to the wolves, as much as I liked BORDERLANDS, its multiplayer PC support "sucked" to say the least. I had to search a third party solution "Game Ranger". Only then could I enjoy the full scope of what this powerhouse of a game had to offer (*coughs* , Gamespy). I personally did not accept "update your graphics card driver". I had to dig deeper. I found answers and you too can play RAGE now too despite the PC gamer bastardization. Rejoice.

MY GRIPE ON RAGE?
Well to put it lightly I am just a media designer. Who am I right? But I do know a few things about media. When I make a clip or short film, or commercial for starters I make sure it can play on every TV, every DVD player. I test Websites, which means testing on many browsers, many versions, and lots of different resolutions, lots of different computers. If you want to get into it when I test sound on a film I test it on many different stereos, cd players, mp3 players, and other outlets to ensure quality. ID? Come on guys. Come on. We are the force that made you. Did I mention how beautiful this game is? Lol's.

HOW DO I GET RAGE TO WORK? MY GRAPHICS ARE MESSED UP. HOW DO I FIX RAGE ON MY PC? MY RAGE GRAPHICS ARE ALL MESSED UP.

Take a look at this. Does this seem familiar? At least partially?

In part, Carmack is correct.  Update your video card. Get the most current product - get the state of the art. Sounds simple but it doesn't end there, as I mentioned before the problems were on both Nvidia and ATI cards. But there are people in the front lines that believe in PC gamers. As I said before I dug, and dug deep. In my case I am running an i-7 processor with 12 gigs of ram and initially RAGE was only using about 2.5 gigs of ram and all 8 cores were at about 10% running this game. After another video card update, textures missing but running at 60fps. I did not stop there. Might I say, since windows 7 video card updates aren't nearly as painful as they used to be. Nice. I dug a little deeper and went to the source: I found a programmer for ATI on twitter who was desperately trying to quell complaints and vault policy and ignoring publisher accountability. He is my new hero. I can only imagine that he was just looking forward to a fun afternoon, perhaps a night out with friends when he was called into duty to be at the service of us. The forsaken PC gamers. His tweets (@CatalystCreator) reeked of desperation but confidence and  a mission. He knew how important it was. He knew of the Noble fight against the console. During the day he turned out two fixes, after no answers from anyone. There were limited answers on forums and shrugs from ID. This guy needs a raise. He succeeded where others failed and bestowed upon us a "RAGE performance driver". Thank you man. Keep up the good work I respect your work ethic. Above and beyond, my hat is off to you. You are a man above men. But that doesn't excuse a publisher for shrugging off problems.

THERE ARE SEVERAL THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FIX YOUR COPY OF "RAGE" FOR PC.( In no particular order)

(#1)  In Steam, click on RAGE in your game Library window> right click>properties>click the local files tab> then verify game cache. ( this also works fixing many problems with steam games including  Left for Dead 1 and Left for Dead 2.

(#2)  Apparently "RAGE" utilizes a 1G cache file but does not create a path for it so, here is how to fix that: Go to your main drive> click users > click the one that has your user folder name>click AppData>click local> make a folder called "id software" > in that folder make another folder called "rage" > check after playing it to make sure it works ( looks for files )

(#3)  Make sure your video card drivers are up to date. If you think they are check again, because since the release of this game I have seen on a slow day 2 drivers posted daily -

(#4) "RAGE Performance driver " works in some cases

(#5) Shake your fists in the air to the companies that have forsaken the PC gaming community - The very people that "made" gaming what it is today

FINAL VERDICT FOR RAGE?

7 / 10 but would have been a 9.5  / 10

Hope this helps. Happy gaming,

TJPARSONS