Hands Off: RAGE

RAGE is a new action first person shooters developed by id Software and published through Bethesda and the first new intellectual property in about ten years from the team that brought shooters like Doom and Quake to the gaming world.

I was skeptical about RAGE, having been a bit disappointed with Doom 3, but I am happy to report that I am now a convert to the religion of RAGE and id Software.

The new first person shooter, which also has some talky sections and quite a bit of vehicular action, was demoed by the company at Gamescom and looks as spectacular as it moves.

Unfortunately pictures and video were not allowed during the presentation but the game looks extremely well on a big screen.

The animations seem smooth and somehow organic and the main character moves at a very human pace, without linearity and perfect rhythm that other first person shooters impose on their heroes.

The world is a mix of post apocalyptic destruction with a Western feel and there are a few points that connect the fiction to that of the Fallout universe: it seems that, at least initially, the availability of clean water will be a concern (and there a gruff plant supervisor to meet and help) and the main characters has something of the innocence and otherworldliness of Vault inhabitants.

But RAGE is much more concerned with first person shooting and with third person racing and shooting that Fallout will never be.

The game is positively explosive, a chase sequence involving rockets, machine guns and a few head on collisions being one of the highlights of the demo that was shown.

On foot the pace is less frantic but there are plenty of bandits and mutants to take out with what seems a varied arsenal.

One intriguing aspect is the way the enemy move and attack, with specific styles that take advantage of the environment and seem designed to make the player miss as many as his shots as possible or push him into a corner where's harder for him to defend.

RAGE is one of the biggest revelations of the show so far and one of the titles to look out for when it arrives in 2011.