Real Talk By: J. Valdez

id Software surprised many when it first showed off a demo of Rage running so smoothly on the iPhone. The game looked so amazing, that it was really hard to believe.

When it first came out I was pretty disappointed in it because it turned out to be a shooter on rails. Still though, $1.99 ($.99 non HD version) for a game that almost matched console graphics was an insane deal. It did however get repetitive since it only has 3 levels, but it’s fun nonetheless. You participate in a reality show, set in a post apocalyptic world, called mutant bash tv, where you kill mutants for money and the entertainment of others. Good clean family fun.

Since it’s “on rails” you don’t get to control the movement of the character, just things like dodging, aiming, and shooting. This adds a bit to the overall difficulty of the game since you aren’t at liberty to move and find cover like you might do in some other games. Instead you have to find a way to make the dodging work for you, and have a quick trigger finger, if you want to make it through the levels alive.

Since there are only 3 levels, it won’t take you too long to beat, if you like to fight for the top of the leaderboards, then it will have some replay value because as of the most recent update it does support gamecenter for achievements, and leaderboards. If you just want to play through it once, and maybe beat it on the higher difficulties then you probably won’t invest much time in it.

The graphics and sound are what will really wow people, if you have a 4th generation iOS device, you will truly see the sharpness and detail in the textures, and that really makes it worth the extra dollar over the regular edition.

Like I said it does support gamecenter with achievements and leaderboards. 58 achievements are sure to keep the completionist coming back to the game, and the competitive players have over 80,000 people to compete against.

Overall it’s not a bad game, the one thing that may throw you off is not being able to move freely. Honestly it bothered me at the beginning but I overcame it. Once you get past that it’s an enjoyable game. It’s $1.99 if you want the HD version (only recommended for iPhone/iPod 4th generation and iPad). If you have any of the previous models then it’s no use paying the extra dollar and you can get the same game for $.99 cents. I’m not a completionist and I don’t care much for the leaderboards, so I can’t give it a full 5 because it doesn’t offer much replay value for me, even after adding mirror levels. Also has museum mode where you can walk through the levels and admire the game with no one attacking, but why? Grab it in the app store and enjoy. Hopefully they add some more content.

Rage Gets

4 out of 5

What’s Legit?

+ Great Graphics and Sound

What’s Perpetrating?

– Another iPhone game that’s light on content