Richard Lewis gets a sneak preview of Bethesda's latest upcoming game, RAGE.

Cheer up Bethesda… It might never happen. The experts in doom-laden dystopia have revealed another entry in their fine canon of games and it’s as optimistic as ever. RAGE puts the player in the tattered shoes of a survivor of a catastrophic meteorite impact, emerging from a malfunctioning cryogenic pod project called an Ark. Although the movement was a global one set up so there’d be humans to rebuild the Earth, it turns out yours, at least, has malfunctioned leaving the player as the only survivor. Upon awakening he finds a world awaiting that is anything but welcoming.

Sure, the synopsis might immediately bring Bethesda’s Fallout series to mind – the Vault’s aren’t a million miles from the idea behind the Ark, the setting is post-apocalyptic and the frontier landscape is one where only the strong will survive – yet it does have to be said that RAGE is a very different animal. How do I know? Well, I was one of a handful of journalists asked to go to Bethesda studios and play the game. And that was exactly what we did… I mean, forget the talks, forget the press junkets with canapés and bucks fizz, forget the self congratulatory high-fiving from developers while you sit there and watch a mostly cinematic demo. This was literally “dim the lights and play the near to finished game for three hours”.

“This is Atlas Control signing off… May we live to see another day.”

As the animated sequence ended it didn’t take long for the protagonist to be thrown in the deep-end. Emerging into the dazzling light from the malfunctioning Ark, walking a short distance sees the player attacked by some mutant intent on murder and cannibalism. It proves to be one of the games many “shock” moments in the game, a nod to horror movie sensibilities and again greatly different to the stoic Fallout series that never bothered so much with cut-scenes of this nature. Fortunately for me there’s a chap who sounds suspiciously like John Goodman on hand to shoot my assailants and before long we’re riding off to a shanty town in a dune-buggy.

Yeah, that’s the other thing that immediately leaps out about this game. There’s a lot of driving involved and with objectives appearing on a mini-map in the bottom corner of the screen the game also adds elements of “Grand Theft Auto” for good measure. Indeed if we were to have the discussion about what game it drew the most from this wouldn’t be a bad shout. Once objectives are started, they have to be completed and even though several can be on the “to-do” list at once, it’s not the same as Fallout in the sense that objectives can be scrapped part way through if they become dangerous or boring. It’s a lot more structured and, dare I say it, linear.

Why dare? Well, in a time when people are pushing for more and more sandbox type freedom in their titles, the word “linear” seems to have become something of a dirty word. This seems a somewhat strange occurrence as a solid story told in the right way can be just as much of a satisfying gaming experience as a huge open world to explore with few prompts or guidelines. It was clear from the start that this game wanted to tell a story rather than simply be an experience and it marks a massive departure from the Fallout Series and for Bethesda in that regard.

Linear definitely isn’t bad. After Goodman has patched our guy up and given him some civilian clothes, he suggests that he should go out into the desert and kill the cannibal people in a pre-emptive strike. They’ll be looking for revenge for the guys that he shot, so it’s up to Muggins to go and make sure this doesn’t happen. As first missions go, it’s not exactly easy. A short ride on a quad bike takes the character to a hideout carved into a mountain side. Crossing a rickety rope bridge à la Temple of Doom it’s not long before we’re in the thick of a gunfight.

That makes this probably a good juncture to discuss combat, a large part of the game and no mistake. Guns are all shot through realistic iron-sights, which makes sense, and there are elements of melee combat and grenades. Still, this isn’t some CoD clone where waves of generic enemies can be mowed down from a distance in a straight line in a throwback to Operation Wolf (if you guys can actually remember that far back). Ammo needs to be conserved, shots need to be picked out. Shooting an enemy in the leg will still see them marauding towards you, dragging the offending limb. Torso shots just seem to slow them down and it takes a lot to put a target down permanently. Yes, aiming for the head is a tried and tested measure but it’s easier said than done when enemies actually seem to be experts in parkour. Expect more running, dodging, jumping and forward rolls than a first year gym class.

Not long after getting to grips with blowing away the leftover extras from Mad Max our protagonist finds himself hanging upside down, caught in a trap like a wounded animal. Is this what the Game Over screen looks like? No, just another twist in the story… Taken off to something rather ominously called “the Killing Room” (I doubt there’ll be cake) it’s here we are introduced to another of the game’s key features.

Being some sort of super specimen selected specifically to promote alliteration and rebuild the planet it turns out that there’s a few tricks up your sleeve that you didn’t even know about. For example, round about the time so pointy-toothed, demented skinhead is revelling in watching your death throes, it turns out that – somewhat handily – your body has a built in defibrillator that can kickstart your heart at the point when death has occurred. This revives the character with a percentage of maximum health, an amount that depends on reaction speed. As the two paddles hurtle towards the centre of the screen stabbing the action button at they cross will yield the maximum results. For sloths like me this sub game wasn’t entirely welcome.

After a daring escape, with more shoot-outs, it’s back to the settlement for a pat on the back, a few stitches and a nice cup of tea. The focus on missions seems quite clear. Each reward seems to revolve more around kit and equipment. Do this and end up with a shotgun, do that and have access to your own buggy. It’s a welcome change to the experience points equates to skill points staple that has been imported from Dungeons & Dragons.

At the disused petrol station that now seems to double up as a home, there’s also a shop where players can sell junk, purchase ammo and upgrades. It also seems possible to manufacture your own equipment with “recipes” that can be found or bought throughout the game. There wasn’t time to test out this feature here but we did get to sell some tin cans and an old radio that we found.

The next mission introduces another settlement with more missions and it’s clear that the game is going to be big. The in-game world looks vast and all points of the map seem to be accessible even if there’s nothing there, which should lead to some interesting developments regarding exploration. The developers informed us before we were given access to the game that it takes them, with all their infinite knowledge and understanding of game mechanics, approximately nineteen hours to play all the way through. Safe to say that as the best part of my three hours was spent on the first mission and some exploration it will take the average player a lot longer to complete.

So, where does it all stand? It’s hard to put a handle on it exactly. The game itself seems to straddle a few genres. Elements of Grand Theft Auto, a Fallout-esque RPG, arcade sub games with Call of Duty style shooting… It’s indeed a strange beast and one that seems to work. The atmosphere pulls no punches, the game not shying away from gore and scares, yet there is something a bit more sanitary about the whole affair than the gallows humour of the Fallout series. Early missions seem to only have one or two outcomes, which rids players of the hand-wringing decision making process of how it will effect karma and alter the game universe.

This doesn’t mean there won’t be depth. In the three hours we had getting to grip with the game it was clear there was a number of factions and even brief forays into exploration revealed a sprawling world. We were told that there would be a number of side missions and breakaway distractions from the main game storyline. The RAGE world looks as distinct as it is derivative, nods to cinema all over the place and with a few unique trademarks of its own thrown in for good measure.

The first impressions are definitely all positive and it was with some disappointment that our time with the game came to an end. Bethesda obviously are looking to set the record straight after the disappointment of BRINK and this game feels like it could be not only a huge success but the start of a new series of games that could even match the ones that it will invariably be compared to.