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Confused as to what the story behind Rage is? Then the Uprising trailer will bring you up to speed. Rage’s backdrop of post apocolypse comes from Earth’s unfortunate close encounter with a sizable meteor. The survivors have banded together in settlements and tribes around the ruins of what once were towns and cities or close to resources. Our hero emerges from stasis in an underground shelter built with the purpose of housing individuals with unique skills that could be used to rebuild society after the meteor’s destruction had subsided. However in traditional gaming fashion things don’t go to plan and our hero wakes to find the other residents dead, the equipment destroyed and without any memory of who he is or what he has to do.

So why should you consider buying Rage? What better way of helping you decide than showing the dev diaries?

First up a history lesson. With  id Software the driving force behind Rage it’s certainly been in very prestigious and experienced hands. With some 20 years in the business id Software are the Kings of the FPS, boasting such names as Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein under their belts and their id Tech engines being used on games from Call of Duty, Medal of Honor and American McGee’s Alice. The longevity and quality of the developer’s work bodes well for Rage and allows it to deliver impressive graphics at 60fps.

Naturally a good game is not dependant on how nice it looks or how smooth it runs. While id’s games are a “who’s who” of classic FPS titles they aren’t exactly dripping with rich storyline or even diverse gameplay but Rage will aim to change all of this. Instead of point A to point B style gameplay ,maybe changing  the textures from time to time, Rage instead will offer a large more open world experience that is rich in story. The devastation to Earth comes from the very real comet Apophis that is set to pass Earth in 2029 and then again in 2036. While in real life the comet’s chances of hitting Earth are a less than scary 1 in 250,000 Rage gives a “what if” scenario in which talented individuals are put into stasis to protect the future of mankind. You emerge 100 years later into a perverse version of what you once new, alone and not sure what your purpose is. Progressing from odd jobs for locals you’ll see the story open out around you as your knowledge of the tribes round you increases and people start to take more of an interest in your history.

Now while having a rich story in an open world is a great thing, if you don’t have the action to back it up then you’re wasting your time. While id have excelled in this regard throughout the years it is a new generation of gaming since their last internal solo effort. Being willing to move with the times is paramount to success (just look at the failure of Duke Nukem Forever for a case in point) and it’s a point that hasn’t been ignored.

Rather than restricting you and limiting your options Rage will increase them with each new environment you encounter. Be it an entirely new weapon, ammunition type of tool of destruction, such as the explosive RC car or spider turret seen in previous videos,  each comes with options  and offers a gratifying and visceral result as you are “treated” to feedback from the weapon and seeing your efforts rewarded with impressive death animations.

As shown the emphasis is truly on personal choice. Not only in terms of what weapons and ammo types best suit your play style but also in what depth you want the gameplay to be. Want to be slow and methodical and plan things out with gadgets galore? Go for it! However if you want to just grab a shotgun and go off on a tear then you aren’t going to be penalised for being more in your face. Same with the ingame economy where despite collecting items and cash your not forced down any specific route of encouragement to try to use these items in a specific ay. Don’t want them at all? Sell them and buy your favourite ammo type for your favourite gun. All of this (if accurate) will ,as id say, offer huge replay value to the game.

Now to claim player choice in an FPS world is new and original would be a lie. Games such as Borderlands,  Fallout 3 and New Vegas all offer freedom and depth. What Rage does however is to give the sort of narrative depth of those games mentioned but remove the need of all that long pre mission giving natter. While Rage has a whole host of unique characters that will be able to interact with if you’d rather just restock and move onto the next mission you can. What makes Rage stand further from the crowd than most is it’s diversity of modes. Solo play sees you delving in to the above, co-op play much the same but with slight differences to keep things fresh while competitive multiplayer takes advantage of the vehicle combat. By having each experience differ in varying degrees is a smart move and far more appealing than having solo and co-op tackle the exact same thing while competitive rolls out the usual FPS deathmatch and capture the flag modes seen over and over and over again.

Part 5 is all about your enemies. Understanding that “killing the same enemy for 12 hours” gets boring ,id have been careful in making even this aspect fresh. From the feral mutants attacking hand to hand or with clubs, or just scaring you with the supersized variety, through to the super high tech military unit The Authority and even making each of the bandit tribes unique in approach. Each offers a new experience and each comes with a tonne of movement options and reactions to being hit, as well as reacting to WHERE they are hit. Toss in the AI being unpredictable and you have an experience that should remain fresh throughout while also offering a fresh experience each and every time you play.

Offering an FPS experience that stands out is no mean feat, offering one that has the potential to tap into the CoD/BF market, even tougher. However with that said if Rage delivers on all of the above then it will do exactly that. While the longevity for games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield come from the multiplayer experience alone Rage has the potential to keep players coming back for more on EVERY mode.

Rage arrives October 4th in North America and 7th in Europe.