So there it finally is. RAGE: Campaign Edition for Mac OS X is now available in the Mac App Store. For reasons we can only speculate about, the game’s Mac port does not contain any multi player features, it is just the Anarchy Edition of the single player campaign plus the downloadable pay-for contents of the console versions, which I have been told are the so-called sewer missions.
Since RAGE was still on my shopping list and since I didn’t manage to order the Xbox 360 version in time for my free weekend, I decided to buy and download the Mac version for a change.
I’ve spent the last couple of hours playing the game and can say that it runs reasonably well on my Late 2009 27″ iMac i5 with 8 GB RAM at 2560×1440 pixels. But you should definitely check the game’s system requirements before you click on the “buy” button. RAGE’s requirements are quite modest in comparison to other games, but Apple usually still sells systems that are plain and simple underpowered for high-end games. So unless you want to burn 32 Euros for nothing, make sure that your Mac’s components are listed in the RAGE’s spec requirements.
The game looks nice, really nice. You have to give it credit for that. But that already is where the excitement ends. There is nothing new in the game, the game world or the game concept itself. You’ve seen it all before in Borderlands, STALKER, Unreal Tournament 2004 and whatever else was released in the last 20 years. It’s just a new id graphics and game engine named “Tech 5″ powering more of the same old stuff that we’ve all played hundreds of times before.
RAGE’s greatest problem certainly is not the engine or its system requirements, it’s not the Mac port (which, for a change, is actually very good), it’s simply the two decades old game concept that just doesn’t get any more exciting with each new iteration. It’s a shooter with cars and some very basic role playing elements set in yet another post-apocalyptic environment. Just like we’ve seen it about a million times by now. Really, there is nothing new to be seen here. Nothing. I’m not sure if RAGE even tries to pretend that it is more than just another shooter.
If you grew up in the 1980s and always liked those Mad Max movies, then you will still find some hours of entertainment in RAGE. It’s a solid shooter, just like you would expect it from the genre inventors at id Software (now part of Bethesda, in case you haven’t heard that before).
If you do not like wasteland games, then you will be bored rather quickly. Look for a game in another setting instead.
And if you’re not a fan of the First Person Shooter genre at all, don’t even think about buying this game. RAGE really is for shooter fans ONLY.