Old Games New Reviews #139 – Rage HD: Mutant Bash TV (ios). Rage HDMBTV was a tie-in game that came out a full year or so before the actual true game Rage was released. It was part of the marketing hype of Rage being the first new Id software IP since Quake, and part of the appeal of this game, aside from its big brother tie-in, was the “wow” factor of the graphics on a handheld device. You simply didn’t have this level of detail or resolution on an iPhone or any other hand held device in 2010 (this was in a pre-PS Vita world mind you). So it was easy to charge $5 - $10 just for the eye candy alone...as for the gameplay itself…I think it may have actually done more damage than help the true game that released the following year. It’s not bad per se but it’s an on-rails shooter, with little to no flexibility (it’s definitely a challenge just to get your power ups let alone shoot all the targets the way the camera whips you around)…and I think the mass conscious’ reception of Rage, because of this app, was that the console version would be the same way, when nothing could be further from the truth. Rage ended up being a perfect middle ground of Fallout and Borderlands, while this was essentially a wasteland entry of House of the Dead. Nothing wrong with that, but very misleading nonetheless. As for how it’s aged, it’s not terrible looking, but in a POST-Vita world (and now an iPhone 6S Plus/PS4 remote play world) it’s simply a sign of its time, the wow factor gone. It’s still available on the app store as of this writing for $2, that’s probably fair (hey it has sound on the newer iphones unlike EA’s games). Rated B for Buyable #RageMutantBashTV #Rage #RageiOS #RageHD #iOS
