Rage has a storied past. John Carmack first announced the new id Software game at Apple’s WWDC in June 2007 before announcing a publishing deal with EA in July of 2008. Since being acquired by Zenimax, Bethesda took over publishing reigns this past December. With all the worth put in, expectations were high. At a behind-closed-doors session at E3, I got a chance to see a few levels from Rage. First impression: damn that’s pretty. Second impression: ok, I definitely want this game.

Graphically, Rage is stunning. id has always done a great job in this department and even the console versions shown were among the best looking I’ve ever seen (and keep in mind this is still early in development). The id Tech 5 engine pushes a crap-ton of polygons (sure, that’s a real number). We were shown three separate levels in the demo — a wasteland environment with vehicle combat, a small wasteland town, and a destroyed major city area. Each had a cohesive yet distinct feel, which should provide some nice variety to the gameplay.

The first enemy encountered in the demo was taken down with brutal glory — a thrown blade that tore off legs and arms with some of the best limb displacement I’ve ever seen. It’s clear that id put in the work on the details with Rage. Other guns and weapons in the game showed some nice touches, but most were straight forward shooting affairs. The vehicle combat reminded me very much of Twisted Metal, with upgradable weapons as you progress throughout the game. We saw a sequence in a desert canyon where you had to pull e-brake turns a few times to target enemies and take them down, which worked out pretty well.

During the small wasteland town level, id showed off some of the more RPG elements of the game as you accepted quests and missions, talked to various NPC’s throughout the town, and finally went into the sewer system to take down some baddies in a storm of bullets. Finally, in the destroyed city, you sat defending yourself as the ground shook — an enormous beast was approaching. As a 20 story monster emerged from behind a dilapidated building, the demo ended. I really wanted to see what kind of weapons would kill this behemoth, but that will have to wait for another day.

Overall, Rage reminds me a lot of an amalgamation of Borderlands, Fallout 3, Twisted Metal and MotorStorm. Each of those games is fantastic, so putting them all in a pot and plucking out the best parts is sure to produce a winner. We all know that id makes great shooters and Rage looks to continue that legacy. With the many delays already, it’s unclear when in 2011 the game will actually ship. But given the level of polish already in the game, I would hope we all get to play Rage somewhere mid next year.