Rage vs Borderlands – Which Is better?

Whether you’re about to get any of the games, or own one of them and want to get the other, this comparison review is going to help you decide with your question in mind: Rage vs Borderlands – and which is actually better than the other.

As always, there are people out there that will complain and tear things down, if things are not 100% exactly when and how they want them to be, the battle about Rage vs Borderlands will just go on. I’m here to give you an open and honest opinion about both games. Things are not just black and white.

First of all, I own both games. I’ve played the whole Rage game and I’ve reached character level 25 in Borderlands. I’ve got them through Steam and I play them on a high end 8 core 64 bit 24 Gb RAM PC, with a fast 3D graphics card that loads everything at max resolution. I’ve been playing games for 30 years and I’ve been involved with 3D graphics animation, content creation and training 3D students for over a decade. So, I’m not just someone playing games; I know what it takes to produce 3D graphics and I can give you a broad view on both games.

Onward…

Let The Games Begin – Rage vs Borderlands

Our Rage vs Borderlands comparison starts with what meets the eyes… Visuals. Graphics is not just eye candy, such as the artistic touch, varation, lighting, mood and shadow work – it’s also the overall design, how well it blends with everything else and how fluid it looks and feels in terms of speed and immersion.

Both games feature huge cyber-punk / Riven / Myst IV style landscapes (Rage also has some post-apocalyptic elements), both indoor and outdoor scenery and free movement. Rage has a better finish and more details when it comes to design. It just looks more realistic and complex. Rage borrows lots of environments from Borderlands, but makes them different and more complex and vibrant.

While Rage has more polished textures and brilliant lighting, it lacks close up detail and some of the textures are very poor and blurry. Borderlands graphics is more even as far as quality goes, still good and has a more “cartoonish”-touch to its graphics, with the black outlines on every item. But whether it’s Rage vs Borderlands is not just about what we can see… It’s more what we can feel.

Rage has more WOW-factor… Often during game play, I just had to stop and watch the scenery. I’m a big sucker of cool lighting effects and some of the effects in Rage are BRUTAL. It’s honestly one of the most stylish games out there as far as design goes. I’m not talking pure visual excellence; there are other games that have more impressive graphics, but Rage impresses with it’s lighting, design and mood.

Borderlands is not as impressive with its lighting and visuals, although it offers a more even graphics experience and also includes live lighting that cycles through day, dusk, night and dawn. In a way, the Borderlands graphics is more clear and simple to navigate through. Still, the level design is very good in Borderlands and the game has that “home” feeling to it – that makes you just play a little longer and a little longer…

Rage vs Borderlands – how about the characters? Character design very impressive in Rage, it has more detail and “character” so to speak. Rage characters are simply more “alive” and vivid. The animations are extremely well done and each character has its own personality. The cut scenes are IMPRESSIVE.

Borderlands characters are not of the same quality and don’t have the same personality, although they do their job just fine. While Rage truly let’s you almost feel the RAGE of the enemy with its incredible detail and animation, Borderlands has more variety when it comes to enemies.

Our Rage vs Borderlands comparison hits the sound wave… Sound-wise, both games are of total excellence. Every sound effect is just perfect and the music is breathtaking. Both games have that cool retro music feel to them, a blend of sci-fi, techno, heavy metal, wild wild west and Tron Legacy. Music adjusts to the intensity… Just awesome…

While the Rage storyline is told via cut-scenes and more linear, Borderlands rely on telling the story in a more suddle way, such as picking up audio recordings while on missions and when interacting with the locals. While the first one sure is Hollywood impressive, the latter gives more mystery and feels like part of the game. Which story is better? Lonly hero saves the world – what else do you need to feel cool while playing?

Now, escalading our Rage vs Borderlands comparison to the game play, both games are FPS (First Person Shooter) games with RPG (Role Playing Games) elements. While Rage offers cool add ons for weapons, your character and vehicles and parts you can pick up and assemble to create new parts – Borderlands is a full blown RPG game. It offers a more complex image, where you can shape your character into 4 classes, and carefully mold your characters abilities. However, having hit character level 25 in Borderlands, I’ve not yet found items that you can combine to produce new items. Well, for me – I don’t like combining stuff THAT much, so I can live with it.

Rage vs Borderlands or Doom – someone? I’ve always been a fan of FSP, ever since the first Doom came out – and I’ve had a hard time adjusting to games with role playing elements. They didn’t quite work out well in Dues Ex, But with Borderlands – I’m just sold. It’s so cool and so well done. The inventory, map and character screens are large and well done. It’s just easy to navigate. I feel like a kid on Christmas, looting boxes and body remains searching for a bigger and faster guns and cool items that makes monsters and enemies cry.

Speaking of Rage vs Borderlands , one annoying thing about Borderlands is the lack of in-game map. You have to switch to a larger map in order to find your way around. In Rage, you have a mini-map at the top of the screen, making the process so much easier.

Both games offer shops where you can buy stuff for money you find while on missions. Missions by the way – as simple as go there, kill someone, get back and get paid. Go there, find some pieces and then go there and let someone do something with them. Nothing too serious, but the immersive environments in both games give enough variety.

Rage vs Borderlands – all in all? I love both games, but here’s how the games excel in different ways. Choose what seems to fit with your preferences:

Rage: Shorter, but more RAGE and scary enemy that will literary scare the hell out of you. Rage has more vivid characters with more “character”. Borderlands: Far longer, less linear game to finish and offers more “bang” for the buck.

Rage: Easy RPG elements, large environments (although smaller than Borderlands). Borderlands: Superior RPG elements, incredibly large environments and large variety of enemies.

Rage is visually more stunning, with incredible lighting, style and mood. Some flaws, like uneven texture quality drag it down as well as some inital PC release issues. Borderlands offer a more even, more laid back “cartoonish”-look-alike visual style. Offers lighting that changes over time from day to night.

Both games have vehicles. Rage has racing incorporated as “mini-games”. As a game, Borderlands is overall a better and longer experience, however Rage is more intense, shorter, scary and visually appealing.

Alright, Rage vs Borderlands ends here. Both very good games, but slightly different.

PS. Read other posts HERE.

With that said – have fun!

And There You Have It – Rage vs Borderlands

Waldemar Belwon