- Rage 2 tries to deliver what the original Rage promised back in 2011. Id Software collaborated with Avalanche Studios to improve on the whole open world side of the game. Since Avalanche Studios made Just Cause and the Mad Max video game adaptation, it’s safe to say id Software went for quality.
Post-post-apocalyptic
Rage 2 is set 30 years after the events of the previous game making this essentially post-post-apocalyptic. You are Walker, a member of the Resistance and find yourself in de midst of an attack by the Authority. General Cross who was cloned after being defeated in the last game decided revenge is best served 30 years old. In the aftermath of the attack, you find out you’re the only ranger left. As a result, you decide to continue your aunt’s project dagger to permanently rid the world of General Cross.
Rangers of the lost Ark
Rangers have special superhuman-like abilities tied to the nanotrites found in their blood. At the start of the game, you have some basic superhuman strengths but those are not fully formed to take on every danger the world throws at you. Therefore you have to search for Arks which are scattered across the wasteland. These provide you with extra abilities and sometimes even new guns. The abilities are what makes Rage 2 fun. Throwing a vortex near enemies and picking them off one by one as they twirl in the air never gets old. Using shatter to obliviate armor or using double jump with a dash to reach hard to reach places will give you the edge needed during gameplay. Killing enough enemies in a row grants you the overdrive ability. Rage 2 is all about engaging the enemy but with overdrive, you can really go berserk.
Project dagger
Project dagger guides you towards three allies who each provide you with their own quests opening up RAGE 2’s world, at least in theory. Now the main problem here is that the main quest is actually way too short to really explore the grand open world, Avalanche studios created. Now there are a bazillion side quests to complete but nothing is really tied together with the story, making them mindless tasks instead of fun things to explore.
Collect everything, upgrade everything
The side quests mentioned earlier are all alike. After you’ve cleared about 3 bandit dens, you start to get a sense of déjà vu. Destroying yet another Authority turret gets old real fast. The convoy missions in which you do combat while driving were the only ones that didn’t feel like a chore. Each side quest is labeled with a difficulty which helps in knowing which ones you can tackle early on in the game and which you should save for when you upgraded enough. Each of them rewards you with different collectibles which can all be used to upgrade everything: abilities, weapons, health, vehicles, … But once you get yourself buffed out enough to tackle the final stretch of the main quest, there is no reason any more to return.
Smooth and fun
Now id Software’s studio director Tim Willits said in an interview he wanted nothing more than people having fun with Rage 2. Well, I certainly had fun during the main quest. The combat action is so satisfying which makes Rage 2 really fun to play. The smoothness in which you take on multiple enemies all varying in style, toughness, and size was so engaging to experience, I had to take a break halfway through my game session to write this review. I was getting really hyper from the intense battles. The only downside was that most quests were over a bit too fast. I wanted to ride the highs some time longer.
Conclusion
Id software really delivered near perfection on the combat system. Avalanche studios made a great looking open world. It’s a shame the two didn’t blend well. The potential is all over Rage 2 but the grand open-world FPS that was promised isn’t quite there yet. Fans of Doom and Wolfenstein will love this. Fans of open worlds who are not into FPS games should probably skip this one.
