play station official magazine

Staying on the move is an

important survival skill

• use your dash to avoid
  mini-boss attacks.

pound, or making enemies hang
in the air, then using your
wingstick (a bladed boomerang)
on them while they’re up there.
But the more you get used to the
abilities, the more you can chain
everything together. Throw
enemies around with Void, take
to the air, dash forwards, hit them
with Shatter, and target a new
group with a ground-pound.

MASHUP
On top of nanotrite abilities, you
can throw some bizarre guns into
the mix. The game dishes out
the ones you’d expect, such as
an oh-so-good shotgun (it’s Id;
what did you expect?), but also
plenty of quirky firearms, like the
Graviton gun. Prime enemies or

objects with its bullets and you

can then target somewhere else

to hurl your victim to. So, you

can throw enemies up into the air

with Void, and use the Graviton

gun to smash them together with

one that didn’t get hit.

You find yourself intuitively

experimenting and discovering

new tactics as you go with the

flow of combat. “[It’s] movement

as offence and defence, and

weapons that you can use in any

situation,” Willits tells us. “You

get this dance of death in this

combat [...] and it has this

beautiful kind of flow to it.”

Rage 2 is an open world game

but that doesn’t mean it’sonly

the environment that’s packed

with potential. The free and open

approach to combat Id is known

for has been worked in. Not only

are you let loose to explore as you

want, you’re free to engage with

the world as you choose, and the

possibilities are constantly

expanding, not only as a result of

your character being upgraded,

but because of how you’re

growing as a player too. “There’s a

levelabove–youcanlevelupas

a player,” says Nedfors.

Rage 2 isn’t the first game to

have input from multiple

developers, but very few companies

seem to work in such perfect

harmony as Id and Avalanche. Like

the result of two rock superstars

meeting to lay down a fresh track,

Rage 2 feels like a true

collaboration on all fronts, rather

than one developer handling a

little of this, and the other a little

of that. It’s the sort of mashup

experience that’ll make both

studios stronger when pursuing

their individual projects.

RAGE 2

Using the Shatter ability to blow people
away feels wonderfully impactful.

“THE POSSIBILITIES ARE CONSTANTLY

EXPANDING BECAUSE OF HOW YOU’RE

GROWING AS A PLAYER.”