Wireframe 2019

wfmag.cc \ 57

Review

Rated

Review

Rated

Rage 2’s nebulous side content will be instantly
familiar. There are enemy camps to clear out
by blasting every occupying ruffian in the face,
convoys of vehicles to lay waste to, races to
partake in, enemy roadblocks to clear, slayed
Rangers to recover, and plenty more where this
lot came from.
The quality of each of these activities varies
wildly, but the key component deciding how
tolerable they are boils down to whether or
not you can shoot things. Rage 2 clearly follows
in the hefty footsteps of 2016’s Doom. The
shotgun is excellent, which is usually an accurate
barometer for how good a game’s shooting is,
and the rest of the weapons are suitably meaty,
packing the kind of punch that just makes them
fun to use. Headshots are met with a satisfying
pop of displaced brain matter, and each of the
Nanotrites – those aforementioned superpowers

• complement the gunplay in
  thrilling and diverse ways that
  encourage you to experiment.
  Your arsenal of firepower is
  similarly varied, too, building
  from a standard assault rifle
  up to a Grav-Dart Launcher that lets you propel
  enemies in any direction you desire. You might
  set an enemy on fire using the devious Firestorm
  Revolver, then while they’re writhing in burning
  pain, knock them back 20-feet with the Shatter
  Nanotrite until they’re nothing more than a splat
  on the nearest wall. Nanotrites begin simply
  enough with a handy dash move and double-
  jump, but it doesn’t take long until you’re using
  an area-of-effect ground pound to reduce
  anyone unfortunate enough to be near you into
  crimson paste. Kill enough enemies in quick
  succession, and you’ll also build up a multiplier
  that allows you to activate Overdrive. This puts
  you in a suped-up haze of radiant colours and
  intense chromatic aberration that empowers
  each weapon and Nanotrite’s destructive
  capabilities for a short while.
  Similarly to Doom, Rage 2 also incentivises
  you to keep on the move and push forward.
  Each enemy you kill drops a currency that’s
  so volatile it disappears after a few seconds,
  forcing you to wade out into danger to collect a
  currency that not only upgrades your weapons
  and Nanotrites, but which also heals you in
  that moment. In terms of upgrades, there’s
  a veritable bucketload, with various ways
  to improve and modify your guns, vehicles,

VERDICT

Rage 2’s combat is often

brilliant, but it’s disrupted

by all the trappings of a

bland open world.

55 %

base stats, and projectiles. This amount of

customisation is welcome, but there are so many

disparate types of currency, the upgrade system

could’ve been streamlined and condensed to cut

down on the amount of time you spend faffing

about in sluggish menus.

This is an issue with Rage 2 in general, though.

There’s a dearth of momentum, and it severely

lacks any sort of fluidity. The combat is brilliant

in a bubble, but it’s broken up by long stretches

where you’re just driving from point A to B.

There’s no spontaneity in the open world, with

any signs of life restricted

to the bandit dens and pit

stops that populate the map.

Nothing tugs at you to break

away from your waypoint and

explore, and the amount of

scavenger hunts you have to partake in slow

down the pace considerably, whether you’re

searching for fuel tanks to destroy or Ark chests

to open.

It’s impossible to play Rage 2 without thinking

about how each of its elements has been

executed better in other games, particularly

those by id and Avalanche Studios themselves.

There are brief moments of balls-to-the-wall fun,

but they’re bookended by an unnecessary open

world that dampens the impact and pacing of its

kinetic gunplay. There are other issues beyond

this, from samey mission design, terrible vehicle

handling, and a slew of bugs, but Rage 2’s biggest

crime is that it’s less of an apocalyptic rager and

more like a tedious car journey to visit relatives

you don’t particularly like.

“There’s a dearth of

momentum and it

lacks fluidity”

 Each time you unlock a new weapon,

you’re dumped into these sterile

tutorials to learn how to, among other

things, shoot a rocket at the bad guys.

 You fight the same

miniboss multiple times

throughout Rage 2, with

the same weak points and

attack patterns.