“The first thing I wrote on the whiteboard
when I met with the team was ‘more crazy
than Rage’,” says Tim Willits, id’s studio
director. “Time and time again we told
those guys, ‘Everything is on the table.
Everything is possible.’ If they’d wanted to
make 12-foot cockroaches that you ride,
we’d have done it. We don’t have them, but
we could. One of the great things about
the Rage universe is there’s nothing that is
too over-the-top. That’s what people like,
so we’ve tried to steer into it.”
Having played a chunk of Rage 2, I can
confirm the lack of giant roaches, and also
that it is more over-the-top – albeit not
quite as much as I was expecting.
Nevertheless, it’s only an hour into my
session that I find myself competing in
Mutant Bash, a sort of wave-based arena
combat challenge that takes the form of a
TV show set in a rundown warehouse
unconvincingly decorated with gaudy
cardboard cutouts. So that’s something.
The team responsible for Rage 2’s
exaggerated style isn’t id, but Avalanche,
creator of the Just Cause series. “It’s a
more holistic collaboration,” explains
Willits. “Avalanche is the developer, but we
have people at id that have helped when
they can. We have everyone from the
controller guys, to the animation team, the
art team, some of the designers. We work
with those guys everyday.”
Combat is also more over-the-top,
thanks largely to a new suite of special
abilities. I dash around the Mutant Bash
arena, evading attacks and launching
mutants into traps with my Shatter ability.
As more mutants rush in, I throw a Vortex
Grenade that pulls the remaining enemies
together into a conveniently shotgunable
ball before flinging them across the map.
For the finale, a minigun-toting giant
bursts in. It’s a difficult fight, but I’ve
caused enough carnage to charge my
Overdrive bar – regenerating my health
and turbocharging my damage output.
“When you play Doom 2016, we
reward you for getting in and doing the
glory kills,” says Willits. “Well in Rage 2, we
reward you for getting in and doing the
abilities, because it pushes you into
combat.” Willits highlights the lack of
long-range attack options, despite Rage 2
taking place in an open world that offers
potential for large combat environments.
“In a bigger world like that ... you can
engage far away, but we don’t give you the
tools to do it. We encourage you to get into
the fight. That’s by design. Pushing
forward – movement as offence and
defence – is very id-style combat.”
The Avalanche twist is that your
close-combat abilities can be combined
for more powerful – and flashy – attacks.
Ground Slam, for instance, has you punch
the ground to create a shockwave that
throws enemies across the room. But that
shockwave is more powerful if you
activate Ground Slam in midair. If you
jump into your own Vortex Grenade and
let its explosion hurl you upwards, you can
use the extra height for a massive slam
that wreaks havoc on the enemies below.BARRIER TO ENTRY
My session was set about 25% of the way
through the campaign, but I was also
shown a brief demo with some of the extra
weapons and abilities that you’ll use in the
full game. One of them, Barrier, is a
deployable energy shield that not only
protects you from incoming bullets, but
also shreds any enemies unfortunate
enough to pass through it. This obviouslyD
espite the number at the end of its name,
you’d be forgiven for assuming Rage 2
has little to do with its predecessor. The
original Rage was dry, mostly linear and
often described as ‘solid’ – a critical shorthand for
‘yeah, this is good, but...’ The sequel feels brash,
vibrant and silly. In short, Rage 2 is the sort of game
that has Andrew W.K. playing over its trailer.
Avalanche attempts to bring new
life to id’s wasteland
RAGE 2
“WEENCOURAGEYOUTO
GETINTOTHEFIGHT.THAT’S
BY DESIGN”RELEASE
May 14, 2019
DEVELOPER
Avalanche Studios, id SoftwarePUBLISHER
Bethesda SoftworksLINK
http://www.bit.ly/rage_2NEED TO KNOW
PLAYED
ITPREVIEW
Rage 2