Wireframe 2019

56 / wfmag.cc

Review

Rated

 Races are an optional side
activity (aside from one
mandatory race), and they’re
not good. The tracks are too
pedestrian and the AI too easy.

An apocalyptic wasteland full of stops and starts

some humdrum writing. The barely-there plot

is centred on your status as the last Ranger

left alive in these Mad Max-inspired badlands.

Rangers are the final bastion of hope and justice

in this lawless world, decked out in fancy combat

suits that grant them access to oodles of earth-

shattering superpowers. Your goal is to put a

stop to the nefarious Authority, an augmented

army of techno fascists led by a cartoon villain

who looks like Darth Vader on steroids.

This straightforward narrative informs

Rage 2’s open-world structure as you quickly set

off in search of three characters who will help

you put an end to The Authority. There isn’t

much more to it than that; you do two missions

for each of these three characters and then

it’s on to an underwhelming finale. The only

thing padding out the length of the campaign

are level thresholds you have to meet in order

to advance, which means completing some of

the myriad side activities cluttered across its

modestly sized map. If you’ve played an open-

world game in the past decade, the majority of

Info

Review

GENRE

FPS

FORMAT

PS4 (tested) / PC

/ XBO

DEVELOPER

id Software,

Avalanche

Studios

PUBLISHER

Bethesda

Softworks

PRICE

£49.99

RELEASE

Out now

Rage 2

Review

Rated

REVIEWED BY

Richard Wakeling

fter a dreaded opening lore

dump, Rage 2 asks you to pick

between playing as a male

or female protagonist. This

decision has little bearing on

the rest of the game aside from an obvious

difference in your character’s seldom-heard

voice, but whoever you didn’t choose is almost

immediately crushed to death by a flying

door. It’s a humorous moment borne from its

suddenness and your character’s nonchalant

reaction, yet, going forward, this quick slice of

dark comedy isn’t indicative of the rest of Rage 2.

While its combat may be fantastic, best-in-class

stuff, the game wrapped around its frenetic

shooting is surprisingly bland, unimaginative,

and disappointingly dull.

All of the marketing material and Andrew

W.K. performances painted Rage 2 as this wacky

shooter with attitude, its apocalyptic wasteland

doused in pink neon and eccentric, larger than

life characters. In reality, none of this comes

to fruition besides the pink neon, and even

then the landscape is drabber than you might

expect. The story is cookie-cutter drivel, with a

small cast of forgettable, paper-thin characters,

while any attempts at humour fall flat due to

HIGHLIGHT

Rage 2 isn’t always a looker;
it often appears as though the
screen is coated in Vaseline,
and there are some muddy
textures and noticeable
pop-in. But, explosions are
spectacular, with a vivid
outburst of fire, flying debris,
and rended flesh. And it’s all
worth it for that sweet 60fps.

A

 The environments come alive at

night when dynamic lighting and all

that pink neon are allowed to shine.