Rage 2 mutant-slaying is mindless fun but it can’t live up to the personality and quirk of Borderlands
Rage 2 is moreish, easy to waste time in and you won’t be disappointed if a shooter in an open world sandbox is what you’re after. But it’s a surface level fun that won’t live up to the personality and quirkiness of rival Borderlands.
Hex
Don't miss out on the headlines from Hex. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bethesda’s first outing into the wild apocalyptic sandbox realm of Rage was a decent but largely forgotten adventure.
With its sequel, we were promised a bigger, wilder, more chaotic open-world shooter filled with cyborgs and monsters and vehicular combat mayhem.
Whether it delivers on this promise is debatable, but sometimes it’s enough to simply give yourself over to the joy of a popcorn blockbuster franchise and take it for what it is — pure, simple fun.
Following the events of an asteroid colliding with earth, the world has been transformed into a desert wasteland with the majority of the human population wiped-out.
A new faction known as the Authority has experimented with humans resulting in terrifying mutants that ravage the land.
You take the role of Walker, a soldier thrust into the role of “ranger” without any training after all the other rangers were destroyed.
This means access to fancier armour, a range of cool abilities and a great big buggy loaded-up with guns to hoon around the desert in.
From the moment you set out into the desert, you’re bombarded with new abilities as you encounter convenient but welcome technology that only a ranger can access.
Super-charged dashes, a kinetic push, the fun but arguably useless wingstick, double jumps and an “overdrive” ability the builds up as you take enemies down.
Looking to upgrades, there’s so much to work towards it’s almost overwhelming, and absolutely one of the biggest strengths of the game. All your weapons and abilities can be upgraded and tailored to your play-style, even if it’s a long road to achieve everything you desire.
The real joy, however, is in the vehicles. You’ll encounter everything from buggies and bikes to gyrocopters — you can drive any vehicle you come across in the wasteland and tear through foes with reckless abandon.
Each is equipped with impressive guns and cannons which create that Mad Max feel of scrappy, desert combat — albeit not quite as sophisticated in its design.
There’s not quite enough finesse to vehicle control and mounted guns don’t quite have the accuracy they need to make on-road combat as satisfying as it perhaps could be.
An argument could be made that this is to achieve balance — and regardless, it’s undoubtedly a gleeful experience to send yourself hurtling toward an outpost, guns blazing and skidding into the fray. As far as a sandbox experience goes, the vehicles are your ticket to unadulterated freedom.
Various outposts and objectives on the map can be pursued at your leisure, with the combat so enjoyable that my main criticism would simply be that there is perhaps not enough time to be spent at each location.
After you clear the first wave of enemies, there’s generally loot or new “nanotrite” tech items to seek out to upgrade your arsenal, after which a smattering of new enemies will appear.
It’s such fun but over, it feels like, in the blink of an eye. This can be remedied by upping the difficulty — but I think the issue is more that I’d rather be overwhelmed by numbers than pursued by enemies that relentlessly soak up bullets.
The gunplay is satisfying and accessible for the less-than-accurate shooter like myself, and when combined with the slate of ranger abilities you’re given, it makes every encounter engaging and chaotic in a glorious way.
It’s more-ish, it’s easy to waste time in and you won’t be disappointed if an easy shooter in an open world sandbox is what you’re after. But it’s a surface level of enjoyment that won’t live up to the personality and quirkiness of a Borderlands, for example.
READ MORE:
PLAGUE TALE A STEALTH GAME WITH A TWIST
DAYS GONE MISSES KEY TO GREAT ZOMBIE GAME
I think Rage 2 is an improvement on the first instalment and certainly fun enough to keep you coming back for more mutant-slaying. It’s sandbox playstyle is uncomplicated, mindless fun. Ultimately, if you don’t look too deep below the surface — you’ll have a good time, providing you make an effort to savour the experience and make your own fun — as it can be a little light on content overall.
Breakthrough DNA test reveals cause of deafness
The success of a DNA screening trial has allowed dozens of deaf babies to gain tailored treatment, raising hopes the test can be rolled for all hearing-impaired newborns.
Death Stranding a strange sci-fi fever-dream worth your time
Death Stranding is undoubtedly stunning, the world is a genuine challenge to navigate and you feel it with every step – a sensation I think is deliberately crafted for maximum immersion.