RAGE 2

DETAILED REVIEW

id Software has proven time and again that they have got the FPS genre locked down. What they have struggled is a story and to an extent, world building. Avalanche Studios, on the other hand, have been able to make fun, explosive open worlds but have struggled to come up with pitch-perfect game mechanics. RAGE 2, the latest collaboration from the two studios promises to be a crossover with the best of both worlds. The sharp FPS mechanics from id, and the huge sprawling open world from Avalanche, but does it work? Let’s find out.

Story & Narrative

Storywise, RAGE 2 feels like the game was made for the last decade. The story or the lack thereof exists, just so you could move from one point on the map to another and get to shooting people, cyborgs or mutants. It takes the “Chosen One” tropes, slaps a coat of redneck sophomoric humor on it, and wishes that people would be too busy shooting to notice the horrible narrative. For the most part, it doesn’t work.

The writing feels lazy, the dialogue delivery feels forced, and while the setting looks more Mad Max, the attitude looks more Borderlands,  but lacks the charm the either of them combined possess, and this clash of aesthetics takes some getting used to. It doesn’t help when the protagonist that you control (either male or female) has zero depth in character and comes off as this one-dimensional badass 90s hero wannabe.

What bugged me the most, was how on-board with everything, everyone in the world was. The super-secret plan that will act as a counter-measure against the evil Authority from the first game, almost everyone you meet already knows about it, and takes about a minute of convincing before they offer their support. The death of the hero’s closest parent like figure is just brushed off as he/she is more excited to get their hands on the ranger uniform.

Plus it’s short, really short. If it wasn’t for all the driving you have to do, just the campaign should clock under 6 hours, which is criminal for open world AAA titles, I mean games like RDR2, GTA V and even Days Gone offer single player campaigns longer than 30 hours. All of this combines to give the impression that the entire story is just feels half-assed and an afterthought. That being said, however, if you are buying RAGE 2 solely for the story, then it might be the time to see a doctor after all.

Gameplay & Mechanics

The Open World

As much as I hate to admit it, RAGE 2, at a surface level looks, feels and plays similar to Avalanche’s Mad Max. It’s not really surprising, considering that Avalanche has been using the same approach with open world games since the first Just Cause. Yet, one can’t help but feel that the quality in world design of Avalanche games has gone down since then. The open world wasteland 2 in RAGE 2 feels bland, uninspiring and generic. There’s no personality to the far-stretching wastes due to the lack of environmental storytelling or lore behind the individual locations. It might not seem that much of an issue in an Avalanche game at first, but in the long run, the world just feels like it is there just to back up the gameplay and prolong its length.

Like all the open-worlds in games these days, the world in RAGE 2 is littered with busywork and checklists such as clearing various bandit strongholds, taking on bounties, racing, finding X amounts of hidden loot, searching for various Ark power-ups, weapons, etc. However, to say that the game is boring and bland just because the open world belongs to the ‘tried and tired formula’ is wrong. There is certainly fun to be had here. People who have enjoyed Avalanche’s previous outings and games with repetitive open-world content such as Far Cry series may have a good time here, from time to time. It’s just that the longevity of the fun factor is put on halt by how generic and rushed everything feels. You’ve seen five locations, you’ve seen them all. Even the variety in biomes is ruined by the copy-pasted level layouts.

For a game of this size, there is a clear lack of fast travel points, which shouldn’t have mattered if driving from one location to the next didn’t feel so tedious in the first place. Moreover, the driving, handling and collision detection of vehicles in RAGE 2 is very poor. My advice is to find the aircraft as soon as you can to speed up this tedious process. The world of RAGE 2 is a complete slave to its gameplay. Its sole purpose is to extend the length of the super-short single-player campaign. It’s time that the developers realize that it isn’t 2011 anymore and more of the same isn’t better. It should be open-world, not hollow-world.

The Gunplay

The sole reason to buy RAGE 2 is its excellent fps mechanics and gunplay. By god, it’s so satisfying. Whether you’re using the lowly Ark-issue pistol, or the Ark-issue assault rifle or the Ark-issued shotgun or the…you get my gist. Each and every weapon in RAGE 2 feels super satisfying to use (though some are a tad bit underpowered) and that’s something a lot of games doesn’t do well these days. The weapons handle really well, the firing animations are neat and the actual shooting and its feedback are very well resonated. Moreover, the gunplay is enhanced by the alternate modes of fire and the customizability of each and every weapon.

Complementing the gunplay is the fluid controls and movement combined along with the Ark powers that makes RAGE 2 a superhero power fantasy above everything else. Thanks to abilities like Dash, Shatter, Slam, and overdrive, the shooting feels fresh and invigorating. For once, I am glad that a AAA fps allows you to go guns akimbo and not stand back in cover and take potshots at the enemies even at the highest difficulty. There are so many ways you can approach a situation and mix-and-match powers to deal maximum carnage to enemies. You can further upgrade these abilities to be even more devastating. RAGE 2 is at its best when it’s a balls-to-the-walls FPS. Sometimes I just wish it was a linear FPS without the baggage that is the checklist open-world clutter.

Misc

As mentioned earlier, RAGE 2 features an extensive upgrade system for everything from the weapons to your superpowers to general gameplay in the name of projects. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but I ended up semi-liking it for the work they put into these upgrades (despite the lackluster presentation). For one, the UI is not fast, snappy or clean for the number of menus you have to click through to get the upgrades. Secondly, it doesn’t take long to figure out that the entire point of the open world is to grind for money and items to max out your character. It doesn’t sound too bad on paper, but since there are just too many things to upgrade, you’ll be forced to visit same-y looking locations over and over again. Then again, this is also a staple of modern open world games and depending on your taste, the mileage may vary.

Then there’s the lack of difficulty or challenge. Even at the highest difficulty, RAGE 2 can be a walk in the park after the initial 5 hours or so. Even the ‘big baddie’ fights are laugh-worthy. There’s also an in-game store where you can spend real-life money to buy skins for weapons that don’t look all that great in the first place. Just why?

Visuals, Performance & Sound

RAGE 2 uses the proprietary APEX engine from Avalanche and as expected, the problems that persisted in games like Just Cause 4 and Generation Zero are present here. RAGE 2 is a good looking game for the most part. The lighting can be impressive, the colors are vibrant (for a post-apocalyptic game anyways) and the particle effects look very impressive. The animation is also very well done. I like how enemies react when you shoot or hit them and the way armor pieces fall of their body as you deal damage. At the same time, the anti-aliasing is very blurry, there are a lot of objects pop-ins and sometimes even shadows stop rendering properly. Some of the textures are of PS3 era quality and as expected, the APEX engine still handles the depth of field very badly. As a result, the stock region of your weapons comes off as very blurry and out of focus just like in Generation Zero. The motion blur is a bit too strong and renders you unable to focus on things when you sprint. There should also have been an option to turn off the intense pink filter when activating overdrive. If you’re a guy who plays in the dark like me, pick up a bottle of painkillers beforehand.

As for performance, RAGE 2 runs decently on the PS4 slim. It is still 30 fps so you can expect a few choppiness once in a while. There are quite a few bugs, ranging from out of sync and delayed audio to hilarious ones like missing NPCs that still speak and the game spawning an extra copy of the character you’re talking to.

 When it comes to sound design, aside from the bugs, RAGE 2 is pretty standard. The weapons sound good and the feedback sounds are good as well. The voice acting however can range from ok to ‘phoning in through a mid-2000s cell phone’ bad. I found the female protagonist much more tolerable than her male counterpart.

VERDICT

RAGE 2 would have been an excellent FPS if there weren’t tedious and bland open-world elements associated with it. The fun comes in short packages. While it can be said that people who enjoy games such as Just Cause, Far Cry, and Mad Max may have a good time with RAGE 2, it’s just not worth it at full price. If you’re not turned away by what’s already been said, wait for a steep sale. For the time being, there are more than enough open world games that are way more affordable for the things they offer than RAGE 2.