Game Review: ‘RAGE 2’ Delivers The Goods

Bethesda Softworks, the same company behind Skyrim, released RAGE in 2010. The game was the next step in the Id Shooters as it combined the combat the company was known for with a story, outdoor locales, customization, and vehicle combat and racing. As if that wasn’t enough, the game featured a large post-apocalypse world, tons of enemies, and several side missions.

The game was so large that it took several discs to contain the game and I remember our review unit arriving extra early so we had time to load the large game so we could be ready to play when it went online.

Nine years later, we finally get the sequel as RAGE 2 has arrived from Avalanche Studios. The game picks up 20 years after the first game as players take on the character of Walker, a first generation offspring from the original Ark survivors.

In RAGE 2 you are a ranger named Walker. After a deadly attack by the evil General Cross and his army of Mutants, Walker takes on the role as the last of the Rangers and travels the Wastelands to find new Ranger tech, make allies, gather loot, and fight Bandits, mutants, and other enemies that arise.

Walker has a nice arsenal of pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, and his deadly Wingstick as well as a series of nanotech powered abilities which can be improved and gained over time.

There are various towns for players to explore as they advance the main mission as well as to gain side missions, trade, buy, and opportunities to increase their vehicle and weapon abilities.

Players will need all this and more, as the enemies are numerous and deadly. Just driving between two points on a mission can lead to roving bands and convoys attacking you, not to mention road blocks and encounters with bandit dens.

The game deftly combines first person combat and vehicle combat, and offers some very fine graphics which really add to the immersion. One issue I had is that some missions seem more like a grocery run between two geographical points, versus some of the more cohesive moments on other missions.

The NPC characters do not do as much as some may like, and you will pretty much be a lone wolf, but you will be able to chat with characters to advance the story and get side missions.

The game does require players to win a race in order to advance the story, and it took many tries, including some frustrating second place finishes, before I was able to cross the finish line first ahead of the pack.

The game provides plenty of gameplay. I put in over 20 hours on it. There are still some areas I could wander to clean up, but I’m more interested in the new DLC and extra content coming. I’m also looking forward to fully tricking out my vehicles and weapons as the three main weapons I have are amazing and I would love to see what the full loadout can do.

I was a bit disappointed over the lack of multiplayer support. It was a feature of the first game and I had hoped we would be able to get both vehicle and FPS combat this time out, or at the least a co-op mode.

The music and sound effects are good, although they can drop or fade now and then, but this issue has improved via a recent patch.

RAGE 2 provides plenty of immersive entertainment and was a very engaging game despite frustrations along the way. The game clearly indicates more is coming to the story, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

RAGE 2 gets 4 stars out of 5.

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Gareth Von Kallenbach

Gareth is the mastermind behind the popular pop media site Skewed and Reviewed. He lives in Arizona with his wife Em McBride.