![]() Making combat possible are some fine weapons, including a "smart" rocket launcher, the iconic wingstick, and one of the most enjoyable shotguns in first-person shooting history. Overall, there's a beautiful rhythm to the shoot-outs in RAGE 2. When the combo meter fills, Walker can unleash Overdrive, where guns do more damage, enemies drop more loot, and Walker's health regenerates. The whole thing is wrapped up with a combo meter that fills as you defeat enemies and multiplies based on chained kills, prompting players to play aggressively. Shooting is snappy and impactful, player movement is smooth and unrestrained, and "nanotrite" powers serve as powerful punctuation against the myriad baddies of the wasteland. The moment-to-moment gameplay in RAGE 2 is some of the best of the year-better, arguably, than 2016's DOOM, another creation of co-developer id Software. When the game forgets about storytelling or world-building and focuses on action, it's incredible. The writers behind the game have made a valiant effort to recreate the atmosphere of a world gone mad-something akin to Mad Max or BioShock-but the end result feels like a faded photocopy. None of the game's many loquacious NPCs are especially notable, either. Walker is a vanilla protagonist, General Cross is a stereotypically-evil villain, and the plot, minus a few surprising or fun diversions, doesn't deliver many memorable moments. The story in RAGE 2 is one of the game's weaker pieces. When Authority troops storm Vineland, a beacon of human independence, and kill most of its inhabitants, a soldier names Walker stands up to kill Cross once and for all. ![]() The principal enemy, however, is The Authority, a totalitarian organization run by madman General Cross. From the ashes emerged several enclaves of primitive society and wide swaths of lawless terrain, ruled by mutants, bandits, or other tribes. Basically, an asteroid called Apophis collided with Earth, ending human civilization. There are some narrative threads between the two installments, but you can certainly appreciate the story here without doing any extracurricular research. Set 30 years after the original RAGE, RAGE 2 takes place in the same post-apocalyptic wasteland. Ultimately it's a fast-moving corridor shooter trapped in a plodding open-air adventure. Yet RAGE 2, like so many marquee "AAA" games, goes the open world route, layering over its kinetic close-quarters action a lot of slower-moving, less engaging features: a vast, mostly empty landscape complex upgrade paths and long-winded world-building. Featuring crisp shooting mechanics and strong moment-to-moment gameplay, it's a title ideal for narrow corridors and small sandboxes. RAGE 2 is perfect proof that not all games need to be open world.
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