Rage 2

Open world games are a weird breed. The old elevator pitch of unchained exploration has been co-opted by overly familiar mechanics and invisible borders. One feels less freedom, and more rising panic, at your ever-expanding task list. Rage 2 sits neatly in the center of the open world spectrum. This game doesn’t break much in the way of new ground, but it elevates established ideas to a fun, frant...

Rage 2 is a chaotic, fun, and rewarding adventure that combines a light but interesting narrative with explosive combat and a well-structured open world. It won't blow you off your feet, but you'll have plenty of fun blowing everyone else off theirs.

“Despite technical hiccups and design choices that slow down the action, Rage 2 still manages to make you feel like a postapocalyptic superhero.”

RAGE 2 is an accomplished first person shooter, but a bland and disappointing open world experience.

Rage 2 isn’t the biggest game in the world. Nor is it the prettiest, or the most polished. Once you’ve explored its tame open world enough to open up your combat options however, it doesn’t really matter. In the heat of battle, the only thing you’ll be experiencing while playing Rage 2 is sheer joy. And it’s good enough to make all the boring bits in between feel worthwhile. It’s not perfect, but ...

An exceptional shooter cursed by a bland world.

When it was first revealed that we would be getting a sequel to 2010’s RAGE, many of us didn’t know what to think. A common response was “why?” RAGE 2 was developed by Avalanche Studios (in conjunction with id Software) and is an open-world first person shooter, with an apocalyptic setting — Think Mad Max or Borderlands. In much of the game’s marketing, RAGE 2 was depicted as a wacky, punk-inspire...

Rage 2 has incredible gunplay and brilliant graphics, but that spit and polish can't hide its lame open world and generic characters. It all adds up to a paint by numbers open-world shooter that players will forget about as soon as the credits roll.

I am so surprised by Rage 2. From the preview events, which mostly showcased its gameplay, I thought this game could be pretty special. Love it or hate it, the “attitude” those initial Rage 2 trailers exhibited made it distinct. Implementing that in a colorful open-world with Doom-style shooting is what I’ve been dreaming of since last year’s E3. In some ways, what we got is exactly that. But for ...

Rage 2's great gunplay can't salvage an empty world, shoddy writing, and multiple wasted opportunities.

Still. These are the rough edges to a game I'm tempted to call a diamond, or at least a bit of beryl. The parts I like far outweigh the parts I don't. I've got my weirdo NPCs, my Ark hunting, my Whoopinkoffs and Dimbledicks. I've found every Ark, now, but I still plan on gambolling between side activities. I still want to explore, even though I wish I was exploring a world that had been less gener...

Bethesda Softworks has done great work reinvigorating its library of IPs over the past few years. MachineGames’ take on Wolfenstein and id Software’s Doom 2016 were fantastic games and the idea to reinvigorate additional IP is a solid idea. Rage 2 should make sense on paper, but falls flat in execution. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the minute-to-minute gameplay. The mixture of inventive guns ...