Ravaged

In my younger days I loved the Mad Max movie franchise. I loved the rough and raw feel of the post-apocalyptic action films.  Not to mention I always got a kick out of those crazy Road Warrior vehicles. So when Ravaged for the PC dropped into my lap, the mere concept of the game brought a smile to my face.

While I haven’t seen any other game types in the wild, in earlier play sessions during the beta I was also shown a straight forward deathmatch on one the smallest map, “Oil rig”  No vehicles and a lot of vertical combat. It’s experience a good change of pace and a great way to get a feel for all of the different classes.

When you’re driving at high speed across Ravaged’s large maps alongside teammates in rocket buggies and machine gun cars, blasting enemies at high speed and reveling in the fireworks of your coordinated destruction, the potential of 2 Dawn Games’ post-apocalyptic online shooter is obvious. Unfortunately the time between such moments isn’t always entertaining, as a lack of polish and boring class design limit Ravaged’s overall appeal. Though 2 Dawn did an admirable job of blending accessible vehicle-based combat with a few instances of more sophisticated mechanics, it feels like the game could ...

Battlefield 1942 celebrated its tenth birthday at the time of Ravaged’s release. While the art might not have been as drenched in spectacular lighting, it presented a revolutionary gameplay model based on skills and team efforts. This was an engaging race against time for any multiplayer shooter fan to enjoy, with a series of great maps, classes and vehicles that joined forces for an addictively good game. While Ravaged shouldn’t be compared to it by default, seeing as it’s its own game, there’s also no excuse to not only take a step back from tropes of ten years ago, but to break down in othe...

Right now the small player population is seriously harming what makes Ravaged stand out, but even when you do end up in a big battle on a fresh map, its best attributes are lost underneath layers of niggling issues that just prevent it from being an enjoyable experience. It’s a threadbare experience, with weakly developed classes and no attempts to draw you into its world, meaning this is one shooter best left buried in the sand until things improve.