▷Rage 2 review: is it worth giving it a chance? 🥇

2 Rage it is not a game for weak stomachs. The shooter of Id Software e Avalache Studios celebrates violence and chaos in a truly convincing and adrenaline-pumping post-apocalyptic world, but unfortunately not without its flaws. The gaming experience, however, remains surprisingly satisfying, as long as you don't need a substantial narrative stimulus to continue playing.

A short story

Rage 2 is more than a real plot a narrative pretext, an input that helps you to explore and discover the game world without getting lost in the meanders of the not too vast open world.

Your task - at least for the first few hours of the game - will be to annihilate theAuthority, back in strength and ready to conquer the Devastated Zone under the command of the highly robotic General Cross. Unfortunately, the first fight will see you defeated but ready to be reborn: you will acquire a new title - that of Cleaning -, new powers, many weapons and a sturdy and well-equipped vehicle. Everything you need to face the wastelands surrounding your hometown and start tracking down three valuable allies: John Marshall, Loosum Hagar and Dr. Anton Kvasir. These old glories of the Wasteland will help you breathe new life into the Daga Project, born to finally crush the Authority.

The story of Rage 2, as you may have guessed, does not shine for originality. Everything is annoyingly linear and certainly far from that narrative finesse that characterized the immense and beloved Wolfenstein.

The narrative sector could be saved from everything that makes up and enhances the post-apocalyptic culture, starting with the myth that surrounds the Rangers. To find out what Rage 2 has in store for you, however, you will have to be willing to read the numerous Datapads scattered around the open world, an activity that will require some patience and several minutes of your time.

Nano ... what?

The real strength of this FPS is undoubtedly represented by the gunplay: variegated, tachycardic and enriched both by the amount of weapons available and by the nanotrite abilities that you can unlock and use. Yes, Walker - the protagonist of Rage 2 (the choice of genre is yours) - can count on 11 special skills which are based on the injection of an unspecified material. At your disposal you have 4 dedicated to the attack and 7 instead of support, each of which can then be enhanced using the feltrite, the main element of the Devastated Zone. There are also bonuses that you can unlock thanks to the nanotrite upgrades that you will find in the Archaic chests, special boxes reserved only for Rangers and hidden throughout the game world.

But the fun doesn't stop there. He also thinks about giving some variety to the gameplay your arsenal, composed of various kinds of fire mouths. The latter can be recovered inside the Arks - the same structures where you will also find the nanotrite abilities - and enhanced thanks to a series of useful Mods.

Not to be forgotten then the projects, divided into 4 groups associated with as many characters: your friend Lily and the aforementioned John Marshall, Loosum Hagar and Anton Kvasir. Each of them will improve your skills and give you new tools with which to destroy your opponents.

For shooter lovers Rage 2 is a real playground, but only on one condition: choose the higher difficulty. At least if you are an expert user. The level of challenge offered by the game is in fact sensationally calibrated downwards, which will lead you, among other things, to finish the story in a few hours.

[amazon_link asins=’B07D3DHC8N,B07D3BM97W,B07D3DG91L,B07DKF17WB’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’gamspri02-21′ marketplace=’IT’ link_id=’abff3d27-55d0-44af-a1f9-b4309f249d02′]

The loneliness of the Wasteland

It disappoints the game world a bit. The open world of Avalanche Studios and Id Software is pretty bleak in its being rich in anyway repetitive activities, activities that you will stop doing as soon as the protagonist has upgraded his / her weapons and skills.

Reaching the goal, among other things, will not be too complex: the bases of the Bullies are all in all simple to devastate and never too demanding, the searches for the deceased Rangers are often boring and the races aboard the few vehicles in the game are not they are never too stimulating, neither inside the circuit nor outside. The lack of real armed clashes as you drag yourself from one part of the however not very large map to the other is surprising: the cars you will meet are not many, rarely warlike, as well as the swarms of opponents. The only real stimulus, both during the campaign and at the end of it, is probably the Mutant Bash TV, an arena where your task is to exterminate the mutants in the most imaginative and brutal way possible, unleashing your powers and freeing the executioner in you.

Then know that all these activities which, I repeat, end up being not very stimulating and often equal to themselves, are not a habit, something to do because you are passing through, but a necessity: in fact, grinding is an integral part of the campaign, campaign that without these slow times (dead, sometimes) would therefore be even shorter.

All Apex Engine

To bring all this to life, the developers used theApex Engine, the graphics engine that Avalanche also used for Just Cause 4 and that the software house designed for the management of open worlds. A good sign? Not really. Rage 2 in fact sacrifices detail on several occasions, often and willingly re-proposes the same identical NPCs, is superficial when it comes to animations and is not even enthusiastic about the additional and improved effects, introduced by the development studio precisely to make the title more explosive and rowdy.

However, not everything is to be rejected: the glance will in fact be fully satisfied by well-defined post-apocalyptic scenarios, from decrepit but convincing cities and an absolutely unique mix of sand, rust and fluorescent colors.

Rage 2: buy it or not?

It could have been done better? This is certain: the narrative component is dull, the technical one is certainly not state of the art and the end-game for now is disappointing. So what? What remains? Well, in reality it remains a very fun, varied and adrenalized gunplay, an FPS that will allow you to let off steam and relieve stress without putting yourself too much to the test. Perfect for those who are not looking for the challenge but, in fact, just a good excuse to exterminate and kill everything in their way.