RAGE 2

The combat is top-notch but the open-world setting is pretty pointless for such a linear game. Story missions which should unlock sequentially have to be unlocked by completing repetitive side quests.
RATING: 6.5/10

I was a bit spooked by the mixed reviews, but to be honest I get it since the opening of this game is just absolutely terrible and the worst part of the experience. Once you get past it and into the midgame where you have some abilities and weapons/weapon mods under your belt is when the game really opens up. The easiest way to describe the gameplay loop is to say that it's like Doom but with Far Cry outposts and instead of stealth, you have a bunch of cool abilities on top of some interesting weapons that are either reminiscent of Doom and Resistance or something unique entirely. The gameplay was so addicting that I really couldn't put it down.

Not bad, but not worth anywhere near full price either. Shooting combat is about on par with DOOM 2016, but not as intricate or satisfying as DOOM Eternal. The open world aspects are rather limited, it wants to be Mad Max but never really gets there. The tacked on in-game purchases for cosmetics is an insulting gimmick to beg you for more money in a game without any coop or multiplayer to show them off.
The story is the real let down though, a terribly generic experience with no attempt at being unique. It's strange just how much story and cut scenes they tried to fit in, while making no attempt at making them interesting.
You play as "Walker, the last ranger" and you must stop the oppressive "Authority" and you must "RAGE" for justice. You'll be told this repeatedly in the blandest possible way from mother figures, and cry over the dead who you have no time to ever get to know or care about.
Does it do enough to be recommend? Yea, sort of. If you're into FPS games and ran out of other options, wait for a sale price and you'll be killing generic mutants to your hearts content with a variety of weapons. It's functional, just not all that impressive. If you're looking for in depth story or something you won't forget a week later, skip it.
---
Bottom Line: If you just want another mindless FPS with a pseudo open world, this is serviceable and can provide some hours of entertainment.
---
While you are here, would you consider following my curator page?
Want to read all of my reviews and not just the curated ones?

Just a Fun Shooter
Rage 2 is often forgotten and even hated when discussing id Software's more recent games, often compared to the new Wolfenstein and Doom games and even criticized for being a bland, generic, open-world shooter with a terrible story.
Truth is, Rage 2 is not a bad game at all, and I would go as far as to say it is unjustly hated and misunderstood. This isn't the type of shooter where you are supposed to care about the story, and this isn't the type of open-world game where you are supposed to explore or feel immersed. Rage 2 is simply a fun game with a fun gameplay loop, and sometimes that is all you need.
The best aspect of this game is that it understands what it needs to do well and accomplishes it. The weapon sandbox is balanced and fun to use, the superpowers and abilities you unlock throughout the game are all satisfying, the vehicles control surprisingly well, and the game missions are short but ultimately sweet.
Once again, Rage 2 isn't some sort of masterclass shooter like Doom Eternal or Ultrakill, but it doesn't need to be. I beat the game, explored almost the entire map, completed all the outposts and missions, and thoroughly enjoyed my experience from beginning to end.
Ultimately, getting this game depends on if you value gameplay above everything else. If that's the case, id Software's satisfying weapon feel and balance, plus the simple 30 seconds of fun gameplay loop, should be more than enough reason for you to get this. Just make sure you find all the Arks at the start of the game so you can unlock all powerups and weapons as soon as possible.

It's difficult to recommend, but the game provided me with positive emotions due to the new gameplay experience, so my review is positive.
I missed Rage 2 at launch and only tried it now. I was quite surprised to find that the game isn’t terrible, just mediocre. It feels like the offspring of Mad Max and Bulletstorm. A modest, straightforward game that doesn't aim for greatness.
Technical state and performance: the game runs smoothly. There are minor animation glitches (for example, if you equip a pistol and immediately press the button in an elevator, the gun-holding animation breaks, causing the hand to jitter rapidly up and down). However, I didn’t encounter any crashes or game-breaking bugs during my 5-hour playthrough.
The narrative isn’t for everyone. It’s packed with clichés and references to 90s action movies, which might not resonate with all players. NPCs deliver their lines with over-the-top bravado, and the main objective of the game is repeatedly spoiled—it comes off as self-parody, but I wouldn’t consider that a strength. Naming the protagonist Walker and making him a ranger—it’s somewhat original, but also a bit cringe-worthy due to the on-the-nose approach.
Gameplay is solid. The gunplay is particularly satisfying, clearly influenced by the creators of Doom. The controls are a bit clunky, but you can remap the layout to suit your preferences.
The game world is a mixed bag. On the one hand, with contributions from the teams behind Mad Max and Just Cause, the post-apocalyptic setting is visually appealing. However, the game severely lacks content. Points of interest (like outposts, mutant dens, etc.) are architecturally distinct but gameplay-wise identical, which is problematic. We're used to repetitive locations, but usually, there’s an abundance of them; here, each gas station, each raider base is different in design but identical in gameplay, and there aren’t many of them. This leaves the world feeling empty.
What’s missing: a co-op mode. The game, with its in-game currency for purchasing cosmetics and DLC, seems to aim for a live-service model. But there’s no online mode! And the content is critically lacking. So playing solo quickly becomes tiresome (unless you’re the type who loves to explore every inch of open worlds, like I do).
What surprised me was the AI and side activities. The AI is smart, responding to your actions and exploiting opportunities, like attacking during reloads. Enemies attempt to flank you and react to your behavior—this offers a refreshing experience. More than once, I found myself running in circles around a raider base, taunted by the last surviving NPC who played hide-and-seek with me, attacking from a distance. I was also pleasantly surprised by the ability to take down vehicle convoys in a Mad Max-style—that’s a nice touch. NPCs driving around add a bit of life to the world of Rage 2.
So, is the game worth high ratings and a must-play recommendation? Probably not. Games like this need either a wealth of content, multiplayer, or a captivating story. In Rage 2, despite its title, boredom is the predominant feeling most of the time.

RAGE 2 is a good game that verged on great. I really do believe they fumbled the ball and I really hate to see it. The combat is so close to DOOM that you can taste it, and I must say that RAGE 2 has the best combat and gunplay of any open world FPS RPG.
So where did we go wrong? First is the Ubisoft style open world with copy and paste objectives across the map. With Bethesda backing the team as a publisher, I would've loved to see them help out in creating a world more akin to Fallout than Assassin's Creed. Instead, the gameplay loop gets bogged down in monotony as you're simply doing the same thing over and over in a new place.
Second, the story just isn't very interesting and the characters aren't very memorable at all. Do not believe that needs further elaboration.
Third, they really should've gone way further with vehicle customization and upgrades. Especially because of how much time you spend in the car, which is a character in and of itself in a way given that it speaks. There is one car that could be considered as the regular viable driving option. It's the only one that can be repaired in the field, upgraded, and cannot be destroyed entirely. Regardless of this, it only gets a basic upgrade menu. None of which improve speed, handling, or acceleration. I would've loved to see swappable parts found through the game that effected stats of the car so you could make it fit your playstyle, similar to Mad Max. Had they done this with the 3 vehicles that could be considered "Ranger" vehicles, being the main car, the motorcycle, and the gyrocopter thingy, that would've won a ton of points with me!
Will we ever see a third game? Probably not. But even so, I hope it happens. I would love to see them take one last crack at it because I wholeheartedly believe that this franchise has amazing potential. Hell, The Witcher didn't meaningfully find its footing until the third lap around. They have the combat down, the game is so fun under a microscope, but when you start zooming out and taking it as the sum of it's parts, it falls short. Still, you can get this game dirt cheap at times, and I would recommend wishlisting it and giving it a shot when the opportunity presents itself. There really is something here that's just out of reach.

Partially developed by other studio and on a different engine, Rage 2 manages to be both reminiscent of the original Rage, while being almost completely different in every aspect.
It's still a shooter, yeah, but now it's fully Ubisoftian open world deal with almost no closed maps, rather than a railroaded experience with an occasion to divert from the main path. It's the game the meat of the game is its side content, rather than the main story. It has a ton of annoying and subpar noise all around, just like the original, but it also elevates itself with extremely tight and well executed combat loop, accompanied by pretty fun character progression.
Still taking place in the same universe, sharing a couple of characters and locations, they are almost unrecognizable from their counterparts in Rage 1. Story is even more nonsensical than the first part, and is carried by even more insufferable characters. On of the most bizzare decisions in my humble opinion was to give Rangers (Ark descendants) Wingsticks as a base high-tech equipment, while in the original game, Wingsticks were just a toy used by survivors to pass free time, used by the Player and some enemies in combat only as a gimmick.
However, Rage 2 comes to the Player's rescue, with a groundbreaking innovation of the Skip button. Throughout of my 5 subsequent playthroughs, I didn't have to suffer through the story filler, and I watched the outro cutscenes to completion only in my most recent session. (Still wasn't worth it). I can't overestimate how the Skip button is crucial for Rage 2 in providing good time for the Player.
The open world has a really nice lay-out, and it's very well paced for the Player. You can visit all biomes very early in the game during introductory story missions, but immediately know whether you're ready or not to go for the map marker hunt there. The game conveys the difficulty spikes very clearly, not only through its HUD, but through visual language as well. Weak goons are annoying and laughable, while high-tech Shrouded faction emanates with its armor from afar. In between you have other factions and their corresponding Convoys, and, finally, the Authority that deploys its heaviest junk into open world when nearing to the story conclusion. Aside from map marks and their Ubisoftian hunt, the world has a ton of unmarked points of interests, special enemies and exploration possibilities, that are rewarding on their own. Not being a fan of this game structure, Rage 2 truly executes it with skill, and manages to cover its core choresome nature with a sense of pacing, rewards don't only provide flat bonuses, but also crucial content like weapons, active abilities and story projects (some of which are gameplay altering). After playing through the game 5 times and possibly uncovering everything in the open world map, I didn't feel exhausted, or manipulated to do it (there is no achievement for doing map or character sheet to 100%). Discovering locations, exploring them or fighting through them is fun every single time (maybe with an exception of the Ultra Nightmare difficulty, which has clear holes in its balance).
Most of the locations are built really well, even if omitting some unpolished mechanics (like ziplines - they're very rarely used and almost never advantagous in combat). What's most important, they are made with the combat loop in mind. The farther you go in the game and the farther you develop your active abilities, location seem to accommodate them in their lay out. Double jumps, gravity pulls, pushing over the edge, drone deploys, etc. can always be utilized somehow using the location. And the combat itself - the strongest point of the whole game.
It's refined at its core, enemy AI is really good, aligning itself with the one found in original Rage. While having a different approach and sharing the same archetypes with different factions, every next variation adds to the mix, or has a little gimmick. A normal goon with a bat just charges at the Player (and tries to dodge bullets), while the shrouded sword guy can camouflage himself. The armour system gives some icing on the cake, giving sense to some character progression and weapon swapping. Some weapons are flat out useless against some armour parts, while others peel it off like an orange.
Aside from a couple of starting weapons, the rest of arsenal is fully optional and can be missed by the Player if not exploring the map. I think it comes with a price, where some weapons are sadly underpowered. The revolver, gravity gun and the railgun are completely optional, and even fully upgraded, feel like the worse option every time they're used.
Combat has some downsides. Some enemies are complete pushovers, while obviously they were planned as the toughest challenges. The Authority big mutants are completely powerless against the Player even on Ultra Nightmare due to their stun-lock weakness. At the same time, basic goons with shotguns can decapitate the Player in one or two shots on higher difficulty settings if the Player is slightly clumsy.
Minigames are gone, but the Mutant Bash TV and racing tracks are back. Both are required to play through once in the main story. Chances of returning to them afterwards equal to zero. They're both unfun, and deliver no worthwile rewards. Mutant Bash TV can be farmed for weapon skins, and Racing can be farmed for Auto Parts used to upgrade your only one special car. Open world map even has an additional racing track, that was finally not used, and just stands out in the middle of nowhere. Driving mechanics are improved a bit, but still every single vehicle handles really bad and seems incapable of taking sharp turns. Motorcycles seem to crash at the slightest angle. The main driving event, though, Convoy combat, accomodates to it and is quite enjoyable, just for spectacle it provides.
Interface is bad, generally. While HUD is great, every single menu and its structure is messy and tiring to navigate. There are sub-quests, but they are handled like regular data pad pick-ups, and cannot be auto-tracked. Unless you track them manually, you solve them by chance by completing a corresponding location, and only then collecting a bonus reward if talking to the right NPC.
Graphically, Rage 2 is uneven. The engine is great at scaling open world locations and vistas. You can quickly go from a high speed chase to a full stop, get out in a random location, and still traverse an extremely detailed environments with trash and clutter all around. However, the interiors and hubs look clearly subpar, even when compared to Rage 1. Especially friendly NPCs and traders are of really low quality, and break the immersion. You spend most of the time in open doors, though.
Audio enhances the experience. Both ambient and combat music scores are impactful. However, they seem to lose a lot of power when played on speakers (2.1). No matter what option I tried, the music sounds much better when set for headphones. Other than that, sound effects are stellar. Beginning with weapons, through ambient, ending with telegraphs of various kinds and gore bits (bone crushing sound in melee or head popping is great).
Rage 2 comes with the in-game shop and premium currency, which is the main offender. One of the story DLCs can be purchased only through this shop. However, not only this, but both DLCs are skippable and I would recommend just that. The Necrodisc is boring and unfunny with the Evil Dead reference that goes nowhere. The new melee weapon doesn't feel good in combat, and frankly is used in the DLC story as well (Skeletons are by far the most tanky enemies in the game).
Although presenting different approach and solutions when compared to the original Rage from 2011, Rage 2 ends up in a very similar position. Undercooked and rushed in some parts, the game is compensated by a tight design and almost flawless execution in key systems and bits, resulting in a very entertaining experience.