In addition to being revealed as a surprise, given the not-so-amazing success of the first chapter released 8 years ago, the wait for the arrival of RANGE 2 from the date of its announcement it was not very long. Although he earned the scene on the E3 stage during the conference of Bethesda to the sound of music, and during the year we were gradually provided with details on the title, it took little to divide the audience in half between enthusiasm and skepticism: a clear gap that metaphorically speaking leads us to the very same concept of emotion that arises in the player the title proposed in tag team by Avalanche Studios e Id Software. The first person shooter that is proposed to us in post apocalyptic punk sauce will see us wandering in the devastated area, unraveling its secrets and exterminating any hostile force that comes before us. But how does it all start?
An in-law aunt
The first impact with RAGE 2 is a video that briefly explains who the bad guys are (The authority) that thirty years after the events of the first chapter decide to break everything, which is followed by a short but clear tutorial session in which we will learn how to use weapons and skills. We will first of all be given the opportunity to choose whether to play with a male or female protagonist, and then throw ourselves headlong to defend the city in the aforementioned tutorial. Even if the tones are frenetic, this feature cannot serve as a justification. For what? For a rather hasty and petty narrative, with a rather sterile characterization of the characters and with a "big explanation" (among other things by a recorded hologram) to give us the first indications. In effect, they have become the last Cleaning, we will begin wandering in the devastated area carrying out various missions, earning upgrades and clearing checkpoints and outposts, all to activate the Daga project. If it were not for a very fun gameplay that does not discount anyone, the title in terms of purely narrative entertainment would not have much to offer, structured in a linear way, but not providing any emotional pretext or at least that it manages to spring. a particular interest. Neither the protagonist (regardless of their gender), nor the supporting actors, nor the allies or villains will be able to hit you, as if they were puppets placed there just to make presence. Such a pity.
Iron, fire and sand
However, as we have anticipated, the gameplay of RAGE 2 has quite a few interesting features to offer. Its open world structure is what is usually called "the right compromise", where the map isn't huge but is still packed with activity, from the strongholds to be freed by force, to open the Ark, up to real road races between vehicles. However, even if these are many, the fact that very similar ones are proposed could make these activities too repetitive, affecting the experience in its duration. We also specify that to complete the title on average, the time required varies from 10 to 15 hours of play. Each of our actions of this kind will have influence on our allies, and will earn us respect and reputation whenever we succeed in an enterprise, but also (and above all) projects. Don't worry, if you think you missed something there map and its icons will always come to your aid. To roam in complete freedom (unless we will be ambushed by a gang of centaurs or by beefy creatures) we will have various vehicles that we will be able to unlock gradually. Of course, they will not only serve to run, but also to wreak havoc.
However, you don't become strong just by slaying and blowing up enemies, but also by empowering yourself. Here then is that looting everything useful becomes a must, from money, to the odds and ends, and clearly to the Feltrite, an alien mineral that is indispensable to say the least. However, our Ranger suit can dare even more, and defending our life can even become secondary if we compare this feature to the acquired power: each Ark will in fact give us access to a new power, which we can combine with our personal skills and our weapons in the most disparate ways. Clearly, in addition to the pistol and the submachine gun (always very useful) that we will get in the early stages of the game, our suit will allow us to carry several other weapons with us.
Last, but not least, the overload: as we slay the unfortunate enemies (which on balance go down a bit too easily) we will raise a multiplier placed at the bottom left of the screen with the rest of the info on vitality, ammunition, etc. starting the overload we will become real war machines for a limited period of time ... even simply using a melee attack. With all this meat on the fire it was easy to make some mistakes, but all in all the team was able to incorporate each feature in a homogeneous way, unfortunately at the expense of a general difficulty tending to the bottom.
Reload
On a technical level RAGE 2 is a very solid title on which there is very little to complain about, if not a realization "a bit like this" the appearance of cannon fodder that will be thrown at us in the various phases of the game, and of a general menu - including inventory, map, etc. - which in the tested version (PlayStation 4 Pro) freezes for a few tenths of a second at practically every change page: a defect as curious as it is annoying. This detail is added to a frame rate that theApex Engine manages to manage very well, if not for a few too many “swings” in the most excited phases. For the rest, the game is exactly what was expected: a shooter where exploration is important and in some ways almost indispensable, but above all that manages to wisely mix action and madness, immersed in a post apocalyptic world that has little to tell. about the good old days, but a lot about this new reality. A pressing fluidity manages to immerse the player and increase his thirst for blood, which as unfortunately we anticipated can be satisfied very easily. Scratchy the soundtrack, is accompanied by a dubbing in other medium-level languages, but accompanying everything with quality sound effects. It remains only to wonder what caliber will be the support promised from here on, in addition to the already announced DLC coming, even perhaps in updates designed to polish these defects.
