More Bang For Your Buck

RAGE 2 COMBINES THE HIGH-OCTANE COMBAT OF DOOM WITH THE OPEN-WORLD ANARCHY OF JUST CAUSE TO CREATE A FREE-WHEELING FIRESTORM OF FUN

- Robin Valentine

Developers id Software and Avalanche Studios are, each in their own way, masters of the adrenaline high. With the former it’s the rush of firstperson shooter perfection – the tight, bloody, ultra-fast shootouts of the 2016 reboot of Doom set a whole new standard for the genre. For the latter, it’s the thrill of causing destruction in a sprawling sandbox world – whether that’s hijacking planes in mid-air in Just Cause, or racing through swirling dust storms in Mad Max.

So you’d better believe that when they decided to join forces, we sat up and paid attention.

Rage 2 is the spawn of their scandalous videogame affair, taking the best elements of each school of design to create something new, exciting and balls to-the-wall bonkers. Its postapocalyptic setting takes its cues from the original Rage – a solid shooter, if not very fondly remembered – but its open world is infinitely more alive with chaos. Raider gangs patrol the roads in ramshackle convoys, ominous dropships deposit huge, mysterious machines from above, kicking up clouds of dust, and always somewhere, somehow, something is exploding.

Your character – gun-laden, nanomachine-infused hero Walker, last of the Rangers – swans onto the scene like a lit match into a fireworks factory. Everywhere you go, the game conspires to distract you, throwing enemies and opportunities into your path. Who could resist starting trouble with a Goon Squad patrol holed up in a gas station? These jokers are literally surrounded by explosive fuel – it’d be rude not to.

SLAM DUNK