If you haven't played the first RAGE 2, don't worry, this second installment shares very little in common with its predecessor. As in id Software's game, RAGE 2 takes us to a land devastated and inhabited by different factions, but outside of this environment and the name, the commonalities are almost non-existent. In RAGE 2, we play a man named Walker who is a (Texas?) ranger, a kind of elite soldier from one of the last human factions where there is a semblance of order. After a choice of avatar (which boils down to opting for a man or a woman with a predetermined physique), the game immediately plunges us into the action, with the attack on our base by the vile rogues of the Authority, a enemy faction led by the infamous General Cross. This character, who will be the main antagonist of the game, will not really be very present in the title, once out of the main quest, the duration of which is rather limited. Indeed, a very good player should be able to overcome it after only a few hours, a bit like what is done in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But back to our Authority. This militaristic faction that Adam Jensen of Deus Ex would have liked advocates a 3.0 human being with mechanical limbs and basely cloned flesh, in order to bring him a kind of immortality. At the top of technology, the soldiers of authority stand out in the bric-a-brac of the wasteland by their advanced equipment, their futuristic and devastating vehicles, but also by their undead look which would have been pimped by a follower cyberpunk style tuning. The Authority therefore represents the top of the food chain and, at the start of the game, the confrontation against the troops of this faction proves to be quite complicated.
Fortunately, RAGE 2 offers us a wide variety of factions whose troops are much less protected, which allows us to have fun from the start, and above all to have this feeling of power inherent in id Software titles. Like the Marine of DOOM, the Ranger of RAGE 2 is generally more powerful than any enemy and the danger will ultimately only come from the excess of the latter. The first gangsters we meet are thus the Cramés, the famous bandits decked out in fluorescent colors and with a committed hair style that we could see in the various trailers of the game. Little or not protected, rather poorly armed, the members of this faction will therefore make up most of the player's targets at the start of the game. As we explore the map and its various areas (from south to north), we will discover new environments, each with their own particular inhabitants. If the Burned are present everywhere, we will discover the Mutants in the humid and dark areas, the Swamps in the bayou, and the Eternal Shrouds in the more isolated places. As you can imagine, Mutants are filthy humanoid creatures that are born in repulsive cocoons and whose main asset is speed and numbers. The Marshes are for their part a kind of evolution of the Cramés. Their style is less colorful and they are more heavily equipped. Finally, the Shrouds are a sect of over-equipped soldiers, almost as dangerous as the troops of the Authority. To accommodate all these factions, RAGE 2 offers a map of more than large proportions, with different biomes whose environment ranges from desert dunes to mountains covered with forests, passing through large canyons and swamps.
THE WILL TO WIN
After a few hours of browsing the open-world, we immediately feel a family resemblance with the title Mad Max from 2015. The layout of the roads and paths is similar and we find many well-known elements, including in particular the famous springboards to perform spectacular stunts once in the car. RAGE 2 is also very close to this game in its vehicle gameplay. Driving is much the same, with a similar physique and vehicles that feel quite heavy, while some activities are completely similar, like attacking convoys. As in the 2015 title, large trucks heavily armed and escorted by many vehicles roam the roads of the wasteland. Attacking them turns out to be complicated (especially when our vehicle isn't improved), but rewarding enough in mechanical parts, which allows us to boost our car. The player will officiate at the wheel of the Phoenix, a heavy all-terrain whose look makes us think furiously of the Nomad of the Mass Effect series, but with 4 wheels instead of 6. Initially having a pair of gatling machine guns, our car will be able to turn into a real tank with mortars, 20mm guns, missiles, but also thick armor. To make Titine evolve, you have to collect as many mechanical parts as possible by participating in races or by attacking the famous convoys. Because yes, RAGE 2 is above all a big RPG with many systems to improve its character and its equipment and, of course, a map completely armored with cursors indicating activities. To say that you don't get bored in RAGE 2 is an understatement. Between the main quest, the many side quests entrusted by the NPCs in the cities, the enemy posts to clean, the convoys, the raids of the Authority, the races or the combat arena: there is plenty to do.
As for the sensations controller in hand, know that the base is laid by the FPS gameplay of id software, still as effective, and which seems immediately familiar to a player who has touched Quake or DOOM.
As far as we are concerned, after more than 20 hours of play, there are still many activities available, not to mention all that remains to be discovered, exploration being a real necessity in the game. controller sensations in hand, know that the base is laid by the FPS gameplay of id software, still as effective, and which seems immediately familiar to a player who has touched Quake or DOOM. Nevertheless, Avalanche has added many elements that energize everything and further increase the player's feeling of power. Our ranger will indeed have several Nanotrite capacities thanks to his armor. Concretely, this will make it possible to achieve dashes, dazzling accelerations, to obtain double jumps or even to send enemies flying thanks to a force field. These abilities (subject to a cooldawn) are obtained in game, by going to explore the map in order to find arches, that is to say large spherical structures which contain these famous powers. Each Nanotrite will also be able to be boosted (or not according to your desire) by using feltrite, an essential ore in the world of RAGE 2. This resource, which is also used to supply the armor of our ranger (acting as a gauge of life) can be found in small quantities on the bodies of enemies (but the vials disappear very quickly), in larger quantities in chests, or in whole kilos by going to mine the meteorites that randomly fall on the map. The feltrite will also be used to improve the weapons of our character, knowing that as for the capacities nanotrites, one will find the latter in the arches. In total, the game offers 10 blasters ranging from pistols to assault rifles, including shotguns, bazookas and even the famous BFG directly from DOOM. Each gun can therefore be improved on 5 levels, knowing that it will be necessary to choose each time an advantage out of two possible. And we're not even talking about crafting to build and improve throwing weapons, such as grenades, the famous wingstick or drone-turrets.
RAGE AGAINST THE WASTELAND
Finally, after progressing a little in the main quest, we will unlock the classic skill tree. The latter has three main axes called “projects”, which are Kill and Destroy, Capture and Control and finally Search and Recover. These passive skills are obtained against project points, which will also have to be obtained through certain specific activities. As you have understood, the system is rather complex, and RAGE 2 quite frequently asks us to take part in side quests in order to make our character more powerful, even if nothing is imposed. Indeed, an FPS expert who chained the headshots can quite finish the game without having recourse to all these powers, only a few being obligatory. We admit that we find this approach rather convincing, insofar as each type of player will find his account. RAGE 2 being a game developed by Avalanche Studios, the graphics engine used is therefore the Apex Engine (and not the id Tech 6), which allows a rather attractive rendering, especially in terms of explosions. As in Just Cause, it will be possible to make fireballs worthy of a Michael Bay film and, if the facial animations are not the strong point of the game, the player will still be able to enjoy beautiful panoramas with a sacred viewing distance, and ultimately quite a bit of clipping. Unfortunately, all is not rosy despite what the artistic direction might lead us to think. In the tradition of Avalanche and Bethesda games, RAGE 2 remains plagued with technical issues at the moment, whether it's minor collision bugs, more serious issues where our character passes through the map, or even lines of missing dialogues (especially in French, less in VO). Worse, we even had a completely buggy mission (from the main quest), which corrupted a backup, and forced us to start from a previous file. Finally, during our second visit, everything ended up going well, even if we lost a few hours of play along the way. Our test having taken place on a Review build of the title, we hope that a day one patch will correct these technical errors and that the majority of players will have a better finished version.
