Rage 2 may be a somewhat surprising sequel, coming seven years (and a new generation of consoles) after id Software’s first Rage title, but the new game’s technicolour promo pictures and madcap gameplay videos have done more than enough to catch our attention.
Still, we weren’t really sure what to expect when we trotted over to the London offices of Bethesda for 90 minutes of hands-on time with Rage 2. All we really knew about the game was that it puts you in the shoes of a new lead character, 30 years on from the events of the original Rage game. In hindsight, though, we’re ruddy glad we went along.
As first impressions go, Rage 2 gave us a very strong one. The gameplay we experienced, the not-yet-released clips we witnessed and the tantalising teases that we glimpsed have upgraded our hype levels from mild intrigue to genuine excitement. Read on to discover some of the major takeaways we took from our morning with Rage 2…
Endless options for epic violence
To kick things off, id Software’s director Tim Willits gave us an epic demonstration of the combat mechanics in the game. Showing off on a big screen, he loaded up a development area and took control of a character that has every weapon and ability that it’s possible to obtain in the game. He proceeded to obliterate wave after wave of goons using a truly vast variety of attacks – gravity wells, incineration blasts, huge guns, ‘wingstick’ boomerangs and whopping telekinetic blasts. As enemies exploded into pools of blood around Willits, with skeletons piling up as new foes spawned, our eagerness to get our mitts on the game went smashing through the roof.
In terms of these combat mechanics, the closest comparison that comes to mind is Dishonored (another franchise that’s published by Bethesda Softworks, interestingly enough). Your character’s right hand holds whichever massive gun you’ve equipped, while their left hand dishes out an array of fantastical abilities. It’s up to you to hone your dexterity skills to dish out damage in the most effective and awe-inspiring ways possible by juggling these two sets of moves.
After sitting in stunned silence and witnessing Willits’ wanton destruction, we were dropped into the game ourselves. We were plonked into an open world segment, roughly 25 per cent of the way through the main campaign, and pointed in the right direction for the next chunk of the story. We didn’t have the full array of moves that Willits had in his development area, but we still had a couple of cool supernatural moves and a ruddy big gun to play with. It’s clear that this game offers endless options for attacks, and that potential for epic combos makes us very keen to collect every upgrade that we can.
Make a name for yourself
We entered one of many settlements in this punk-styled post-apocalyptic wasteland and quickly found ourselves in a combat situation. Speaking to the person that seemed to be in charge soon led to an influx of enemies in close quarters, and we started to put together some satisfying combos: use a telekinetic blast to smash one enemy to smithereens, then throw a boomerang at another, then dish out a headshot to another. This type of combat is really fun to get to grips with, but if you have fumbling fingers and bumbling thumbs, it is easy to muck things up and break your streak.
After we cleared the room in satisfying style, the story pressed ahead: if we want to progress to chat with the next bigwig up the settlement’s pecking order, we had better make a name for ourselves in numerous post-apocalyptic pop culture events. Your player character, who is male or female depending on your choices at the start of the game, essentially needs to become famous. We’re told to try out for Mutant Bash TV (a telly series within the game, which previously gave its name to the iOS version of Rage 1) and to try our driving skills in a big racing event, both of which are tasks that will take us out of the settlement and into the wasteland.
We didn’t get a huge sense of our character or the overarching narrative during our time with Rage 2, but it’s clear that almost every character in the game is absolutely off their rocker. This segment of the game provided an easy-to-understand series of interconnected objectives, though, in amongst the mayhem: win the race, survive Mutant Bash TV, and become popular enough to win an audience with the big cheese of the area. Keen for more combat, and with these clear quests in mind, we set out into the wasteland.
A vast world, connected by chaos
So we left the settlement and got in our car: a mostly black Mad Max-looking vehicle, kitted out with various weapons and a navigation gadget that maps out the best route to your destination. That feature, which puts a suggested route up on your screen, came in particularly handy. This world is clearly massive, with sandy vistas stretching out in all directions, so the assist was a welcome one given that our time was limited.
Even though we knew the way to go, it was nigh-on impossible to avoid running into trouble. Chaos lurks in every nook and cranny on the map: petrol stations are filled with enemies, roads are littered with violent rival vehicles and roadblocks offer occasional get-out-and-clear-the-way-without-getting-killed challenges. There are maniacs around every corner, promising mayhem aplenty and loads of opportunities to use those killer combos.
The driving controls were fairly standard, with the inter-car combat feeling like a mash-up of elements we saw in the Mad Max video game and the Arkham Knight Batmobile. You can boost your speed and switch between mounted weapons of various magnitudes, but you’ll need to get within a certain distance to lock on a truly devastating blow.
Picking up some car skillz en route came in handy when we made it to the race track location. A quick chat with the purveyor of the establishment led to us being plonked straight into a different vehicle and chucked into a competition. We had to win a race against a handful of other cars over a set number of laps. Again, the controls were easy to pick up. And although it took a few attempts to nab the top spot and complete the objective, the challenge factor here never fell into frustrating territory.
A challenge you want to chip away at
Visiting and attempting to master Mutant Bash TV presented a bigger challenge, truth be told. Once you’ve driven over there (probably getting into a few on-the-road scuffles on the way), it doesn’t take long before you’re thrust into action. This seems to be a recurring pattern, actually, with the game always rushing you to the next activity, which certainly doesn’t leave any room for boredom to settle in. But if, like us, you’ve only been mucking around with your weaponry for an hour or so at this point, prepare yourself for a baptism of fire when you drop into Mutant Bash TV.
Your character is thrust into a series of arenas with an ever-growing number of violent mutants. You only have the weaponry you brought with you, although there is normally some extra ammo lying around between each new location in the challenge. We’re not ashamed to say that, even with an understanding of our telekinetic powers and a decent arsenal of weapons, we really struggled to progress through Mutant Bash TV‘s numerous levels. It’s a challenge, but winningly, it’s one that doesn’t feel totally insurmountable. You’ll want to keep chipping away at it, working out which combos can fell enemies without wiping out your resources, trying again and again until you know how to overcome the situation without being reduced to a puddle of blood and guts on the floor.
Rage 2 is indeed very bloody, but it’s done in a playful way, rewarding you for a combo well executed by reducing your fallen foe to an almost cartoonish explosion of bodily fluids. And the game is pretty challenging at times, too, but it never feels cynically done. This is a game that wants you to have a good time with it. Rage 2 wants you to work out your favourite moves and discover the best to deploy them. And this strategy, it must be said, seems to be working very well.
Certainly, we went into this preview event without much in the way of expectations, but we left it with a keen desire to get the game, explore its maniacal wasteland, play around with the vast variables for violence and chip away until we can tackle situations with the skill and finesse that Tim Willits displayed in his presentation. And considering that we only played the game for 90 minutes, that’s a very impressive achievement. Consider our intrigue very much upgraded.
Rage 2 is released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on 14 May 2019.