Not So MMO: RAGE 2 Review - Mad to the Max - MMORPG.com

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Not So MMO: RAGE 2 Review - Mad to the Max - MMORPG.com

Back in 2015 (I can't believe it's been that long), Avalanche put out an excellent but flawed open world game, Mad Max. Its driving combat mechanics and style were on point for the universe, but its repetitive nature and weak on-foot action dragged it down. Fast forward four years and a partnership with Bethesda and id Software bring us the sequel to 2011's own flawed FPS - Rage. In short, Rage 2 is the perfect melding of what made the original Rage great, and what made Mad Max worth playing. It's loud, and it's brash, it's over the top and just plain fun to play.

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bartoni33

Nice write-up Bill. I have one (unfortunately, because it should be standard practice) obligatory question:

Is their a way to change the FOV?

Also, could you play with both K/M and controller? K/M for shooting and controller for driving? I've had to do that in a few games.

TIA

Aeander

Is the RPG progression a true RPG system (you have to make actual choices and can't unlock the entire tree) or a shallow one (you can eventually unlock the entire tree)?

Scot

"Rage 2 is a sequel, but if you never played the original or don't remember much, don't worry. Rage 2 isn't a game that's so layered with the narrative you need a companion app to keep up."

It is quite possible to have a lore rich world without the need to reference it every step of the way. Looking for lore is as great a part of an RPG as exploring.

BillMurphy

Aeander said:

Is the RPG progression a true RPG system (you have to make actual choices and can't unlock the entire tree) or a shallow one (you can eventually unlock the entire tree)?

You can unlock just about everything, like the AC series. So Shallow, I guess.

BillMurphy

bartoni33 said:

Nice write-up Bill. I have one (unfortunately, because it should be standard practice) obligatory question:



Is their a way to change the FOV?



Also, could you play with both K/M and controller? K/M for shooting and controller for driving? I've had to do that in a few games.



TIA

Yes to field of view! And yes to swapping controls.

Aeander

BillMurphy said:

Aeander said:

Is the RPG progression a true RPG system (you have to make actual choices and can't unlock the entire tree) or a shallow one (you can eventually unlock the entire tree)?

You can unlock just about everything, like the AC series. So Shallow, I guess.

Darn. Between that and the lack of loot, I'm just going to wait for a price drop on this one.

Here's waiting for Borderlands 3.

Groqstrong

Graphically the game is on point. Love the art direction. One thing I noticed though npcs are slow to respond to you, what difficulty did you play the game on?

JeffSpicoli

I'v never played a "rage "game, would someone who enjoys Borderlands like this game ?

Gutlard

Sounds fun! I want to play Rage 1 first though, so I'm sure I'll catch this on sale after a few years...ha

Gut Out!

gamergoddess40

what gun is the person using in the gameplay?

Phaedruslives

The change in terms of atmosphere and tone was a real buzzkill for me. Taking it from an ultra gritty greasy quake-esque existential marathon we end up with a dime-a-dozen goofy over the top console friendly knockoff. It's a bummer. Also, it looks painfully easy compared to the hardcore mode on the first game.

FlyByKnight

Whoever was controlling the character was looking around like they did a 8-ball of coke and shot of 5 hour energy drink. Geez, calm down man. XD

TacticalZombeh

FlyByKnight said:

Whoever was controlling the character was looking around like they did a 8-ball of coke and shot of 5 hour energy drink. Geez, calm down man. XD

Hehe that's funny. Looked normal to me, but whenever I see a game like this played with a controller it drives me nuts. Slooooww one-speed turning, it's almost painful.

Scot

JeffSpicoli said:

I'v never played a "rage "game, would someone who enjoys Borderlands like this game ?

Hmm, Boderlands is in a niche of its own, Rage does not have that sort of humour but the feel of the look is the same, post-apocalyptic.

Xasapis

Rhoklaw said:

I've heard it gets repetitive, much like Mad Max does. Mad Max was decent considering the IP setting, but Rage 2 looks too much like Borderlands and since Borderlands has 4 player co-op, I don't really see the point in playing Rage 2.

Here's hoping that both games end up being great. However, since one of them is not exclusive, it will be played by a bigger crowd at launch.

Personally I don't care about the multiplayer aspect, it usually is a mood killer in rpgs.

Xasapis

Mixed player reviews because:

• Bethesda sneaked a DENUVO executable that is a resource hog for the PC
• You have to have a separate Bethesda account to access any of the added content (DLC, bonuses etc.)

Guess it pays to wait until the game is cracked and DENUVO is removed, before any purchase happens.

aleos

I was about to buy until I started watching streams. There is a red skull kill confirmation that pops up every time you kill an enemy. It pops up RIGHT OVER the center reticle completely annihilating immersion imo. If I can find an answer to if this can be removed in settings. Ill buy it.

Is it a stupid reason? Yeah probably. But I don't need an indicator that the thing I shot is dead and I definitely don't need it showing up in the dead center of the screen.

Amathe

Looks pretty fun to me.

Wizardry

Delrith "little angry Joe" is ripping this game a new one,then again they tend to give honest opinions and not suck up to anyone.Who else agrees,pretty much all of chat.You or i just do NOT EVER see a reviewer claim a game is just BAD or very ho hum boring,all reviewers tend to give games more props than they deserve,makes you wonder about the integrity of reviews.
Pretty much unless some big name people sites and several of them give a game a horrible review or something is just not arguable,then seems others jump on the bandwagon,otherwise it's always 8-8.5/10.

repeating copy paste,kill bandit ,go kill more bandits and ....go kill bandits.Lazy effort on the alt fire and as i have said of late,giving me same old that i have already done a thousand times before is NOT fun and boring as hell.What we see EARLY on is that typical honeymoon phase,it's a new face so some tend to give it better scores than it deserves.Soon you will see more and more tell it like it is,NOT worth buying,so a 5/10 or LESS depending how you value a score for the game being purchased.

Del has been playing on Nightmare mode and the game is TOO EASY...lol.All those cool weapons and ideas,he chooses to just shotgun everything because it is TOO EASY.

Seeing so many viewers also agree as well many even saying Rage 2 is worse than Rage 1 ,really just confirms it is simply not very good.or imo NOT worth a purchase.
Some simple pros and cons is NOT a very good rating system,it is just like lazy game design,a lazy system,VAGUE system.
When you are handing out 8.5's you better have some darn good criteria to warrant that kind of AAA score.There is nothing AAA about Rage 2,even if it were mildy good,it would be a 6/10 but it is not doing a single thing for the shooter genre,no need for this game to exist.

ElonMusk

Downloaded from Codex and didn't even bother playing it, just helping the gamers get it for free. game looks terrible honestly.

Xasapis

I find it interesting that the version that was sold directly by Bethesda did not include Denuvo, while the one on Steam did.
The Bethesda version btw is the one cracked mere hours after the game launched.

TheDarkrayne

Wizardry said:

Delrith "little angry Joe" is ripping this game a new one,then again they tend to give honest opinions and not suck up to anyone.Who else agrees,pretty much all of chat.You or i just do NOT EVER see a reviewer claim a game is just BAD or very ho hum boring,all reviewers tend to give games more props than they deserve,makes you wonder about the integrity of reviews.
Pretty much unless some big name people sites and several of them give a game a horrible review or something is just not arguable,then seems others jump on the bandwagon,otherwise it's always 8-8.5/10.

repeating copy paste,kill bandit ,go kill more bandits and ....go kill bandits.Lazy effort on the alt fire and as i have said of late,giving me same old that i have already done a thousand times before is NOT fun and boring as hell.What we see EARLY on is that typical honeymoon phase,it's a new face so some tend to give it better scores than it deserves.Soon you will see more and more tell it like it is,NOT worth buying,so a 5/10 or LESS depending how you value a score for the game being purchased.

Del has been playing on Nightmare mode and the game is TOO EASY...lol.All those cool weapons and ideas,he chooses to just shotgun everything because it is TOO EASY.

Seeing so many viewers also agree as well many even saying Rage 2 is worse than Rage 1 ,really just confirms it is simply not very good.or imo NOT worth a purchase.
Some simple pros and cons is NOT a very good rating system,it is just like lazy game design,a lazy system,VAGUE system.
When you are handing out 8.5's you better have some darn good criteria to warrant that kind of AAA score.There is nothing AAA about Rage 2,even if it were mildy good,it would be a 6/10 but it is not doing a single thing for the shooter genre,no need for this game to exist.

Just waiting for the day where you're complaining we have to press buttons to play games and how it's lazy on the developer's part to not implement mind control or allow us to kill enemies by stroking the family dog in the next room.

Aeander

Xasapis said:

I find it interesting that the version that was sold directly by Bethesda did not include Denuvo, while the one on Steam did.
The Bethesda version btw is the one cracked mere hours after the game launched.

Sounds like Bethesda was trying to force sales from their own storefront, where they'd get a higher cut, while avoiding any "NO STEAM? ARGLE BARGLE RAWR!" shitstorms.

Xasapis

Aeander said:

Xasapis said:

I find it interesting that the version that was sold directly by Bethesda did not include Denuvo, while the one on Steam did.
The Bethesda version btw is the one cracked mere hours after the game launched.

Sounds like Bethesda was trying to force sales from their own storefront, where they'd get a higher cut, while avoiding any "NO STEAM? ARGLE BARGLE RAWR!" shitstorms.

Looks like Denuvo was removed from the Steam version with the latest game update.

ElonMusk

no so