Rage 2 desperately needs more

I'm on Rage 2's open world after Dr. Kvasir's first story mission. I was in the south of the map, in the Twisting Canyons, so I had to go to Kvasir in the north-western Sekreto Wetlands. I begrudgingly spawned a vehicle and drove up there, cleared out the enemies camped around his base, and then spoke to the doctoral mad. Or rather he spoke to me, incessantly, before another icon appeared in the south of the map, down in the Dune Sea. So back in my car I got. Another long and boring drive awaited me.

I want Rage 2 to be respectful of its own strengths, and this world is antithetical to what Rage 2 excels at.

I understand this sounds like a petty grievance. But when Dr. Kvasir later asks for a successful mission, I'm not at all eager to do so. Usually in an open world game, I take my time in the world. Goal I have had no such desire in Rage 2. The open world format does not play to the game's strengths at all.

I reckon 80% of my time with Rage 2 driving. The driving does not suck, it's perfectly serviceable. The world, though: I'm thoroughly disinterested in being in it. It's a drab, static, uninspiring wasteland and it's not even dangerous. Driving to-and-from mission objectives is not challenging or thrilling, because enemies, sentries, convoys … I can simply drive past them, they're mere fleeting annoyances.

I'm untouchable, I have a shotgun, I can double-jump, I can blink through the air, I can ground-pound the earth! I'm too powerful to fear Rage 2's wasteland. There's nothing at stake.

It's coming up to the shops at the height of an Australian summer, swatting blowflies away. I hear it's possible to unlock an aerial vehicle. That's my next goal, though first I have to muster the enthusiasm to return to Rage 2's world at all.

You can only go to Rage 2, but only to the major settlements. These are bunched up in the middle of the map, making each and every pointless if you're trying to reach the fringes of the wasteland. I have never played a game of Rage 2.

I'm not demanding the game to "respect my time" -I want it to respect its own strengths, and this world is antithetical to what Rage 2 excels at.

Another recent open world game, Outward, is one of the best open world RPGs I've played in years. It does not matter, it does not have vehicles, and movement is sloooow, but its world is alive with danger and every trip is an adventure. Slowly traversing the overworld is one of the game's most potent thrills, even when nothing is happening. It's possible to walk for only 45 minutes. This setback is frustrating, sure, but it's because it's so much in-game factors are at stake, because I feel like my time is being wasted. It's a game that demands careful preparation and tactical thinking.

Moving through the wasteland of Rage 2 is syrupy, plodding, boring. It's a chore I have to endure in order to find new places to experience the incredible gunplay.

On the other end of the spectrum, Just Cause 4 is one of my favorite games of 2018, and it has a mammoth, mostly featureless open world with a handful of distinct biomes. There's no more than one to discover, there's no ever-present danger, but the simple act of moving around the island with grappling hook and parachute, via giant zeppelin or jet-is fun fighter, graceful, even beautiful. Just Cause 4 needs that massive space in order to allow players to express themselves with its incredible traversal methods. Just Cause 4 is about movement.

But moving through the wasteland of Rage 2 is syrupy, plodding, boring. It's a chore I have to endure in order to find new places to experience the incredible gunplay.

Open worlds are ubiquitous in modern games and it's easy to see why: They can lend a sense of scale and adventure, and their best they create the illusion of lived-in space. In Outward, open space makes me feel small and disempowered. In Just Cause 4, it lets me pull off incredible aerial gymnastics that never fail to set my heart racing. Goal Rage 2 is a game with a fight system. Unlike Far Cry 5 Gold Ghost Recon: Wildlands, you will not be stealthily sniping enemies or scoring them from a distant hill.

When I see you in Rage 2 It's a dexterity-oriented shooter. It's not about calm and collected tactical pre-arrangement and it's barely even about being able to be well: It's about slapdash high speed improvisation. All of the incredible tools and weapons Rage 2 offers me the benefits of close to mid-range commitment.

Maybe it is open to the world to accommodate the game of vehicular combat, which is itself fairly polarizing. I think it's fine, it works well, some people even love it. But that does not make up for the minute stretches of driving between objectives, where chance encounters rarely turn into pursuits. At worst, I 've been shot at by passing vehicles but it' s easy.

What I want to do in Rage 2, at least half of the time but 90 percent of the time, is shoot rabid bandits point blank in the face with a shotgun. This is a first-person shooter marketed as a ridiculously overblown and cathartic romp. I do not think these interminable trips between encounters is an artistic decision. It's not even a challenging game: It fits squarely in the "fun dumb" canon. So how about a patch, please?

Avalanche has created some of my favorite open worlds; id Software is the best first-person shooter studio bar none. As Andy wrote in his review, the fight in Rage 2 is pretty much beyond reproach. But it's definitely not a world I want to get lost.