Dauntless, the free-to-play Monster Hunter-like action RPG from Phoenix Labs, has gotten an official release date. The game was originally slated to launch for PS4 and Xbox One in April 2019, but it is now hitting both consoles--along with the Epic Games Store--next week, on May 21.
Launching alongside the game is the Season 5 Hunt Pass, dubbed Hidden Blades. Similar to Fortnite's seasonal Battle Pass, Dauntless's Hunt Pass gives holders a chance to unlock special cosmetic items and other rewards. With this season's pass, the Shattered Isles will receive a makeover for the Moon Blossom Festival, and there will be an assortment of ninja-themed gear to earn.
In addition to the new Hunt Pass content, Dauntless is launching next week with all of the features and gameplay improvements that Phoenix Labs introduced recently as part of the game's open beta. Among those is the Mastery system, which the developer says "offers a new way for Slayers to hone their skills, earn experience, unlock achievements, and acquire new rewards." The game's campaign has also received a "massive rework."
Finally, players who begin their Dauntless journey next week will have the option of picking up a new Arcslayer Pack. This bundle comes with a new set of mech-inspired armor, premium currency, and a handful of consumable items to help you out on a hunt. With the game's official launch looming, Phoenix Labs will soon be retiring the open beta's Ramsguard packs, so if you've yet to pick those up, this is your last chance to do so.
Dauntless is also coming to Switch and mobile devices, although no release date for those platforms has been announced yet. In the meantime, you can watch us take down one of the game's many behemoths in the video above. You can also read what Phoenix Labs has to say on why Dauntless is coming to the Epic Store instead of Steam.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2019 09:30 pm Dauntless brings a colorful world with cooperative adventures and customization options in this free to play RPG. Here is nearly 10 minutes of gameplay featuring crossplay cooperative worlds and a boss fight. Captured on Xbox One.
Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie is a bit of an outlier when it comes to anime films, as most that are based off of an existing series either exist within an unimportant narrative vacuum, or are condensed recaps of plots that already played out on the small screen. This is not the case for Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie, as it is a direct continuation to the anime's first season. This works in the movie's favor, as the assumption that viewers know what's going on allows the film to focus on telling a brand-new story. And though the movie feels a bit bloated with secondary characters, the main cast deliver a satisfying follow-up to Saga of Tanya the Evil Season 1.
In Saga of Tanya the Evil, after being killed, a random salaryman encounters a mysterious voice that demands the man refer to it as God. The man refuses to put his faith into someone he's never met and decides to call the voice Being X instead. Believing the man would turn to God if he were to lead a life filled with suffering first, Being X reincarnates the salary worker as a girl named Tanya Degurechaff in a world that closely resembles Earth in the early 1900s. Born in the world's version of Germany, and noticing world events are closely following the history of Earth, Tanya joins the military when she turns nine years old and sets her sights on ending the conflicts that are beginning to pop up before they escalate into what she knows will be World War I. Being X warns Tanya that the only way she'll be spared eternity in hell is if she dies by natural causes or accepts Being X as God.
Following a rather cryptic opening--that the film could have really done without, as it adds nothing to the overall plot--Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie picks up seconds after the anime series' rather abrupt cliffhanger ending. The movie feels like the missing piece to Season 1, as it neatly wraps up the final plot point of the season before hinting at the next big arc. The film delivers the showdown between Tanya and Mary Sue--the daughter of a man who Tanya killed--that Season 1 heavily implied was imminent, and also sees Tanya's goals change as a result. Realizing her home country's government is flawed and that World War I is inevitable, she begins influencing her country's leaders in hopes of preventing anything like what transpired in Earth's Germany during the 1900s. It's a satisfying conclusion to the first decade of Tanya's life in this fantasy world she finds herself trapped in, while also setting the scene for her new role in the military.
Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie contains no recap, so newcomers might be lost--especially since there is no explanation as to who Being X is. That doesn't matter too much, though. Chances are, if you're watching this movie, you've seen the original series. And the movie uses that fact to its advantage, playing off those expectations that something terrible will befall Tanya at any moment. Tanya's greatest ambition is to free herself from Being X, so it's unnerving to not feel its god-like presence in the first half of the film. There's a palpable tension in that first half, as things are going almost too well for Tanya.
But that all changes with the introduction of Mary Sue, and her and Tanya's new rivalry becomes the focus of the movie's second half. Tanya meets her match in her newfound adversary, especially after Mary's love of God and desire to always see justice fulfilled is twisted into vengeful hatred upon realizing Tanya is the one who killed her father. Mary's descent into animalistic fury is the first time Saga of Tanya the Evil has introduced a character who's more monstrous than Tanya, and Mary wields Being X's power against the nine-year-old with violent force. Tanya gets to witness, for the first time, how her own influence can bring out the deranged madness of those around her.
Being X may have given Mary the power to take her revenge, but he hasn't affected her mind like those who've stood against Tanya before. Mary is an enemy that Tanya created through her actions alone, and she realizes--in one of the few moments of humility for the character--that she must grow as a person if she hopes to avoid her own destruction and spare being sent to hell by Being X. The country she protects will have to change too. It's a startling moment of maturity for her character, and it influences her actions in the movie's final moments--setting up what could be an intriguing next arc.
Admittedly, it isn't much growth, and that's thanks in large part to the movie's insistence on devoting screentime to the minor characters that make up Tanya's battalion, Mary's squad, the headquarters of their respective armies, and one-and-done villains. There are way too many secondary characters, and the movie spends too much of its time justifying the inclusion of each one, referring back during important narrative moments to names and faces that have seconds of screen time and little introduction.
When the movie stops worrying about the side characters and focuses on Tanya or Mary instead, the best parts of the story come through. The two characters act as foils for each other, and watching their conflicting ideologies and personalities escalate their initially modest back-and-forths into a magic-fueled aerial dogfight is one of the best parts of the movie.
But even before the two come to blows, both women sell the movie with smaller, quiet moments. Tanya's predicament--being an arrogant and cruel adult trapped in a little girl's body--leads to several humorous moments. She'll mock her subordinates in one scene and ask them for a step stool so she can see the battle plans on a table in the next. Mary has some pretty good moments too, especially the ones where hints of the growing darkness inside her leak out, breaking the facade that she's the perfect girl everyone believes her to be.
The movie has plenty of action scenes. Tanya's story is clearly more of the focus, but several battles play out across the film's hour and a half runtime. Most aren't great, with static figures shooting at the enemy while goofing off and talking to their teammates. Tanya and Mary's final fight, however, is the best Saga of Tanya the Evil has ever looked. Both women are carefully animated to showcase the speed of their aerial ballet, and their faces twist in both fury and exhaustion as they each become more frantic in their desire to kill each other. And as gruesome as it is, the movie does a good job of showing the violent details that comes with a rifle splintering a rib or breaking an arm. There's so much movement to their duel, conveying how both women are on a completely different level of skill in comparison to those around them.
Ultimately, Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie is a good time. Provided you've watched Season 1 of the anime, the movie is a satisfying continuation to one person's desperate struggle to one-up a god by ending a worldwide war, only for her to learn the price for her hubris. It introduces far too many characters to keep track of, though, opens on a scene that definitely didn't need to be included, and squanders most of its battles with incessant chit-chat from all those involved. But watching Tanya outsmart her opponents with sadistic glee is enjoyable fun, and her final fight with Mary is the best the anime has ever looked.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2019 08:30 pm Wii Sports' innovation in accessible design expanded the industry's reach and re-cemented Nintendo as the creative powerhouse it is today.
Join GameSpot as we celebrate gaming history and give recognition to the most influential games of the 21st century. These aren't the best games, and they aren't necessarily games that you need to rush out and play today, but there's no question that they left an indelible impact on game developers, players, and in some cases, society at large.
There's no denying that Nintendo's current identity is deeply tied to the lasting influence and legacy of the Wii. The innovative motion-control-centric console broke down the restrictive barriers on games with a novelty done right, successfully opening the medium's floodgates to new audiences. But the Wii would not be the smash hit it was if not for its massively popular pack-in, Wii Sports. A mini-game collection that emphasized simplicity and accessibility above all else, Wii Sports wasn't about blowing your mind with spectacular high-definition graphics, nor was it keen on being the revolutionary next step in game design. Like the Wii, it focused on one thing: reaching people who had not played video games before. Wii Sports single-handedly drove the success of the motion-control trend while expanding the game industry's demographic reach. But more importantly, it set the trajectory for how the industry would approach accessibility.
It's hard to imagine what Nintendo would be like today without the success of the Wii. During the generation prior, the GameCube garnered positive reception but proved to be one of Nintendo's weakest-performing in sales. Dwindling third-party support, limited online support, and lack of DVD functionality also created a significant disparity between the console and its competitors. Despite Nintendo's historical influence on the industry, the company was struggling to maintain market relevance for the first time since rising to prominence in the '80s. This made the Wii's humble processing power and emphasis on motion-controls all the riskier. In a volatile industry where competitors were constantly trying to one-up the power of each other's boxes, the Wii felt like an all-or-nothing play.
Based on the technical specifications of the Wii and where the games industry was going in the mid-2000s, it looked like the console was going to end up an ambitious yet short-lived footnote in history. And perhaps it would've been if not for Wii Sports. Like the console, it exemplified a philosophy of accessibility that set itself apart from the more complex multiplayer shooters and cinematic adventures both Microsoft and Sony were offering. Wii Sports was easy to understand, basing its motion-controlled mini-games around universally popular sports like tennis, bowling, baseball, and golf. Each game was instantly intuitive where simply observing how the Wii remote's motion-sensing tech worked was enough to get in on the action. Importing user-created Mii avatars into the proceedings further elevated the inclusive charm of playing alongside family and friends.
Wii Sports was great fun, but it wasn't the most mechanically complex game out there. Critics were quick to point out how the collection felt more proof-of-concept than anything else. The late Ryan Davis, former GameSpot editor and Giant Bomb co-founder, said in his review: "Though there's still kind of a tech-demo feel to Wii Sports, it's a fun, unique package you'll enjoy so long as you don't expect too much detail from it." IGN's Matt Cassamasina shared a similar sentiment. "Play it for an hour with friends and you'll love it, but the title sacrifices incredible depth and visuals for an immediately accessible experience."
It's true that Wii Sports lacked nuance but its elegant simplicity was more than enough to excite a massive audience both young and old, experienced and inexperienced--the exact demographic Nintendo was looking to attract. Almost immediately after Wii and Wii Sports hit stores, you'd hear stories of parents, who never once expressed interest in games, asking if their kids could set them up to play Wii Sports. The universal appeal spoke for itself, and thanks to a marketing campaign that showcased just that, hundreds of people were lining up to purchase a Wii for Wii Sports alone. The game's impact even stretched outside the living room in subsequent years; it was used to help the elderly exercise in senior homes, it helped patients recovering in physical therapy, and it even served as a training tool in medical schools to improve surgeon hand-eye coordination during laparoscopic procedures.
Though there were several experiences on the Wii that contributed to its cultural and financial success, it was Wii Sports that became synonymous with the console. The game sparked an oversaturated market of imitators from various developers, which unfortunately served to the console's detriment. If you entered a games store during that time, you were often met by a sea of Wii Sports clones. None would capture the magic of Nintendo's pack-in, but it certainly didn't stop publishers from trying--even Sony and Microsoft. The Wii's success by way of Wii Sports was unprecedented, which naturally influenced both industry giants to produce their own unique lines of accessible hardware and Wii Sports-like mini-game collections. Sony had its more advanced motion-tracking PlayStation Move controllers, while Microsoft removed controllers from the equation entirely with the Kinect, a webcam-style (though much more advanced) peripheral that made your body the controller. Where both offered intriguing new takes on motion-control tech and design, neither would make the same impact.
No matter which console you're playing, the legacy of Wii and Wii Sports is present and lasting.
The popularity of Wii and Wii Sports was lightning in a bottle, a pioneering accomplishment that would set the stage for games moving forward. That prosperity reverberated across the industry, emphasizing design that could appeal to a wider market. The Wii recultivated and expanded the audience for games, resulting in an even greater demand for experiences that anyone could pick up and play. Not all companies would strive for the simplicity exhibited by Wii Sports, and subsequent experiments and iterations varied in quality, but the hunger that Nintendo inspired in developers and publishers to pursue game design with universal appeal remained.
Nintendo's reputation shifted in the industry thanks to the Wii and Wii Sports. Both challenged people's perception of games and who could play them. While the company's equally popular DS handheld was also influential in this regard, the innovation of the Wii fully cemented Nintendo as a creative force well-capable of producing brilliant unorthodox games and hardware. It's why audiences barely batted an eye when Nintendo announced that the Switch would be a similarly underpowered console and that it would focus on portable play. Nintendo proved with the Wii that it's not all about graphical fidelity and technical power, but about what games can do and how you can play them. On the other hand, Wii Sports' innovative approach to motion-controls as a natural extension of your will appears today in VR, a platform that's directly continuing from where the Wii left off. No matter which console you're playing, the legacy of Wii and Wii Sports is present and lasting.
In the 13 years since the launch of Wii Sports, we continue to reap the benefits of Nintendo's gamble. Without that industry shaking success, the much-loved company would likely be a very different entity than it is today. Nintendo's subsequent attempts at iterating upon the formula of Wii Sports never quite received the same fervor, but it did little to discourage the company from reaching into the same outside-the-box thinking that inspired the pack-in. It's clear now more than ever that Nintendo is a company that continues to attract both new and old audiences with its accessibility and creativity; a quality that truly sets it apart from the technical, more traditional leanings of its competitors. But this reputation would not exist if not for that little white box and the infectious sports mini-game collection it came with.
Oddworld: New N Tasty was a chance for the creators of the classic series to start fresh with a remake of Abe's Odyssey, and now Oddworld: Soulstorm is looking to be a completely expanded do-over of its sequel, Abe's Exoddus, which takes elements from the original but totally pushes it to new limits.
Soulstorm picks up right after New N Tasty, and follows Abe and his newly freed Mudokons as they search for a new home. The refugees discover a mysterious strange brew in the wilderness, making for an all-new set of challenges to overcome. The upcoming game features an expanded story and scope from the original, completely new and remixed cutscenes, and far more advanced combat with a crafting system and more mobility options.
Oddworld Inhabitants, the studio leading the effort, says this is a chance for it to do right by the series. The original Abe's Exoddus was rushed through in just nine months, and it believes Soulstorm will allow it to flesh out the ideas it had years ago in a more polished package. Oddworld Inhabitants is getting assists from several studios across North America, the UK, and Australia.
"After we had the success of New N Tasty, we decided it was good to take our shot," said Oddworld series creator Lorne Lanning during a recent chat about Soulstorm. "Do or die. Put it all on red and see if we could re-do the second part as it was originally intended. A completely fresh remake that would reboot the [Oddworld] quintology back to its original big vision--the one we probably weren't smart enough to execute it at that time, but maybe we are now. That became Soulstorm."
To ring in the announcement, Oddworld released a new trailer for Soulstorm, detailing both the legacy of Abe and of his series. You can get a glimpse of the elevated graphical fidelity of the game's presentation, as well as what the expanded combat options look like in action.
"Despite the ads, and occasional frustrations from the fiddly analogue movement, this is a remake that feels as though it was crafted with love and respect," Daniel Hindes wrote in GameSpot's review of Oddworld: New N Tasty. "With clever puzzles near identical to the original game, and beautiful environments brought to life with new visuals and a dynamic camera, New 'n' Tasty satiated me, even though I'm an Oddworld veteran and know each solution and secret area like the back of my (scarred) hand."
If you've been paying attention to what's going on in May with Netflix, then you're probably aware that the past month has made a pretty big shift towards Netflix original content. With Disney+ looming on the horizon, Netflix is losing some of its movies and TV series; however, there are still plenty of original shows and movies to check out.
This week, there are a couple of original series you may want to check out. First is Season 3 of Nailed It. The cooking competition show has at-home cooks, who are terrible at the craft, trying to recreate artist deserts and failing miserably. Then, we all laugh at how bad their cakes or whatever look and go about our days. Nailed It: Season 3 comes to Netflix on Friday.
Also arriving Friday is Season 2 of The Rain. The Danish series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where rain clouds carry a virus that has wiped out humanity in Scandinavia. The show follows two children who are trying to find their scientist father who left them in a bunker five years prior to avoid the virus.
Below, you'll find this week's releases for everything on Netflix. If you're interested in more hot content from streaming services, check out the May releases for Hulu, Shudder, and Amazon Prime Video.
Coming to Netflix this week:
May 12
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: Volume 3 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL
May 13
Malibu Rescue -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL
May 14
revisions -- NETFLIX ANIME
Still LAUGH-IN: The Stars Celebrate -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL
The latest season of Star Trek: Discovery might have come to an end, but fans won't have to wait long for the next show in the long-running sci-fi franchise. The currently-untitled series focusing on iconic Next Generation character Jean-Luc Picard arrives on CBS All-Access in the Fall, and it has been announced that the show will be released internationally by Amazon Prime Video.
The news comes via Picard actor Patrick Stewart himself, who took to Twitter to make the announcement. Stewart states that the show will be available outside the US and Canada on Prime Video. Sadly, the actor didn't reveal the title of the show--or when exactly it will be released--but presumably that will all be confirmed in the coming months. Check it out below.
Each episode of the Picard show will be released onto Prime Video 24 hours after its broadcast on CBS All-Access. In Canada, the show will be available on Space. Outside the US, all other Star Trek shows--including Discovery and older series such as The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the Original Series--are currently available on Netflix.
While we don't yet know when we will see the Picard series, a few details have been released about it. The show will be set after the dissolution of the Romulan Empire, and according to Star Trek producer Alex Kurtzman, it will be a "more meditative" show than Discovery. "The mandate was to make it a more psychological show," he told the LA Times. "A character study about this man in his emeritus years. There are so few shows that allow a significantly older protagonist to be the driver...It'll be very different than Discovery. It'll be slower, more meditative. It speaks to the rainbow of colors we're playing with in all these different shows."
There are also several other Star Trek shows on the way. It was recently reported that an animated series aimed at a younger audience was in development at Nickelodeon. In addition, a Discovery spin-off starring Michelle Yeoh as Terran Emperor and Section 31 agent Philippa Georgiou is in the works, while Discovery itself has also been renewed for a third season. In addition, a series aimed at a more mature audience titled Lower Decks is on the way from Rick and Morty head writer Mike McMahan. For more Star Trek, check out GameSpot's guide to all the Easter Eggs in Discovery Season 2.
Disclosure: CBS Interactive is the parent company of GameSpot.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2019 05:30 pm Here's a look at some of the upgraded abilities you can unlock in Rage 2. Rage 2 comes out May 14, on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2019 05:30 pm Mutant Bash TV is exactly what it sounds like. You must fight off waves of mutants in dangerous arenas. Rage 2 comes out May 14, on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
At a certain point in Rage 2, you become an unstoppable force, a lone wolf that can take down bandit camps, monsters 10 times your size, and crowds of deformed humanoids with your gratifying, destructive abilities and weapons. Not only does your suite of superpowers make combat a blast, it's the key to developing a satisfying momentum. It's too bad that, more often than not, the game doesn't do enough to keep that momentum going.
Rage 2 doesn't waste a lot of time trying to explain to you why things are the way they are. It instead thrusts you into an open world with its fair share of places to go and things to do. In addition to bandits, mutants, and monsters, there's the villainous organization, The Authority, who wiped out your hometown. As the last ranger--elite soldiers with superpowered suits--it's up to you to corral three key leaders by carrying out their missions and finishing Project Dagger, a biological weapon to kill the Authority's seemingly immortal tyrant General Cross. It doesn't really matter who's who, just that you need to destroy those who are hostile. You're only marginally "super" at the start, but the gradual ascent to hero status is rewarding in that you accumulate a roster of devastatingly fun toys.
Arks spread across the map unlock powers called nanotrites as well as multi-purpose weapons, and these tools pave the way for dynamic approaches to some intense combat scenarios. Nanotrites can be used in isolation or in sequence, creating a diverse yet easy-to-understand set of abilities that allow you to efficiently rip through enemies. For example, Slam is a strong ground-pound that does area-of-effect damage, and Shatter tears through armor and forcefully sends foes flying backward. Their strong impact is matched by their effectiveness, and when combined with a beefy shotgun or rocket launcher, you create a distinct, destructive flow in combat. It's not unlike nailing down an attack rotation in an RPG and seamlessly swapping firearms for the right situation in an arena shooter.
Once you start stringing kills in succession, you can go into overdrive for a temporary boost where you essentially become invulnerable and weapons fire in an even more powerful mode. With all these capabilities in mind, you never have to resort to one individual tactic in fights because you're consistently cycling through all of your extraordinary tools. It's easy to see and feel the parallels with the modern Doom and Wolfenstein games, but Rage 2 distinguishes itself with how much you have at your disposal and how it's all intuitive to use.
You constantly evolve your arsenal via extensive upgrade trees. It's not just about enhancing weapon damage or increasing overall health; nanotrites can be made more useful with shorter cooldown timers, bigger target areas, and additional effects. Weapons also have branching perks, and special unlocks called Projects stack even more buffs on top of all your other capabilities. Upgrading all these facets can fundamentally change how you operate during the moment to moment action and open up new, devastating approaches in combat.
Rage 2's biggest issue is that it's structurally bare; most of its wasteland is made up of short, fragmented activities that hardly ask much from you and don't lead to anything worthwhile.
What Rage 2 is short on, however, are opportunities to put all those abilities to good use. The main campaign structure makes itself clear early on; do a mission for each of three different leaders, fill a trust meter by finishing corresponding side activities, then complete one more mission for each of them before the finale. It doesn't sound like much, because it isn't. Some of these missions make for the game's better moments, but combat sequences wrap up just as you get into a rhythm. And the main questline as a whole comes to an underwhelming head rather quickly.
Take a late-game mission, for example. You bust into a base with a massive tank, then blast through rooms of enemies before fighting a beast that takes more than a few shots to kill. But the tank sequence is essentially a thin on-rails drive-by, the rooms of enemies are recycled, and that beast is the same as ones you've fought before. There isn't much surprise or imagination for a campaign mission that's supposed to build toward a conclusion. Only once did the campaign put me in a position to get creative or extensively use my powers, and that was at the final boss.
Main missions rarely make use of the vast open world the game has to offer, too. There's a sprawling jungle to the north and wide desert plains in the southwest, and only one main quest takes you to each of those locations. At no stage are you introduced to their central towns, so they really exist for faceless NPCs to tell you about side quest locations, which you can very well find on your own by chasing down question marks that populate your map.
Side quests litter Rage 2's expansive wasteland, though it's made up of standard open-world fare, like clearing out a bandit den or pumping a huge mutant full of lead. Although fairly one-note, Convoys add some variety by incorporating car combat. Perhaps the best of the bunch is in taking over recharge stations where you have to fend off waves of increasingly stronger enemies with deadly efficiency--it's the most challenging type of mission as you have to pull out every stop and get creative with your powers and weapons, especially at higher difficulties.
Rage 2 also lacks an identifiable charisma, which is disappointing for a post-apocalyptic world. While it makes a good first impression by kicking off with an unhinged, in-your-face attitude, it unfortunately never builds upon it.
However, it gets to a point where you wonder why you're taking on all these brief missions. Sure, you get currency and materials for upgrades, but you're just getting them for the sake of it. Rage 2's biggest issue is that it's structurally bare; most of its wasteland is made up of short, fragmented activities that hardly ask much from you and don't lead to anything worthwhile.
Rage 2 also lacks an identifiable charisma, which is disappointing for a post-apocalyptic world. While it makes a good first impression by kicking off with an unhinged, in-your-face attitude, it unfortunately never builds upon it. In fact, the narrative devolves into a series of interactions with bland characters that make the storytelling come off as hamfisted. It makes a few attempts at humor which don't land, and the setting's deranged archetypes fall flat. It doesn't let the subpar narrative get in the way for the most part, though stilted dialogue sequences try to bridge the gap between missions.
It's as if the game is trying to strike a balance between the nonchalant badassery of Doom and the larger-than-life characterizations of Wolfenstein, and missing the mark on both ends of the spectrum leaves it directionless. As a result, it's hard to care about what you're doing in the world without much intrigue or a sensible thread to weave all your standard open-world activities together.
Other minor issues may frustrate you as well, like the constant game-pausing notifications for rewards and progress that interrupt the pacing. For a game all about fast-paced combat, it's truly an odd choice to stop everything to say you completed a mission even as conversations are playing out. Also, dialogue may just cut out completely mid-conversation.
I spent some time after finishing the campaign flying the Icarus gyrocopter from side quest to side quest while overlooking the vastness of Rage 2's open world. It's a gruesome wasteland with the potential to be a wide playground of opportunities to flex your robust set of abilities and weapons. And at times, it gave me just that. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about how that potential was left untapped. Open world games sometimes overstay their welcome, and it's odd to see Rage 2 have the exact opposite problem.
Rage 2 is at its best when you're given the chance to keep up a gratifying momentum in combat, but struggles to setup the scenarios its combat deserves. It's satisfying in the way clearing out an open-world checklist is, especially because powers are such a joy to use. The disappointment comes from the fact that those activities are rudimentary in nature and the decent ones end well before you get your fill.
Almost nine years after its predecessor launched, Rage 2 is nearly here--releasing tomorrow on May 14 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Now that the review embargo has lifted on the game, we know whether Rage 2 is any good.
In GameSpot's Rage 2 review, Michael Higham awarded the game a 6/10. He said the game contains a "variety of clever, destructive abilities [that] make combat a blast," but also an "underwhelming narrative and bland characters." Thanks to Rage 2's DLC roadmap, we know the game is getting some interesting Twitch features in the future, so hopefully that fleshes out the game a little bit.
You can read a selection of other critics' verdicts below. Alternatively, for a wider view on critical opinion, check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
GameSpot -- 6/10
"Rage 2 is at its best when you're given the chance to keep up a gratifying momentum in combat, but struggles to set up the scenarios its combat deserves. It's satisfying in the way clearing out an open-world checklist is, especially because powers are such a joy to use. The disappointment comes from the fact that those activities are rudimentary in nature and the decent ones end well before you get your fill." -- Michael Higham [Full review]
Shacknews -- 5/10
"As much as I wanted Rage 2 to work, it just doesn't deliver the best that it could from the two top-notch studios working on it. Right now, I can't rightfully recommend picking it up at full price, as I just don't feel there's enough content here to warrant what they're asking. The developers do have a lot of plans to continue creating content in the future, though, so maybe we'll see a game worth returning to after a few months. For now, Rage 2 feels like the final shrill beep on the ECG before the flatline hits. The last flutter of life the series had to offer, squandered away." -- Josh Hawkins [Full Review]
PC Gamer -- Review-In-Progress
"Rage 2 is a really good videogame, but an inconsistent one. The combat is sensational and some of the story mission set-pieces are brilliantly constructed. But then it falls flat when it comes to world-building and creating a compelling sense of place; something the original game, for all its flaws, did pretty well. But when you're in the thick of a firefight, chaining power combos, unloading that sublime shotgun into those cocky wasteland bandits, you won't give a damn. I need to play a little more before I stick a final score on the end, but overall I'm pleasantly surprised by Rage 2. Avalanche has done a stellar job giving this largely forgotten series an exciting new lease of life." -- Andy Kelly [Full Review-In-Progress]
"In Rage 2, you move fast and kill faster. It's the synthesis between id Software's 2016 reboot of Doom and Avalanche Studios' Mad Max, bringing together some of the best ideas from both. Moment-to-moment play on foot is fantastic with each weapon and ability just opening up your options for destruction. Driving could be improved and it's a little on the shorter side, but Rage 2 is a damned good time." -- Mike Williams [Full review]
VG24/7 -- No score
"The interplay between the AI, your abilities, the physics of the world, and your guns is some of the best I've seen, and I never thought I would be saying anything like that about a sequel to Brown Shooter: Apocalypse. There's much more to this than its kooky, pink-hued marketing campaign. If you sleep on it, you're sleeping on one of the best--if not the best--single-player FPS games of this generation." -- Kirk McKeand [Full review]
GamesRadar+ -- 3/5
"Rage 2's core combat feels so much like Doom in an open world, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's exactly what this was--developer id Software testing the waters for such a concept. But were that concept ever to be made real, it will need to be executed much better than this. The Rage 2 roadmap has already been revealed, showcasing world events and wasteland challenges in an effort to follow in the footsteps of successful games like Destiny 2 and The Division 2, but the difference is that this is a single player game. Anyone who purchases this game on launch is undoubtedly expecting a full release, rather than a relatively empty world that will be later populated with content under the guise of the 'Games as a Service' industry trend. There is no reason for so much content to be time-gated. Were everything that is planned to arrive in the coming months, there's a chance that Rage 2 could have felt like a more complete package at launch--a game that has content to complement its excellent weapons and core action. Sadly, that isn't the case and the result is a sequel hasn't impressed me all that much at all, but it won't be laid to rest until the roadmap comes to a close for a game many people will have grown bored of." -- Ford James [Full review]
IGN -- 8.0/10
"With its large open world and vast array of upgrades to earn, Rage 2 feels very much like an antidote for Far Cry fans who have overdosed on that particular style and want a new take on the large-scale shooter-RPG idea. Though Avalanche hasn't quite figured out what makes a world feel alive and dynamic or how to make good use of its vehicles, it absolutely nails the moment-to-moment combat thanks to a Doom-inspired energetic pace that few shooters manage to pull off. Combined with a steady stream of great weapons, abilities, and upgrades, its firefights are constantly reinvigorated even as mission objectives become repetitive." -- Dan Stapleton [Full review]
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