The Rage 2 ending leaves room for a sequel while also resolving the main plot from the game and its 2011 predecessor. Rage 2 has a straightforward story which leaves little room for plot twists or deep characterization. Fortunately, Avalanche Studios and id Software had their priorities in order when they created Rage 2, and they chose to focus on creating an open-world experience conducive to full-tilt FPS action.
Regardless of its importance to the overall package, Rage 2 does still have a tale to tell. To its credit, though it’s lacking in nuance, it makes up for this with momentum, with the sparse narrative actively encouraging players to explore the world and complete outposts to proceed through the story. Basically, it’s functional, if unremarkable.
In terms of its narrative, Rage 2 lays out all its cards at the very beginning of the game: General Cross is the bad guy and his army has destroyed Vineland, the home of the Rangers, and the player character, Walker, the last Ranger, must recruit three allies to enact a plan which will defeat General Cross. Each ally character has a pair of missions, and when the player completes all six missions, as well as a reasonable amount of side content to unlock said missions and upgrade their character, they can tackle the final challenge and bring the fight to General Cross himself.
The main story quests of Rage 2 are all about enacting Project Dagger, a secret plan to kill General Cross, who has kept himself alive for so many generations via transferring his consciousness to a succession of clones. Dr. Kvasir – with Walker’s help – develops a serum to prevent Cross from “respawning,” so to speak, while Loosum Hagar helps secure an Authority tank to infiltrate the Authority’s HQ. Finally, John Marshall develops a signal scrambler which allows Walker to gain entrance to the base and fool their security ID systems.
Shortly after arriving at the base, Walker’s cover is blown and some vehicle combat ensues, followed by a gauntlet of traditional FPS shootouts. After a ho-hum boss fight against a giant mutant with obvious weakpoints, players are treated to a cutscene of Walker assassinating General Cross via an injection of Dr. Kvasir’s serum straight to his eye! In a last-ditch plot twist, Cross breathes some kind of weird gas onto Walker, saying Kvasir’s serum is going to kill them, too. The screen fades to black as Walker passes out and the credits roll over a fun series of comic book panels that illustrate the events of the game.
When the credits end, a new scene plays, in which Lily (Walker’s confidant and buddy) is seen holding a gun to Kvasir’s head, feeling betrayed that he sent Walker to die. Fortunately, she eases off when Walker wakes up, and Kvasir brags that another serum of his own making saved Walker’s life. Then, he needlessly suggests that another scientist could potentially bring Cross back to life, hinting at potential developments for future DLC or a full-on sequel.
Both the twist regarding Walker nearly getting killed and the sequel hook about Cross’s potential resurrection come out of nowhere and do nothing to elevate Rage 2’s story; they’re unnecessary additions which lazily limp into the story. The fact that Walker’s near-death gets resolved just minutes later makes that whole little detour completely superfluous.
If Rage 3 is a possibility for the future, it should further refine its storytelling. Having such a straightforward setup in the very beginning is actually a novel approach to an open world game (not unlike something like the original Crackdown) which skips the illusion of pretense and jumps right into the rampant action. If there’s going to be plot twists and sequel hooks, however, they should feel like more than half-hearted distractions.
Next: RAGE 2 Guide: Tips, Tricks, & Hints to Know Before You Play
