Rage 2 is an incredibly fun shooter with awesome powers which, unfortunately, is stuck inside a bland world. Even though it’s an open world with a range of different environments, it’s still easy to get bored after a few missions. The menus are also more than a little complicated, which makes upgrading weapons a tougher task than most of the game’s enemies. To top it off, this is one of the shortest open world games you will ever play; you can easily finish it when you still think you have at least another dozen hours remaining.

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But the game isn’t a lost cause! You can still make it a fun experience; you just have to optimize it in a few ways. To help with that, here are 10 tips for starting Rage 2 that will prevent the repetitive and often-boring open world activities from making the game run out of steam.

10 Focus On The Side Missions

Rage 2 is really short. According to HowLongToBeat, the main campaign takes just around 9 hours to complete. Now, if this was a regular shooter like most Call of Duty or Battlefield games, that length would be understandable. However, this is an open-world shooter, so the campaign should at least be 15 to 20 hours long.

To make sure Rage 2 doesn’t leave you in a ball of, um, rage, you should focus on the side missions. They can easily extend the game to over 20 hours, especially if you explore every nook and cranny. If you do this, the game will become a lot more enjoyable.

9 Explore the World

After you finish the introduction, you will receive the keys to a car. After this, the game will give you a hint to head to one of three waypoints; the closest one, in this case. However, you don’t have to go directly there. In fact, the entire world is already open to you. You’re not limited by your current level or anything like that.

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When you venture into the world, just remember to keep an eye out on the map; it will give you brief information on each location to help you know just how difficult the enemies are.

8 Upgrade Your Damage

When you reach Wellspring, it will be possible to find some rare resources that you can use to purchase permanent upgrades. These can be upgrades to your damage, overdrive meter, or health.

We recommend that you make damage your priority. This is easily the most helpful upgrade, especially since you can eventually be able to deal over 50% more damage. That kind of damage will make crowds and massive beasts die easily, and you’ll destroy them a lot faster than they can damage you.

You can find health buffs within the Projects menu, so upgrading them is easier than upgrading your damage.

7 Go To Dr. Kvasir

There are three characters who can help you out in Rage 2. Dr. Kvasir is the one whose help will have the biggest impact, especially early on in the game when overcoming enemies is still a major challenge. The doctor will assign Search and Recover projects to you. These projects will reward you with tons of nanotrite that will help you throughout the rest of the game. His projects can also help you get more loot from enemies you kill as well as help you mine Feltrite faster. To top it all off, you can unlock the Icarus Gyrocopter—the game’s only flying vehicle—if you reach level 7 after you’ve found the Ranger Echos and Arks, and collected Ark Chests and Data Pads.

6 Get The BFG 9000

If you own the Deluxe Edition of Rage 2, you owe it to yourself to get the BFG 9000. In a game full of guns and chaos, this is one of the most chaotic guns you can get your hands on. The catch is that you have to find it first.

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After completing the tutorial, watch out for a red meteorite. It will crash-land ahead of the second three-way intersection just past Vineland, according to IGN. There will be an impact site at a hill next to the converging roads. When you get there, you will find the gun inside a broken red meteor rock.

5 Meet John Marshall

John Marshall is one of the three main characters you will find and help in the game. His quest is one which will give you the Combat Shotgun; a weapon you can’t find in the game’s many Arks but can only obtain it through the main story. The weapon has massive damage at close range, and it’s great to have early on in the game.

Meet John Marshall at his bar in Gunbarrel, and accept his quest to eliminate the mutants under the town. Then, as you head underground, you will find an Ark buried beneath the town which only you can access, according to IGN. Inside the Ark, you will find the Combat Shotgun.

4 Use Your Abilities

Rage 2 is one of the best shooters to come out in 2019, when looked at purely in terms of gameplay. However, it is more than a simple shooter. You also have supernatural abilities you can use throughout the game. The unfortunate thing is, you can easily forget them since the gunplay is so good.

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However, they are a sure way to make the game a lot more fun. For instance, you can use the Slam Nanotrite ability, which basically makes you a living, breathing grenade. You can also go kill-crazy with the Overdrive ability. If you mix gunplay with these abilities, you’re guaranteed to have tons of fun.

3 Use Your First Car

In most games, the first car is often the worst, and discarding it for a better car is always the best solution. However, in Rage 2, the opposite is true. You will get your first car, called the Phoenix, just after you complete the prologue. It’s not the slowest car you’ll find in the game, but neither is it the fastest. That said, it stands out from the other 15 cars in the game. The reason is simple: the Phoenix is the only car you can upgrade in the game. This means you can upgrade it until it has the best weapons, and you can even get it an ejector seat.

2 Master Your Weapons

Rage 2 has lots of different weapons. And mastering them will maximize their damage and, in turn, their enjoyment.

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The Combat Shotgun is one of the best examples. You can use it normally, and it will deal a lot of damage up-close. However, by aiming down the barrel, each shot’s power is amplified, and you can easily blow your foes backwards and even shoot off their armor.

The Wingtip is another special weapon. When you start using it, it works like any regular boomerang. But when you upgrade it, you can curve it around objects to attack hidden enemies.

1 Shoot Crates And Barrels

Early in the game, you’ll be tempted to melee supply crates to open them. However, this is needlessly difficult, and you can end up feeling frustrated enough to avoid supply crates altogether. The best option is to shoot them.

The same goes for exploding barrels, which are plentiful in the game. They usually show up next to your enemies, so just by shooting them, you can take out entire teams of enemies. And later in the game, you don’t even need to shoot them. You can unlock the Remote Detonation Perk, which will let you blow up the barrels with your mind.

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