RAGE

I originally found [b]RAGE[/b] while looking to scratch the same itch I loved in the [b]Mad Max[/b]-style desert buggy combat from [b]Jak 3 (2004)[/b], and it absolutely delivered. The driving and vehicular combat are satisfying, but what really surprised me was how strong everything else felt too - gunplay, side quests, exploration, minigames, and even the moment-to-moment combat encounters. Nothing here feels half-baked, and the game does a great job of giving you a little bit of everything without overwhelming you. It has all the proper fixins I was looking for. Optional race tracks to earn money? Got it. A bulletin board full of side quests? Got it. A combat arena for grinding cash? Got it. Completely optional bar minigames that have nothing to do with the story? Got it. The structure feels old-school in the best way, like a shooter that isn't afraid to let you wander off and engage with side content just because it's fun. The story itself is pretty barebones and clearly not the main attraction. There are only a handful of short cutscenes, and most of the narrative is delivered through gameplay. The loose premise is that you're a cyber-enhanced, cryogenically frozen survivor who joins a resistance movement and eventually takes the fight all the way to an alien stronghold. It stays fairly chill for most of the game, then escalates quickly toward the middle and the very end. I ended up playing through it four times while chasing achievements - collectible runs, higher difficulty clears, and optimization passes. Funny enough, [i]Ultra Nightmare[/i] ended up being easier than [i]Nightmare[/i] simply because I understood how to manage money and ammo so efficiently by that point. Unfortunately, [b]RAGE[/b] also commits two of the biggest sins for achievement hunters: permanently missable collectibles and online/co-op achievements.