The Scorchers basically adds everything the game always needed. An extended play option to carry on exploring the wasteland after completing the final level, allowing you to get all collectables, achievements, side quests and anything else you feel like doing. There’s also the combat scenario option, which allows you to re-run any completed mission, but with more challenge. No ammo off the ground, so you need to shoot straight, as well as only a small selection of weapons. But the main thing it adds is the new trail of missions.
New missions… I said to myself. The first mission can be accessed from the very first place you visit, so off course, me being, well, me, I got the pistol of Dan Hager and went straight to the cave where you had to go. I was thinking to myself ‘Yeah! Can’t be that hard if it’s in the first area!’ I then fell down a massive hole and was swarmed by mutants. So I thought to myself, I should probably get the assault rifle and come back. So I did. Then I found a big group of bandits. And I died. No worries, I say to myself, I’ll just get the shotgun. It got to the point where I just kept dying and coming back and I got to a massive armoured guy that shoots fireballs out of his hands, at least, I thought it was his hands, because I died so quickly, and I realised that I’m in no way near ready for this yet. So I spent around 3-4 hours going through the main story and collecting upgrades, armour, ammo, but most importantly, weapons. After getting stocked to the neck on ammo, I re-entered the cave. After fighting through mutants, bandits, more mutants, and the massive armoured guy that shoots fireballs out of his massive gun (not his hands!), I finally found someone called Sarah. She then gave me one of the new weapons, the Nail Gun, which, surprise surprise, shoots nails. But it CAN shoot massive bolts, or you can turn it into a Rail Gun. Yes, I’d say the DLC is off to a good start.
Next level. Fairly simple. Whizzed through that with my awesome new Nail Gun. Another level which involved Mutant Bash TV. Boy, I love Mutant Bash. Going along humorous themed levels whilst fighting off mutants in clown masks. But this time it was Much harder. and the level after that one, which took a very long time, an annoyingly long time. And even after that, you have to go through another stage. Running very low on ammo here. I know it said ‘Bring loads of ammo’ but I didn’t realised it meant ‘you have to go through a stupid long area which takes an hour, so I would recommend keeping some more bullets down your trousers and in your mouth’. Yes. An hour. And 15 of those minutes are in one area, which is where I started getting slightly ticked off. Just mutant after mutant after mutant, and it just got boring after a while, because they only came in two’s and they are pretty tough to kill. Personally I think I’d put this level in here too make the DLC longer, which it successfully did, because it took me the same time to beat this level than it did to beat the previous two levels combined.
But then… the final level! Now this is where id’s soft hearts shine through. If you’re someone like me and play too much Half-Life 2, you just rely on auto-saves if you die. But nowadays, there are barely any auto-saves around. And instead of being nasty people and making you go in blind, they give a warning that it’s about to get hard, and that you should save, otherwise you will have to go through that hour of boring all over again. So I did. And then this level is similar to the previous that it takes a while, except this level is fun to do. Hiding behind cover and going out occasionally is much better then running in circles shooting mutants. Funnily enough though, I died twice, but the defibrillator (thankfully) brought me back both times. id, I love you for that!
As well as hiding, then coming out, shooting, and hiding again, which for some reason I really enjoyed, The DLC has something else normal RAGE lacked much of - a boss, and a bloody good one too. There was only two bosses in the original game, so this really adds to my good time in RAGE. I mean, the boss’ in RAGE Were alright, I guess, It’s just they seemed pretty easy, you could just shoot some bullets into it’s head and it dies. Some bosses are garbage, some are good, and the Scorchers boss is in the bloody good section. The boss is in ‘Dukes Official List of Good Bosses’ because it has a strategy. Instead of just firing your machine gun into it and running in circles, you actually have to be careful and you need to think about what to do. Shoot a specific area with a specific weapon, hide behind cover as it attacks, wait for the right moment, come out, and strike again.
Overall, The Scorchers is a pretty good DLC. Much needed options, great boss fight; with only a few let downs, it’s overall a nice package and one of my favourites as of yet. It’s just a shame it came too late. Don’t get me wrong, it can get a bit repetitive in some places, but the other areas as well as brand new weapons and options overlook that by far. If you have RAGE and fancy to go back to it, this is definitely the DLC for you, and even if you don’t have RAGE, this is great and I wouldn’t get the game without it.
Date: December 2012
Genre: First-person shooter
Publisher: Bethesda Software
