Rage was probably one of the most hyped games of 2011. Id Software built it up as the next great thing, and while it certainly looked incredible, it lacked in a lot of departments, most notably its sparse world, forgettable cast of characters, lackluster story and ridiculously disappointing ending segment. The Scorchers DLC somewhat remedies that last part, letting you play past the end of the main campaign and giving you a fun new weapon to mess around with in a new two hour long set of missions.
The Scorchers has the ark vault survivor going up against the aptly named Scorchers gang soon after meeting a mercenary named Sarah. Apparently, the firebug merry group of individuals have devised a plan to take over the Wasteland by using a secret mobile weapon, built deep beneath the tunnels of the town of Wellspring. This DLC is divided into a handful of quick missions that have you exploring a few new unique looking locations as well as a few known ones, with new twists.
The nail gun is perhaps the biggest addition in The Scorchers and is easily the most fun weapon to use throughout it. It does exactly what its name implies, and thanks to its different types of ammo, it goes an extra mile in the ‘sticking enemies to walls’ department. If you had finished the game before starting the DLC, you also get a chance to use that cool Authority chaingun you received near the end of the main game.
It’s also worth mentioning that Wellspring’s casino is open for business in The Scorchers. It adds a couple of new gambling games in the form of video poker and roulette, which are fun for as long as you can press a single button continuously. The casino also acts as a story point towards the end part of the DLC, quickly introducing and discarding a new character on your way towards the final confrontation.
Whether or not you want to play The Scorchers will depend a lot on how much you originally enjoyed Rage. It provides much of the same level of challenge as the main campaign did, but the same issues Rage had with its forgettable story and mostly brain dead enemy A.I are still present in The Scorchers.
If you were looking for an excuse to go back to the Wasteland to kill more mutants and gang members, however, The Scorchers should be right up your alley. It’s a relatively short downloadable set of missions, but the new weapons and the chance to keep playing past the story and ramp up the difficulty even further serve as nice incentives to give this $5 download a go.
