Mad Max

So, my decision to buy this game was mostly formed after I had watched Mad Max: Fury Road. For the most part, I don't feel betrayed as a result of that choice.

Mad Max was developed by Avalanche Studios and published my WB Games. You can find it both PC's and the current generation of consoles (PS4, Xbox One).

Lets get straight to business, just like this game. The narrative of this game isn't very complex, its a Mad Max game so it isn't supposed to be very complex as a story. It is spot on however, as a Mad Max story, its grim, its pessimistic its dark and tragic just like its supposed to be. There is no happy ending here.

The real meat of the game are its ground and vehicle combat mechanics and on both counts I have to say that they are both incredibly solid. Lets start with the ground mechanics as they are the more basic of the two, its essentially the standard hand to hand combat system that was first developed by the folks over at Rocksteady for their Batman games. The ground combat is fairly solid though, its responsive, quick and quite visceral. However, its quite simple, there are only a few set moves and enemies and combat techniques meaning that you are essentially great at the game right from the start if you are a veteran videogamer. Moving on to the vehicle combat mechanics this is where the real juice of the game and Mad Max myth is and the developers really did it justice with regards to its look and feel. There is a far higher degree of complexity here with a varied array of weapons and vehicle upgrades to mix and match before you even factor in the varied enemy vehicles and terrain. As a whole it is immensely fun to drive around the wasteland smashing your way through anyone and anything. However, a the game as a whole is a bit easy, you'll easily be able to beat the game with only a half decent car.

Looking at the rest of the game its a pretty standard open world game, you've got your in game currency, some side activities, some bases to upgrade and some flavor quest in there. Its wasn't all to my taste, but it was all implemented pretty well for a Mad Max game. On top of that the game is beautiful, its simply amazing to me how an empty barren wasteland can looking some amazingly visually captivating and that is before the storms even roll in. In all honestly, Mad Max is what a lot of other games set in a wasteland should have looked like, I'm looking at you Fallout 4.

This might be because I got this game on sale, but as a whole I'm pretty happy with it. I enjoyed myself, but that might be because I didn't expect it to be that serious of an experience. Much like Shadow of Mordor it was more of a fun game than a complex game. You're enjoyment of it will mostly be dictated by how into the Mad Max world you are, but even if you aren't you might be won over by the polished look and combat mechanics of the game. However, don't say that I didn't warn you, the game is pretty easy and shallow and you might find yourself bored after a few hours.