Review

Mad Max

Let’s face it; we live in a time period full of remakes and sequels. Not just in games, but in movies, shows and so on. This of course leads to some form of anguish amongst the fans of said forms of entertainment. I can understand someone wanting new ideas and characters, but what about the projects that were held back due to technological restraints in a certain time period? Could you imagine if E.T. was made today? Well, it’d still probably be awful like most video game adaptions of movies. Basically, I headed into my review of Mad Max with a worried heart, but an open mind…

If you’ve never seen the movies (including the recent remake/sequel), allow me to give you a spoiler free version of its plot. The world is in a post-apocalyptic state where there’s been no rain for years and water is in high demand. Even more than that is the need for gasoline as getting around on foot isn’t safe; most living things have died, including plants, which causes the world to look like a global desert. The world, now covered in sand and crazies, has made good men like Max lose his mind. It also allowed him to unleash the warrior that has been sleeping within. A rally-style driving, violent, brutal warrior, who shows his humanity by helping others around this desolate wasteland…you know, for gas and water.

This version of Mad Max is similar to one from the most recent film. It even starts in a familiar way – Max being routed by War Boys, crazed followers of a tyrant called Immortan Joe. Only in the game, his son Scabrous Scrotus is in charge. Eying Max’s car from afar, Scrotus sends in the Boys to steal it from him. One thing leads to another and Max is left for dead. Pissed, and raring to get his car back, Max sets out to put a bullet in Scrotus. Now ideally, who wouldn’t want to roam the wastes in an armored car while fighting savages in and out of vehicles in a seemingly endless world of death? Even if you aren’t a fan of the movies, the potential chaos one could cause in this highly volatile open space means there’s fun to be had. It’s like GTA meets Rage, in Australia. Good times!

Yet, Avalanche Studios gave us one of the most repetitive and time consuming games I’ve ever played. It hurts me to say it because there are times, in which Mad Max is high octane fun. Assaulting enemy caravans, blowing a war boy’s car to bits by shooting its fuel tank, upgrading a newly found car with scraps found about, eating maggots to stay alive – it’s all wastelandy fun.  But after a while, the game begins to feel the same. Mission after mission is full of the same few actions, so much so that you’ll tend to forget why you’re even German suplexing a minion of Scrotus. Speaking of which, the story was rather dull as most of it was held off for the latter portion of the game. I know the Mad Max franchise never featured a riveting tale, but in the movies the “less is more” approach worked.

In the game, you’ll meet different factions of survivors who’ll ask for your help as you inch your way towards your stolen car. Consequently, as you complete their missions you’ll start to improve the wasteland; Scrotus’s hold will loosen as you take down his top guys. There are also the normal open world activities, like destroying enemy strongholds (or in this case, refineries) and joining in races scattered across the map. RPG elements, a fighting system similar to that found in recent Batman/Assassin Creed games, and more are presented to the player. On the surface, these are all good things. Unfortunately, they all started to get stale over time.

This fact is made worse by Mad Max’s almost nonexistent soundtrack. Most of the game was rather quite outside of the sound of machinery and swear words, which didn’t help me retain any of the excitement that built up during chaotic moments. It was justified, being that there wouldn’t be any active radio stations in a place where people couldn’t even get water to drink. But I have had some of the greatest “soundtrack experiences” while riding a horse in Red Dead Redemption – why couldn’t there be similar experiences here? Add the mediocre voice acting and the only thing worth listening to was the sound of a car engine.

One of the most frustrating parts of Mad Max was the controls. No matter how much I played, I never truly got used to them. Driving wasn’t an issue, but the out of the car controls just seemed odd. The gun handling was a bit of a nuisance – I usually spent most of my time just dodging bullets and punching people as opposed to shooting them. Look, I don’t want to give off the impression that the game is all bad. Like I said before it has its moments; I can’t get enough of the car on car action. It just a bit of a letdown when I consider what could have been.

I tossed and turned on how I viewed the game from a visual standpoint. On one hand, up close shots of peoples’ faces looked outstanding.  Then again, the character designs are fairly basic. With the power of the current generation of consoles my expectations are set really high. The map in which you are playing on feels huge, but how difficult is it to generate sand and poorly made towers every once in a while? With that said, the sand effects while playing the game are incredible. Random sandstorms added a sense of urgency while exploring. I understand that some visuals have to lose out when a game is bigger. But when the experience itself isn’t that interesting and most of the time is spent driving in a car, I would have liked to have had something better to look at.

Mad Max isn’t a terrible game, but it doesn’t brought anything new or interesting to the table either. I wanted to enjoy it as I played more but unfortunately the excitement plateaus after a few hours of gameplay. I really wish the developers would have fleshed out Max or at least gave him the charming silent elements from the movie. Instead we just drive around a dead world and scrap for parts to make our car a powerhouse. Just when you thought we may have had a great one, another movie adaptation bites the dust.