By Parker Sublette
Staff Writer
Big cars and explosive action are just a few of the many intriguing aspects to Avalanche Studio’s new game, Mad Max.
Mad Max is the first video game of its franchise and often references the Mad Max films, while it maintains the classic Mad Max themes of fast cars and exhilarating action in an interesting setting, but not all is perfect as there are a few mechanical issues and bugs in the game.
The game is centered around Max Rockatansky, the title character of the Mad Max franchise since the original Mad Max film in 1979. In this video game take on the films, Max is presented as a stoic and lonely survivalist searching for inner peace and the Planes of Silence.
The game begins with the survivalist having his clothes, weapons, and vehicle stolen from him by a band of War Boys who serve the game’s antagonist, warlord Scabrous Scrotus. After being left to die, Max, befriends a mangy dog and a hunchback named Chumbucket.
Similarly to the Mad Max films, one can find a setting of desolate wastelands and dusty roads. While seemingly boring, these settings are beautifully designed and realistically exhibited, with towering dusty cliffs and rolling sand dunes that give the game a lonely and isolated feeling.
The desolate setting allows the game to be driven exclusively by its exciting gameplay, strange characters, and open world as well as showing how awful the situation is in this post apocalyptic world full of slavery and murder. Along with this open world comes the freedom for you as the player to explore it in-depth.
The third-person hand-to-hand style of the game makes combat exciting at first, but eventually feels repetitive as each fight feels nearly the same as the previous. Much like its cinematic predecessors, the Mad Max game is all about fast cars and big trucks, since so much of the game is spent in your vehicle, the repetitive combat can be forgiven.
The game provides a fresh perspective to car based games like Need for Speed by giving the player the ability to ram, shoot, explode, and even harpoon enemy motorists to survive the exciting fast paced vehicle based combat. The vehicle combat presents some difficulty, making the player rely more on escaping and surviving than winning.
The in-depth customization system allows the player to make their car faster and stronger while also letting you customize its appearance. Sadly, many of the customizations are hidden behind story-based unlocks and forced progression which makes the player forced to play the main story instead of exploring the world if they wish to fully customize their car.
Just like the movies, the game has a very strange yet colorful sense of humor. It plays off of the odd and comical characters who contrast the humorless Max Rockatansky, like the strange character Chumbucket dancing madly around Max yelling about metal saints and devil cars.
Mad Max contains some bugs and glitches which inconvenience the player from time to time. Falling through walls, and drops in framerate to cite some examples, luckily,these bugs are relatively rare to encounter.
Mad Max is an entertaining and fast-paced game that draws from the intriguing world of the Mad Max movies and the post-apocalyptic world it is set in, however, players must keep an eye out for the occasional bug and framerate issue.
Mad Max is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC and costs $59.99.
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