11.9.2015

I love Mad Max as a film series. Ever since seeing The Road Warrior as a wide eyed 8 year old in 1982. But all the films, including this years 'Fury Road' leave the character stranded, alone, and with questions as to what he will do next. This game lets you play out everything you imagined happened after/inbetween every cinematic episode of Max Rockatansky's life :-)Firstly, whilst the game is set firmly in a world canon to Miller's story arc, your avatar neither looks, nor sounds like Tom Hardy or Mel Gibson's version of the character. At first, I was a little bummed out by this, but as the game progresses, this actually works in its favour, because you are playing as Max, your Max.It allows the character to develop without a celebrity personality imprinted upon it.The story centres around Max falling foul of one of Immortan Joe's steroidal sons, Scrotus (yes, Scrotus), who steals all you have, including your prized V8 Interceptor, leaving you for dead in the desert. You take control of a half naked, shoeless Max, with a thirst for revenge. From here on in, it is a case of building a new car from scratch, making allies of feudal chieftains who resent Scrotus's increasing power and encroachment on their territories, and eradicating Scrotus's settlements, camps and fuel supply lines in one man war (well, one man, one crazy mutant, and one lame dog) to weaken him in the journey to your inevitable showdown. The voice acting, and world are so good, and so in keeping, that this really does feel like everything you could want, or expect, in a Mad Max movie, but with you as the star.Part of the abilities progression also involves a spritual journey of realisations triggered by meeting with a mysterious shaman known as 'The Griffa' who pops up on the map from time to time when you have amassed the points required to upgrade your health, and numerous other core abilities. these sequences are genuinely unsettling with great cut scenes and weird atmosphere.Graphically, I have to say that this game is stunning. It is impossible not to draw comparison with Red Dead Redemption due to the arid environments, and colour palette, but if you thought the vista's on offer were good back then, prepare to have your mind blown. A nice touch is that the different tribal regions on the (absolutely huge) map, have all been affected by the apocalypse in different ways, so you move from traditional desert, through white ash covered mountains, dark sludgy old sea beds, and yellow sulfurous canyons among others. The desolation remains constant, but the variety is surprising and adds great realism.Character design and scripting is spot on. Any and everyone you encounter absolutely looks and sounds like they have stepped out of one of the movies, and the same can be said of the vehicles. Tremendous work on the part of the development team.When it comes to gameplay, originality is not the order of the day, but what it does, it does oh so very well. In essence, this is the love child of Shadows of Mordor and Rage. When you take into account all the other polished games in the genre (Arkham, Assassins Creed, even MGS5) you would be forgiven for thinking the sandbox has got too crowded of late, but I assure you, if you can engage with the environment and premise, this game blossoms with an amazing amount to unlock, both in objects and abilities. I think it has some of the widest scope and best designed ability trees in any sandbox, without ever becoming too much and turning into an unsatisfying RPG-lite.Combat comes in 2 forms. Motorised, and hand to hand. Motorised is by far the most varied and satisfying. As you complete tasks and collect scrap, your arsenal and defense customisation options increase. At first, all you can do is ram, and it hurts your car almost as much as your opponents, but it is exciting, and raw and just like the chase scenes in the movies. By the time you have built your wasteland legend, you will have armour plating, Nitrous boosters, custom paint, a collection of hood ornaments, a harpoon gun, explosive spears, Boudica style wheel spikes, a range of car body shapes, and many other options....all upgradable, and combined to your taste in an infinite range of variations. It is your car. Nobody else's will be quite the same. And it will handle well. it will feel solid, and when you take out a motorcade of bad guys, with blood and oil and flame and sand blurring in the boost from your nitros, you will feel like the Road Warrior.Hand to hand combat is solid, but not quite as innovative. It relies on the single button for strikes, single button for counter set up that you will be very familiar with if you have played Assassins Creed or Arkham titles. But here, you will not find the counter system so forgiving. Max is not a highly trained vigilante, nor an assassin. He is a tired, wounded, everyday guy trying to survive, so his fight style is brutal, not slick, and his countering requires a bit of room and actual timing to perform. At first it feels a little clunky, but again, as you upgrade your dusters, body armour, move list, environmental and weapon finishers, you become a formidable force, enacting some magnificently visceral beatings, especially in 'fury mode' (a reward for successful combos), when 'fury executions' have necks breaking all over the place.A downside that must be mentioned however, are the boss battles, that are always a muscle bound, masked giant (think 'Humungus' from Mad Max 2), who always have giant war clubs, that you roll-evade and then counter till you wear them down to a kill animation. Sadly, there should have been more variety in these boss battles, and while good fun, they suffer from the law of diminishing returns.It is also fair to say that at the core of the game is a certain amount of 'grinding' to collect scrap metal through car combat and raiding small camps festooned across the map. If you enjoy a little compulsive behaviour in your game design, then you will be ok, and as your levels increase, the variety of missions widens also, but I must admit that the first 4-5 hours I played, had me worried for its longevity after the novelty wore off, but I am now 30 hours in, with lots still to do, and enjoying every moment as the game has expanded in line with my character abilities.I honestly have been blown away by this game. It has surpassed expectations, and met my hopes. The world feels so real, with so many neat touches. It is every bit the love letter to the source material as the Arkham Games are to Batman. And it is huge, meaning you get some real value for your purchase-pounds.Turns out the end of the world can be a lot of fun.

25.9.2015

I’ve been pretty much addicted to this game since buying it (too) many days ago. To be honest I was pretty non-plussed about the film particularly when comparing it to the originals and was not exactly chomping at the bit for the game either. However the reviews looked good and being between “major” games and not much on PS+ I did bite and with no regrets. Although “your” Max is Hardy-esque in appearance and lack of words, it is the desert wasteland and the cars and people that populate it that bring the whole game to life. Think of a graphically and gameplay improved Borderlands 1 with bells on.Unlike that game however you are in the third person here which helps you develop more of an affinity with your character as he drives/fights/shoots and hustles his way around the post-apocalyptic scenery.Although a bit underwhelmed and slightly hampered by clunky controls (hint – change to alternate settings) at first it was the development that reeled me in. Note I missed out the word “character” because although you do develop Max predictably as far as combat skills and armour etc are concerned you also develop your Magnum Opus car in parallel with all the scrap you can locate/earn. Note the Borderlands comparison again here – love looting you will love this although don't expect gazillions of guns to choose from. Give your trusty “blackfinger” (that’s a mechanic to you and me) companion enough of it and he will beef up your drive to better cope with the hostile terrain and rampaging natives all out there to take you down.Driving your V6 (you have to work for the V8) across the wasteland is immense and the charming Chumbucket often helps out with pearls of wisdom so it’s worth listening to him whilst he tinkers or rides shotgun (or harpoon!). As your car gets upgraded you become king of the road (or dune) and can play with Scrotus’ (yes, I did say Scrotus) War Boy vehicles choosing to ram, explode or even rip them open with your Ben Hur like wheel rims. Oh and did I mention side-mounted flame-throwers lol ? Or just pull over for a roadside tear-up of course. You can drive more or less anywhere and will find yourself eschewing fast travel (opened up by locating balloons at vantage points) on all but the longest journeys just for the fun of the ride and whatever you may find whilst doing so. Blowing up stuff and crashing into or just through stuff is immense fun and distraction is a given here with so much to see and do.The progression does not stop with your motor or Max however as you form alliances with local chiefs and gradually gain their trust and respect by lowering the influence/threat of local warlords in their region - all by violent means of course. This can be simply by knocking down a symbolic iron Scarecrow or by taking out an enemy camp thus allowing your allies to populate it. Camp raids are excellent and enable you to use all your combat and exploring skills to take them down and find the loot/insignia for the optional objectives. The camps will in return will donate useful regular piles of scrap to you. Locate the right project parts for your chief also and their dismal and failing strongholds come back to life and moral is raised. They are less hostile and you benefit by having your fuel, health and ammo etc topped up on each visit. It’s actually kind of nice to drive back into a brighter and livelier stronghold you have improved and feel the respect and gratitude you have earned.This is the draw of this game for me, every action benefits you slightly in one way or another – take out a lot of camps and you feel the benefit of a regular scrap income. Build a water tank or maggot farm (yes, really) for the stronghold and you don’t go thirsty or hungry. Even better, an armoury so you can leave site fully tooled up with shivs and bullets (this ain't Play School) which is a Godsend as they are pretty scarce out there. It really has that “one more scarecrow” or “one more scrap location” hook on the absolutely mahoosive (and easy to use) map that will keep you playing far longer than you intended. Whilst the fighting, the looting and the driving are all fun they have a purpose (keep telling yourself this) so you will hopefully feel less guilty about going to bed at 12am on a school night.So why not the 5 stars? The story is so so but being honest the same applied to the films and with so much else to do, the story missions often take a back seat so it’s easy to lose the thread. Most of the gameplay is quite repetitive however it is still fun and you will find yourself drawn to remote locations just for the hell of the always eventful drive, usually with some pretty crunching and brutal fisticuffs waiting for you on arrival. Boss battles are nothing special and the voice acting is just ok. My nan jumps higher than Max too - he’s no Nathan Drake this guy. Load times are a bit lengthy and story/mission progression can be slightly confusing also but as this is the sandiest of sandboxes this is almost inevitable and only detracts slightly from a cracking game that captures the essence of the taciturn man and his machine perfectly.** TROPHY GUIDE ** This game is quite platinum-able (I managed and I am far from hard-core) if you are prepared to put the legwork in. There are no different difficulty levels so you just need to complete the story once and mop up afterwards. Bring a big mop however as the map is huge and three of the trophies involve collecting all the scrap, relics and insignia from well over 200 locations. This part I actually quite liked as I really enjoyed the game so was quite happy to visit all the locations, big and small as some of them were quite inventive and of course getting to them was usually eventful. You also need to complete races in all 16 of your Archangel cars in “Legendary Time” but most of these were quite easy, only a couple gave me a hard time. The one that will give you the biggest headache however is “Up to the Task” which involves completing over 140 challenges (driving/fighting/wasteland) across the game. You will complete a lot of these naturally as the game progresses (thus earning Griffa tokens and upgrades) however there will be a few that you will need to work on your combat skills to complete and some are car specific so you are unlikely to stumble across them. Look for on-line roadmap and trophy guides and of course YouTube for help. Good luck !

7.9.2017

If you are:-Pissed off how Shadows of War pushes micro-transactions in a single-player game, seems to look even worse than its predecessor and generally does nothing new whatsoeverand-Have a nostalgia that there are no wacky driving games in this gen, something like Flatout, Twisted Metal, etc.You should DEFINITELY get this game!If you do not fit in either category, the rest of the review follows:Mad Max is THE sandbox, open-world game, literally. You are deserted in a... desert, this is a semi-survival game, where health does not regenerate, you need to find food, water for that, there are quite limited bullets, you need to look for even for a fuel for your car to be able to drive and scrap - the bread & butter of this game,the main resource - to upgrade yourself, your clothes, your skills, and most importantly - your car.The combat, about which so many people whine, that hurr durr "It's the same as Batman, Shadows of Mordor and even dumbed down" while technically true, it is a good thing. This game doesn't innovate much in combat, it uses tested and liked system, and c'mon - I'll be the first to say that video games need innovation, but not every game should be a groundbreaker, Mad Max decides to pick what is tried & tested and improves upon that and does it great!At first, yes, pushing Triangle in time to parry is a great part of the combat, but there are differences - if you panic-push it when nobody actually is striking you at the time, your combo resets. Also you are rewarded by doing "Perfect Parry" - pushing just before enemy hit lands - timing matters. Also Max does not fly through battlefield like a ping-pong ball, you can parry and hit only those enemies who are close enough, crazy thing - by pushing parry you do not automatically fly in their face, like it is in the mentioned Batman: Arkham Knight. Also you can NOT parry hits which come from sides and behind, you will be hit anyway. These times you either turn first and then parry or dodge away. Yes, Max is a normal human, not a Batman superhero who can multi-parry instantly in 360 degrees.The next, simple but genial thing is how IMPACTFUL combat feels, how crushing and brutal are your attacks. The sound, the visual effects, the camera shake, the combat feels very, very good! I honestly don't understand naysayers, either they are "professional" reviewers, who have never actually played the game themselves or just liars. The basic combo, at least 2 basic hits and a strong hit (strong hit is holding the attack button, it is slower and makes you unable to parry during the animation) also changes according to positioning. There are different attacks, animations when enemy is just standing up, when enemy is pushed against the wall - you crush their head against or or when enemy is kneeling, you kick them in the stomach and the face like rabid beasts and stomp on them afterwards!There also are more combos, shiv attacks, special attacks later on when you unlock upgrades. The combat is simple at the beginning and appropriately complex with upgrades, melee weapons (all of them got limited hit count you can do and they can not be carried in the car) disarm attacks, executes, etc. and always from the start to the max upgrades the combat is impactful and feels great!There also are a lot of out of mission stuff to do in open-world but it never feels boring, you either go with brute force to break in camps through perimeter defenses, or find intel and vulnerabilities, up to you, there are scarecrows to destroy, places where you collect stuff, project parts, history relics, race starting points, minefields, top-dog bases and the fast-travel checkpoint is especially cool - an air balloon! Sometimes it is within enemy camps. You fly up and then manually though binoculars find stuff through viewing which then appears on your map.The car combat is wacky as promised - you can harpoon enemy car doors, tires, even the drivers themselves if unprotected, you can side-slam, nitro boost, even use shotgun to enemy fuel tanks for instant boom, everytime you aim the game comfortably enters into temporary slow-motion and there also is aim-assist, subtle enough yet quite effective. Explosions look especially great, and not a single frame drop. The whole world, despite being a desert looks incredible!You can also upgrade your cars with flamethrowers, blades on body and even wheels, and to choose between speed or tankiness or a compromise in between. The upgrades are quite deep and nearly for every part of the car, tires, exhaust, engine, body, boost, etc. etc. You can also build according to given prototypes which are plenty and some you have to at certain parts in the story.A note, that you absolutely have to patch this game. There are reports it is glitchy and broken without them. I didn't even play unpatched, I patched immediately and not a single glitch, not a single crash.. except in The Pink Eye's territory, later in the game, it suffers from quite severe FPS drops.. it affects PC version aswell. But it doesn't happen always and to everyone, and reports say it becomes much less of an issue after clearing that territory from enemy structures and units.Also in melee combat camera sometimes is wacky so you have to actively control it but it's not that bad, considering that for the in-your-face feeling and brutality of the combat, it is quite close to you, not like in Batman: Arkham Knight where in combat it tends to go up.Overall this is very underrated, overlooked game, which is similar to Shadows of Mordor in base mechanics, minus the parkour, there is next to none of it and on the top of that - the incredible car combat & customization!The fun is practically guaranteed!

15.10.2015

How excited have I been for Mad Max? Majorly excited. Since watching the newest movie and seeing the vehicles bounding around, the opportunity to launch across a post-apocalyptic Australia in a custom ride is not something to miss. The truth is this game is a beauty honoring the Mad Max franchise with a few blackhead showing. The experience you get is a wonderful one yet mostly the game falls into a repetitive hell. But the repetition is stated by the well-optimised experience overall. Plus the car driving is epic.The story is a recycled story of loss-to-redemption. Max steals some fuel from the unluckily named ‘Scabrous Scrotus’ (son of Immortan Joe for all you who have seen the movie)and is chased down in the desert. After a battle involving the typical dog comrade introduction and a chainsaw through a skull, Max is left in the desert with no car and a dog. You soon encounter the also unluckily named ‘Chumbucket,’ who believes that Max is a Saint of some kind. Thus Max goes on an adventure to improve his ride and, I kid you not, find a V8 engine.This is pretty much the extent of the story at the beginning, minus some typical damsel-in-distress hell thrown in towards the end. Passing between the main story missions is done mostly with purchasing upgrades for your car. To purchase these upgrades you have to drop the regional threat level. Dropping the threat level is done much like every open world game ever. Scale towers, or hot air balloons in this game, then torch enemy strongholds until you lower the threat level. This is not really impeding to the gameplay as much as it may seem. The monetary mechanic is what draws out the gameplay. Scrap can be collected from bases and destroying enemies. The flaw is that the amount of scrap is a random mechanic, so expect to blow up a car and get one scrap. You’ll find that you quickly upgrade this option to improve the collection rate; defeating bases also allows scrap donations from allies which will become the bulk of your income.This is Mad Max’s flaw, it seems to unnecessarily lengthen the game. So many of the mechanics feel drawn out and beaten longer to create fictional length to the game. Even the simplest interaction with objects, such as entering your car and picking up items requires a two-second button press. Mechanics seems to be near direct rips from different games yet poorly implemented.Take the on foot fighting for example. Considering Warner Bros. Interactive has produced both games it's unsurprising Max fights like Batman. The fighting mechanic is simple. Punch away, counter, repeat until you win. Batarangs are replaced with a shotgun. Weapons are the best mechanic of the game. Ammo is sparse and the shotgun is more of a quick attack than a replacement to fighting so you will rely on picking up weapons from fallen enemies. Yet despite Batman’s phenomenal fighting mechanic Max fights a bit like a drunk student on fresher’s week. The main problem is that the camera doesn’t follow Max, so you tend to get mauled by off-screen enemies far too often. The counter action seems to be somewhat temperamental as well and you’ll often get tripped over by enemies.What sells this game is the environment. The driving mechanic feels well balanced and driving around the wasteland of Australia is a surprisingly cathartic experience to bomb your ride around. Avalanche has taken a lot of time building the world, which is set in an old seabed and is littered with ships and containers. Bases such as lighthouses are littered around and old bridges span between what used to be the mouths of rivers. Driving is about two-thirds of the game and you will, therefore, be thankful that the world is not entirely bland and boring.Yet despite the problems in the game there is something compelling me through the Mad Max darkness. The story while predictable and slow paced is full of dark turns; Max never makes any friends and the game descends into the full psychological trauma of a story, complete with abuse, death, and betrayal. The ending of the game is going to leave you hollow. You and darling Max have been dragged through hell and in the end literally nothing is different. You haven’t gained anything or lost anything, and that is literal. The game ends exactly as it begins. The beauty of the Mad Max franchise is shown in the story well. Max doesn’t make friends or compromise for anyone and will go through anything in his way. Apart from a strange damsel in distress angle which appears later on to produce a human angle. It’s always a challenge to see what Max is desperately clinging on to for his sanity. And in the situation of this game, the slower controls makes the game feel like a wasteland struggle. Yet this is more luck and does not give a free pass.I also have to say that, the PC version of the game, is one of the most optimized PC ports I’ve seen. The game runs perfectly smooth. My PC comfortably hit 60fps consistently even in the set piece moments on high settings. There is a bug on the PC version however where the map will not load in the later game for some periods of time, and the importance of the map in the game means you will be struggling to carry on.Mad Max is a very satisfying experience. An homage to the franchise. Sadly a few oversights and poor mechanics means the game takes a long run to get off the ground. Yet overall the game is most definitely a 4.0. Worth it.

1.9.2015

After seeing and really enjoying the new Mad Max Fury Road film, I was interested to see how the new Mad Max game would fare. And fearing the worst, I have to say that I am not at all disappointed. Playing as Max, the lone warrior in a brutal post-apocalyptic world was all it promised to be and more. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early release copy and now I am completely hooked.It's an open world, third person, sandbox game, where cars are the key to survival. You, the player, must fight to stay alive in "The Wasteland", using brutal tactical and vehicle based combat against vicious gangs of crazed lunatics hell bent on your demise. It is up to you to scavenge the barren wastelands for parts and scrap (The games currency),to upgrade your stats, abilities, weapons, armor and to try and turn your vehicle into a rolling tank and this is a heck of a lot of fun to do.You can visit the Magnum Opus where you’ll build your car from scrap and you'll get to purchase things like a harpoon gun, explosive javelins, souped up armor, tire spikes, side-mounted flame cannons and mega fast nitro booster mods. The whole process is massively rewarding when you take your jazzed up car for a spin in the wastelands. I'd say the whole vehicle upgrading system is very similar to Assasins Creed: Black flag's, ship upgrade system, which was massively pleasing.The game is cram packed full of side quests and various other distractions and I am around 30 hours into my game and there still seems to be lots to get through, so it's a good size for an open world adventure game.Various side quests include, destroying heavily guarded refineries, seek and destroy wasteland warlords missions, blowing up enemy fuel depots, and taking down intimidation totems, all to earn scrap and parts for you to upgrade Max and your vehicle with.The Wasteland is broken up into regions and each one has various enemy strongholds which by defeating them, lowers the risk of being attacked. Each region also has it's own boss and these are generally very hard but very rewarding battles.The combat and controls are absolutely fantastic, fluid and precise and really make you feel that you are the one in control throughout, they really blend well with the Dual Shock 4 controller making it a very easy game to master.The graphics are good without being mindblowing and they really do bring the world of Max to life with extreme detail, vast deserts, junkyards, canyons, caves and shanty towns are all very detailed and the whole steam punk feel is a complete joy to be immersed in. Although the wastelands are mainly desert based, the background and sky colour and detail can make a lot of difference and really break things up, so that the wasteland areas don't all feel the same.I have experienced a few minor pop in texture and frame rate problems but nothing too distracting.Sound design on this game is flawless, the voice work is very well done and for car and gadget enthusiasts, the weapons, car engine and vehicle noises are so realistic, they'll please even the most demanding of you.The game is (as you'd expect) loud, explosive, fast paced, extremely violent, completely mad in parts and it can be quite challenging but the rewards are more than worth the extra effort required to complete quests and challenges. Even the basics of the game such as finding food and gas can be a challenge but a very enjoyable one none the less.I have to say that overall, I am really enjoying this game, it isn't THE GREATEST open world game I have ever played but it's right up there with the best of them and has hours and hours of content to get through. 30+ hours for me and I'm still playing.The actual storyline in the game is nothing to write home about but there's just so much going on outside of the core story that you don't really care about its shortcomings.8/10 everything a mad max game should be, if only the frame rate and texture pop in problems weren't there, it would have been even better, but all in all, brilliant game.NOTE! Not really sure why the last 4 ratings on my review have been negative. I think I've covered all the bases of the game, it would be appreciated, if when leaving a negative vote, people would also leave a comment to tell me what it is that I have missed out. Thanks.

15.9.2015

Now if like me, you love the Mad Max movie franchise, this will obviously peak your interest. So many years, the franchise of movie based games has been very poor and fallen on hard times. RAMBO the video game could have been SO much better, so you can be forgiven for thinking that this Mad Max game will be lacklustre. However you would be VERY wrong. Avalanche Studios and Warner Bros have crafted a great game and i say this after playing this game NON-STOP for a whole week. My family lost me for a long while because this game is involving. I became addicted to it for that whole week. Literally the whole week. I myself LOVE Mad Max (both the franchise and the game)The game brings everything we love about the Mad Max films and ramps it up like they did with Fury Road. This game is set after Fury Road where Max is brought in by the warring factions to rid themselves of a tyrant called Lord Scrotus (no seriously that is his name) after Max's beloved car the Interceptor is stolen and Max is left for dead. From here he meets Chumbucket (again, that is his name) who is a real whizz with mechanics and cars (and he helps you supe up your new car, the Magnum Opus.For here on, YOU do what you want. Want to supe up the car first, find and smash up any convoys or rampaging Warboys so steal their scrap and use it for your own personal use to make you machine almost unstoppable. Everything is available to upgrade from tires, to exhausts, to spikes. As well as some particularly fun vehicular manslaughter, there is a chance to get out of your car and busts some heads, jaws, arms etc in the marked camps where something or someone nasty is always lurking and waiting to bust your head open if you aren't fast enough. Once you get the hang of the block system (the combat system is pretty much like Batman Arkham Knight and that's not a bad thing) you can really go to town on these rabbles and their top dog which awards you with their colour of your car. Although some colours look absolutely hideous, Also you can upgrade yourself to become the bad-ass of the game. The Wastelands open world is VAST, there is so much to do. From Death Races (yes it is what you think) to defuse minefields with your trusty dog Dinky Di which help lower the threat level of the territory ( and lower theses and you got the best rewards) The game itself is comprised of wasteland missions (which are side missions) and the main story that is unfortunately not that long. My advice would be to do the wasteland missions first, smash a few convoys and then finish the story, that way you get some great upgrades before the finale (which you will need)The whole experience was fun, intense and sometimes heart-wrenching. There was only one level that seriously infuriated me and that was the race with Stank Gum who cheats at every opportunity by sending his cronies to stop you at every available opportunity (bu ramming you, throwing thundersticks and even boiling oil as well as handing bombs.This game has everything: Brutal hand to hand combat that is satisfying. Vehicular manslaughter which again is satisfying when you get rammed off the road the first couple of times. Ah, revenge is sweet. An involving story and some heartache and a game you'll want to play again just to finish all the camps, enhance the strongholds (which give great rewards), get the convoys and defuse the minefields, then the world is yours to do as you please, for scenic drives around the wasteland or lie in wait of a rampaging Warboy/warboys to smash to smithereens.All in all, i recommend this 100% to anyone who loves the Mad max movies because this is a blast and fun to play. The only reason i never gave this a five star is because the story itself was short.

15.3.2016

Mad Max the video game is set in the same dystopian universe as the movies, but is not directly connected to the events in any of them. After a lengthy introductory cut scene during which Max faces off against Scabrous Scrotus and loses his beloved car, you are tasked with rebuilding it so you can take down Scrotus and coolly walk off into the sunset.Although production values are high, the first few missions didn’t make a particularly good impression. The car handling is awful; the camera felt ‘floaty’ (I still can’t put my finger on why, but it never did feel quite right) and the missions were typical, generic open world videogame missions. After a couple of hours,when you’ve got all the tutorial missions out of the way and you’re let off the reins, the game really starts to open up and becomes incredibly addictive and a lot of fun.The main reason is the currency system where you collect scrap and spend it on upgrading Max and his car. This becomes incredibly addictive because the upgrades really feel like they are making a difference. For example, use scrap to purchase some upgrades for your car and soon the handling, grip or top speed is much improved. Use the scrap to upgrade Max’s abilities, and he becomes stronger, better at fighting and his supplies go further. The system, although hardly revolutionary, helps make you feel like you’re making tangible improvements. This, coupled with the fact that higher-tier upgrades unlock as you go through the game means that you’re constantly drip-fed new shiny upgrades, which require you to go out hunting more scrap.There is a lot of content to work through in the game. There are the main story missions, side missions, strongholds to take over, plus the map is divided into enemy territories where you are encouraged to perform activities to reduce the threat level in each territory. The main missions could be blown through in 15-20 hours, but add on approximately another 50 hours to 100% complete everything.There are a few criticisms and the game certainly isn’t perfect. For example, as fun as the game is, it is also incredibly generic e.g. the melee combat uses the same system as the Rocksteady Batman games, the main missions are basically go to location X and kill people. That said, all of the systems are generally well implemented, particularly the very brutal and weighty fighting mechanics, so the game never felt a huge chore to play. The other main criticism is that the map is quite big and after you have fully upgraded Max and his car, clearing the map of all scrap becomes a chore. Collecting all of the scrap beyond what is necessary to progress the story, is optional so you don’t have to get all of it if you’re not a 100% completionist.In conclusion, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Mad Max to anyone. Once you’re past the first couple of hours of generic, uninspired gameplay, Mad Max is great fun, the graphics are fantastic and the upgrade system is incredibly addictive.

11.12.2016

A fantastic game which has to be experienced first-hand. I was never really sold on it from looking at gameplay and so forth and there were a multitude of mixed reviews at the time but this has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and unique games I have ever played.For some it may be repetitive and monotonous but I think there is something very soothing about the desolate nature of the game. All activities revolve around collecting scrap or combating the various groups of bandits roaming the wasteland either on foot or in your car; the Magnum Opus. The story is very simple but suits the game and every character is acted and written superbly. Chumbucket and Max make for a great odd couple.The game world is one of the most mysterious and well designed that I've seen, it's the real star of Mad Max.The hand to hand combat is very similar to the Arkham series but feels much more satisfying here probably due to the fact that Max has no qualms about plunging a knife into someone's eye socket. Batman turns into a giant fist and cartoonishly glides into enemies whereas Max lumbers from step to step and this lack of finesse suits his character perfectly. Overall I would say this is the best version of this type of hand to hand combat and it's less forgiving than similar titles. Fist fights are always entertaining and wince-inducing at their best. The only firearm in the game is the sawn-off shotgun but it's SO much fun to use (on par with the Doom SSG) and so powerful that I never found myself coveting other weapons. A well placed shot into a group of enemies can easily take out several people and the effective range isn't nerfed to the point of lunacy as in most video games.Vehicular combat is great because of the variety of ways you can modify your car. Some upgrades are beneficial whilst others (despite also benefitting you) have their drawbacks. You can build a jack-of-all-trades with the most expensive components but that doesn't mean you will have a car that suits your playstyle. The depth of modification isn't Gran Turismo or anything but it's still impactful. Car combat feels awesome, the visual feedback upon collision is satisfying and the multitude of weapons at your disposal make for some memorable moments. Once you reach the zenith in upgrades, vehicle combat does became a bit easy and the same goes for ground combat yet if you slip up you can still be easily overpowered.The sound and music in this game is awesome. Ambient sound is on par with GTA V but the sound effects (engine roar, weapon sounds and so on) are even better in Mad Max.Whilst the breadth of what Mad Max offers isn't as vast as other games I think that it really nails most of what it DOES do.

4.12.2016

First thing I noticed about this game was the absolutely gorgeous graphics which, with their colour palette dominated by rust, sand, blood, stone and smoke, captured the look and feel of the Fury Road movie perfectly. Indeed, there have been times playing this game that I just had to get out of my car at the top of a hill to watch the sunset or pause while crossing a precarious rope bridge hundreds of feet above a chasm, to watch the evening mist roll in by moonlight. Yes! This is probably the best looking Xbox One game I have ever played. There's even a few occasions where you can take a (steampunk styled) hot air balloon to survey the lands to the far horizon.The combat sequences,

6.9.2015

This game is brilliant, it really captures the essence of a post apocalyptic world.In an open world wasteland you'd think the areas would be bleak and repetitive but that isn't the case. The world is flooded with scavenging points which are truly unique in design. Each point is distinct, whether it be the remains of a ship, a broken outhouse or a hidden underground passage. These areas were very detailed and it wqs a surprise since these are like the collectibles of this game.Some points will have enemies and others will just have scrap and photos from the world vefore the apocalypse, i felt that was a nice touch and gives insight to what life was like before.Tasks vary from scavenging scrap,

9.10.2015

As a sandbox game, Mad Max is probably the epitome of it's genre. Does this make it the BEST sandbox game ever made? No, but it's pretty fun, and here's why...Mad Max's visuals are breathtaking at times, and perfectly capture the look from the movies (particularly fury road) with a range of beautifully sculptured and coloured environments. That being said, at the end of the day, the world of Mad Max is simply a load of open sand. Despite this, Avalanche have done a great job making that open space of sand feel like it's been hand crafted and given the love it deserves.As far as story goes, there is none. The plot that carrys you through the games main quest line is pretty 'meh'

5.11.2018

While I do feel like the story is lacking somewhat, Mad Max is a fun open world that'll keep you entertained for hours and hours.While people were focused on MGS 5 Phantom Pain at the time, it was Mad Max that caught my eye instead. Just to clarify I did buy both games around the same time but I played Mad Max first since it appealed to me more.This bears resemblace to my times with a game called Rage which I really loved. Traversing through the desert atmosphere with crazy bandits chasing you, I knew this would be my sort of game.The open world is full of things you can do, with each area requiring you to kill snipers, dismantle camps and takeover strongholds.

5.9.2015

I really didnt expect much from this game being a film license and all, and was quite shocked at how good it is. You obviously play the Mad Max character who gets a good beating from a gang boss at the beginning of the game and is pretty much left for dead - with a bit of luck and wandering around he later bumps into "chum bucket" which i can only describe as a a more human like golem who worships the turbocharger gods etc. Chum Bucket is well off his trolley and his ramblings are at times quite amusing. Chum bucket basically becomes your sidekick helping to repair the car / drive the car when you unlock certain weapons.You will also have a dog who befriends you and helps with a certain type of mission.The game play reminds me of a few games rolled into one,

5.9.2015

It has been a long time coming but ps4 finally has a game that it can be very very proud of. Mad Max is a pure combat fueled open world game. you play as Max and after watching an interesting opening sequence are thrown into the action, you have plenty to do and even more to collect.if your a fan of the Mad Max 2 film you're going to love this game, you can customize Max's weapons and clothing along with the car, alot of work has gone into what you can do with the car, there are many many areas that can be upgraded.the map is HUGE, i have been playing for a few days now and have barely opened much up, there is just to much to do. side missions and scrap hunting keep you very well entertained.

30.9.2015

Mad Max will be one of the most divisive games of the year. To some will be straight off putting, to others a contender to game of the year.In my opinion the best part about MM is how little filler there is in the game. Not that it lacks content but because all the activities within the game are perfectly contextualised with the narrative. There's no pointless activities like shooting pigeons (wink wink GTA), so it kept me motivated to do as much as possible, be it because it makes sense to lower the threat levels in the different territories, be it because it's cool to know more about the world prior to it's present state.On the technical side I must say this is a superb release.

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