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Although the Mad Max game is not affiliated with the recent Mad Max: Fury Road, it’s similar in that it’s enjoyable check-your-brain-at-the-door hokum without having to think too much. Periodic storms that come and go, rather like those in Manchester. Ey-up, it’s that global warming, innit! And whoever designed those storms needs a knighthood. It really brings home the one they drove into, early on in the film. Oh, and when I got stuck in one side mission, a storm came along and seemed to do some of the damage work for me!
It’s very action-packed. As I was driving round Jeet’s domain, trying to take out a sniper, the moment I’d done that whilst in my car, I found myself on the road and then someone immediately rammed me, almost totalling my car!! (see video below)
Like the movies, the game is a visual feast so will have a lot of replay value for big fans of them.
The graphics could be repetitive in a game like this, since how different does one real patch of desert really look from another? But there’s enough slight differences in display to really make you feel like you’ve traversed a long distance. In fact, many parts of it remind me of great times spent eleven years ago when roaming the remote badlands in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, even bumping into Shaun Ryder and Bez from the Happy Mondays, in one scene! I wonder if they’re hiding out in Gastown?
(1080p HD, 60fps, DTS5.1) – PC – DVDfeverGames
Overall, Warner Bros Interactive have pretty much nailed this. One of my few slight irritations that you can’t seem to replay a level while still running through the Story Missions. This annoys me because I like to replay a level, immediately after completing it, so that the video I subsequently upload doesn’t make me look like a complete bell-end. As such, the videos I’ve uploaded of my first-run-through gameplay have gone through some heavy editing to take out all my umming and aahing as I try to figure out where to go next, etc.
A couple of other annoyances: The camera angles in fights sometimes leave a lot to be desired as you get caught in a corner and the camera can’t turn round adequately, so you basically can’t see a thing that’s going on, and have to just keep punching, hoping they’re all landing on the enemy’s jaw.
Also, it’s not always easy to see what you need to do next, nor exactly how you need to do it, so even a basic task like filling up the car with fuel, first time round, I didn’t know which part of the rear of the car to go to, and just chanced upon it accidentally. There are a number of things like this in the game where it feels a little counter-intuitive. Of course, there’s a lot of fun to be had in the game, so these are just niggles, generally.
It’s annoying that I can pick up weapons after defeating a baddie, but I can’t take them with me in my car. That’s dumb that I can’t store them like a petrol can, or even on the back seat!
Overall, as I’ve stated I haven’t played through the whole game but in breaking the back of proceedings, I can see the road that lies ahead (pun not intended), and it’s a long road, and I’ll have a hell of a good time going there and back – far more so than the Tom Hardy movie which, despite what anyone says, it good, but it wasn’t brilliant. Play the game and get that *brilliant* feeling!
And when a game takes elements of great titles like The Last Of Us, Grand Theft Auto and the Batman Arkham series – and gets them RIGHT, as well as building a strong Mad Max story and environment onto them – this will prove to be one of the great gaming successes of the year.
Mad Max is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Click on the packshot for the full-size version, and you can check out more videos in the Mad Max Playlist.
Important info:
- Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive
- Players: single player campaign
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Sound: up to DTS 7.1
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
10 9 8 9 |
| OVERALL | 10 |
Directors: Frank Rooke and Neil Huxley
Executive Producer: John Fuller
Screenplay: Odd Ahlgren
Music: Mats Lundgren
Cast:
Max Rockatansky: Bren Foster
Griffa: Jonathan Oldham
Gastown Outcrier: Michael Beattie
Top Dog: JB Blanc
Civilian Guide: India Dupré
Civilian Guide: Belinda Gosbee
Harley Max: Ethan Korver
Glory: Madison Carlon
Other voices: Orion Acaba, Chantelle Barry, Ben Diskin, Quinton Flynn, Crispin Freeman, Nika Futterman, Michael Hawley, Dave Hill, Ali Hillis, Josh Keaton, Konstantin Lavysh, Misty Lee, Brooke Lloyd, Yuri Lowenthal, Tess Masters, Matthew Mercer, Dave B Mitchell, Liam O’Brien, Jon Olson, Sam Riegel, Tristan Rogers, TJ Rotolo, Susan Silo, Jason Spisak, Fred Tatasciore, Nick Tate, Scott Whyte, Travis Willingham
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.