Skip to content
Mad Max – this is the game where some of the graphics settings aren’t just ‘high’ or ‘ultra’… they’re MAX!
Max Rockatansky (voiced by Bren Foster – Home And Away, Days Of Our Lives), who only ever speaks when he needs to – which is almost never – is on his never-ending quest for fuel. It’s a resource that’s meant to be scarce, but then again, as level 2 shows you approximately five minutes in, move a can of the stuff from where it’s held, and another one instantly regenerates! Hence, it’s effectively as limitless as the number of times a politician will tell you “Let me be clear”.
As always, Max only ever encounters really freaky characters, starting with Chumbucket. The number of actual traditional humans he comes across totals a number that I can count on one finger – and that’s when he looks in the mirror! Chumbucket is a hybrid of a hunchback and that weird thing that used to advertise Kinder Surprise eggs in the ’80s, shouting “Chocoadoobie!” In fact, I half-expected *him* to make an appearance at times.
The wastelands in Max’s world, including daft-named places like Gastown, is the place where even a chainsaw in the head won’t stop a particular baddie in the opening sequence!
Mad Max continues the bizarre language and tone you expect from the movie series. As you go through his world, you’ll collect scrap for doing up your vehicles (rather like finding parts The Last Of Us), it’s also reminiscent of 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot for running about (except this this is a game where it *does* feel right), and both The Last Of Us and the recent Batman series for fights, the former of which I’m reminded when finishing an enemy into a wall by bashing their head against it, although sadly their head doesn’t split apart. But then they’re not zombies.
That said, the fighting can get a bit too samey, where it didn’t feel that way in The Last Of Us, and it happens at almost every pitstop you make.
In doing battle against the main enemy Scrotus, who is a threat to the Wasteland, as I type, I’m currently on no.5 of the fifteen story missions. That might seem like an odd time to write the review, but when it comes to time, this game it going to take a LONG amount of that to fully get through it all. The first four story missions were relatively quick, all completed in under 30 minutes (my video length, that is – minus the odd death and so on), but when the fifth began, I learned just how very easy it is to get side-tracked. For example, after Jeet had explained what he wanted me to do, Chumbucket started blabbering on about a side mission, and then Jeet banged on about a different side mission, and I was all “Hold on, mate, one at a time, yeah?” but the markers on the map had moved on. One singer, one song, please!
Anyway, before I crack on with the rest of it, I’m now scouting all about Jeet’s territory, finding ammo, more scrap metal to get on with improving the Magnum Opus, and reducing said threaet, by getting rid of Scarecrows (made from scrap metal and remains of the dead), convoys, snipers and mine fields. Getting rid of the evil Scrotus’ camps also helps.
Side missions are known as “Wasteland missions”, another example of one includes using a hot air balloon at a vantage outpost in order to get a good view of the region. Once you’ve used a vantage outpost, you can “fast travel” there from anywhere else on the map. Again, this is relective of 2013’s Tomb Raider. These side missions give it a Grand Theft Auto feel to proceedings. However, they can be confusing as I got rid of the snipers and baddies outside one gate, but they didn’t seem to be a way in. The entrance said “Weak gate – explosion restricted”, but the petrol can outside did no damage (so much for weak! And I don’t understand how an explosion restriction works, but anyway, it’s not letting you through, Dom, so let it go, for now…)
There’s also a Capture Mode where you can take pictures of the game, from within, or also capture video with a number of different visual effects, but personally, I’ll stick with Fraps as it comes, and without any fancy stuff. You literally pays your money and takes your choice, in this case.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game plus conclusions.
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.
| 1 | 2 |