The Mad Max World
The players take on the role of Max Rockatansky, known as Mad Max, in a vast post-apocalyptic open world. It is very similar to the world seen in the Mad Max movies. It is heavily inspired by Fury Road and everyone who have seen the movie would appreciate the striking similarity.
The game also gives huge importance to driving and more than half of the game involves driving. There’s a ton of options available which we will look into as we go about the review. The game strangely feels like Grand Theft Auto in an uninhabited desert.
Scabrous Scrotus
The game starts with a short intro, wherein Max is intercepted on his journey to the Plains of Silence, by Scabrous Scrotus and his gang of Warboys. They steal everything off of him including his car and leave him to die in the desert.
Scabrous Scrotus is the son of Immortan Joe and the ruler of Gastown. He is one crazy guy and the Warboys are, sort of, his soldiers. Max chases Scabrous and tries to fight him, but his efforts end in vain as he is no match for Scabrous.
Scrotus is the final boss that we have to fight against in Mad Max. It is one hell of a fight and I am not telling you what happens at the end. It is a ‘head-turning’ fight!
Now, Max is left in the desert with no clothes, supplies, and a vehicle. He roams around the desert and quickly finds clothes and a weapon from a dead person. In Mad Max, we are required to collect water in a canteen, which can be used to restore health.
Chumbucket – He is UGLY!
Chumbucket – Looks like the Hunchback of Notre dame, but uglier.
We’ll be in search for our dog when we meet Chumbucket. He calls us ‘The Driver’ and agrees to help us. Chum takes care of the dog while we go on a search for some wire to fix his buggy. This is where we first witness the magnificence of Mad Max’s combat abilities.
I’ve heard in so many forums and blogs that the combat system is very similar to that of the Batman Arkham series. Yes, it has its similarities, but fighting in Mad Max gives a more enriching feel than Batman. The breaking of bones, countering and finishers are just fabulous.
Once we get the wire, we return them to Chum, who takes us to his hideout in the buggy, and introduces us to the Magnum Opus, a car built by Chumbucket, which is supposedly a beast of a vehicle. But there’s a problem.
A mess of parts - The Magnum Opus
Max describes the Magnum Opus as a mess of parts when he sees it at first. Chum tells him that it requires a few parts and Max agrees to help. We drive to a place called the graveyard where we are presented with 5 car bodies. The player gets to choose which body they want. Below is a shot of Shovel Face.
There is a huge list of options available for upgrading the Magnum Opus. But the catch is, you’ve to complete certain side missions and collect a lot of ‘scrap’ in order to upgrade. Scrap is the currency used in Mad Max. For most of the time, you play Mad Max, you’ll probably be playing missions to collect stuff basically.
The Shovel Face
Upgrading Max
As many options, you get to upgrade the Magnum Opus, as you get for Max too. Max has his own menu for upgrading his Knuckledusters, jacket, beard, armor, skills, etc. Below is a shot with medium hair and beard, along with wrist protection and a Brawler Wrap knuckleduster.
Max’s Upgrade screen. Play around and see what you like!
Metal grinding, side swiping, exploding vehicles!
The most amazing part of Mad Max is the vehicular combat. There are so many upgrades available and a huge collection of vehicles, you will be dying to try out how it will fare against the bad guys. That feeling when you push the nitrous button and the car goes haywire, munching on the fuel is just plain awesome.
Vehicular combat is the USP of the game
Upgrades like ramming grills and spikes at almost all places on the car will make your ride more dangerous for the bad guys and more fun for you to drive. Side swiping is an excellent feature that lets you take down vehicles with a sudden bang. You just have to play the game to feel the excitement.
Hit, Parry, Fury, Repeat
The combat system of Mad Max is another highlight of the game. It features a lot of wrestling and boxing moves, like the ones seen in Batman Arkham series, but is way more fun to play. In this Mad Max review, it is only fair if we elaborate on the combat system.
You can get weapons that are lying around or from enemies, but they can be used only for a few hits before they are damaged permanently. Your shotgun will mostly have no ammo as it is very rare to find them. Even if you do find them, you’ll probably get around 1 or 2 shells.
Four Enemies! Too easy!
In Mad Max, you can have a single enemy to fight with or a dozen. In either of the two cases, you are left alone to fight. Most of the times, you won’t have any ammo, and hand to hand combat is the only way forward.
When you chain enough attacks and parries, you enter the Fury Mode, and oh boy! It is fun to watch. During Fury Mode, Max’s attacks do more damage and can chain attacks with more efficiency.
Crushing enemies in Fury Mode!
If, by chance, your enemy is able to make contact with you, the Fury Mode will end. There are a number of optional achievements that can be achieved on Fury Mode like a 15 and 20 hit streak.
Perfect Parry!
So is Mad Max the best open world game out there?
Thus far in this Mad Max review, we’ve only looked at the positives. But, that doesn’t mean that this game hasn’t got any negatives. One very important thing that I look into when I play a game is a storyline. Having watched Fury Road, I was having high expectations about this game.
But, all my expectations went out the window when I started playing. Sure, this game is a lot of fun to play with. But to play around for 20 to 30 hours just to collect scrap for building a car is not my thing. I don’ think it is a great idea to go around and kill people and explode stuff for building the perfect car.
Conclusion
I hope this Mad Max review, has been able to put some light on the games’ greatness as well as drawbacks. The exuberant vehicular combat, the nail-biting combat system and tons of options for an upgrade make it a great game for killing time. But for someone who enjoys games based on a great story, this is going to be a disappointment.
Nevertheless, the game is a good buy, the graphics are amazing, the world is beautifully designed and the overall game is very well optimized. The game runs without any hiccups on a medium-end PC at 35 to 45 frames per second without any considerable drops. I am rating it 7 out of 10 and I would recommend this game to anyone for the sheer excitement of playing it.
