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This year marked the surprise resurgence of the Mad Max franchise, as not one, but two long-in-development projects finally reached the finish line. One was, of course, Mad Max: Fury Road, which had been in the works since the mid-’90s, and the other is the video game simply titled Mad Max, which has been in-development in some form since 2008.
Mad Max: Fury Road turned out to be a lovely movie indeed, but what about the game? Sometimes a movie taking forever to make can end up being a good thing, but it’s rarely the case for video games, which have to keep up with constantly evolving technology. So, is Mad Max another shot at redemption, or is it, in the words of Immortan Joe, merely mediocre?
Mad Max (PC, Xbox One & PS4)
Artistic Achievement
Despite being developed in tandem and released around the same time, the Mad Max game and Mad Max: Fury Road don’t necessarily tie together, although they do share a number of elements. The War Boys of Fury Road are present here, as is Scabrous Scrotus, son of Immortan Joe. That said, the two plots don’t really combine in any coherent way, and the Max of the game doesn’t particularly look or sound like Tom Hardy. It’s actually a bit frustrating. With a few tweaks, they could have made the movie and game exist in a consistent universe, but I suppose getting both the movie and the game actually released took precedent.
The Mad Max series has never been much for complex motivations, and this game is no different. Much like Fury Road, the game’s plot is set in motion when Max has his prized V8 Interceptor stolen and scrapped by War Boys. So, what do you do when your super awesome car is destroyed? Build a new car that will help you kill the jerks that wrecked the old one! That’s it. That’s your entire motivation. Max hooks up with a deformed mechanic named Chumbucket, and they spend the game hunting down parts to build the ultimate Outback war machine, the Magnum Opus. Of course, acquiring every new part is a needlessly circuitous process – well more than half the game is spent toiling away to get a simple V8 engine for your car. This is somewhat true to the Mad Max movies, as their plots often revolve around characters dealing, trading favors and double-crossing each other over gas, water and other mundane things, but this kind of scrounging gets to be a drag over the course of a 15 to 20-hour video game plot.
As far as partners go, he’s no Charlize Theron.
Despite a long trek through the sun-parched desert of development hell, Mad Max doesn’t feel behind the times technologically. This is an impressive-looking game on both a technical and artistic level. The game’s post-apocalyptic wasteland is appropriately desolate and dusty, but can also be strikingly beautiful, thanks largely to a fantastic lighting engine. Much like Fury Road, this game forsakes desaturated monotony in favor of bold, rich colors and a surprising variety of landscapes. The game’s characters aren’t quite as attractive as the landscape, but hey, ugly people and beautiful vistas are a classic Mad Max combo.
Mad Max does not deliver as solidly in the audio department. Maybe Mad Max just suffers in comparison to the ball-rattlingly awesome Fury Road soundtrack, but the game’s music just feels a few notches too subdued. Speaking of subdued, whoever’s doing Max’s voice isn’t necessarily bad, but he sure isn’t great, either. Max is a man of few words, but, in the movies, those words usually leave an impact. Not so here.
Innovation
The Mad Max universe is almost too well suited for an open world game. You race across sprawling terrain in a souped up car, run fetch quests for shady characters, scrounge for resources, beat the crap out of bad guys and liberate enemy outposts, which is 100 percent true to the Mad Max franchise, but also not groundbreaking in any particular way. I suppose the heavy focus on vehicle customization is somewhat unique, but that’s mostly been lifted from racing games. Ultimately, what you’re left with is a game that thoroughly covers the Mad Max experience, but never strays from the open world formula because, frankly, it doesn’t have to.
“My name is Batman, er, I mean Max. That’s my name.”
Execution
Maneuvering Max around the wasteland and meting out doses Outback ultraviolence generally feels pretty good. The game’s Arkham Asylum-inspired battle system is solid and impactful, and Max gets by okay, even if he’s not quite as agile as a lot of contemporary video game protagonists. The only time control issues pop up is when you’re cruising around in the Magnum Opus, which is surprising given it’s such a major focus of the game. Dog-fighting with other cars can be a bit clunky, and fishing enemies out of their cars with your grappling hook (the key to winning most vehicular battles) takes a while to get used to.
Mad Max‘s open world has a pleasingly ordered, credible feel to it. The world’s various elements seem interconnected and purposeful, rather than just a pile of random stuff scattered across a map. Enemy outposts are all unique and have specific functions (some drill for oil, others distribute gas and so on), key vantage points are protected by snipers and heavily guarded gas convoys rumble down important roads. It feels like Scabrous Scrotus and his deranged minions are running an actual operation here, and dismantling it piece-by-piece can be pretty satisfying at times.
There’s a certain edge of realism to the things you do in Mad Max. Uncovering points of interest on the map isn’t just a case of running to a certain location and pushing the X-button. Instead, you have to ascend in a hot air balloon and manually identify things with a pair of binoculars. Gas and water are important to keep on hand, and sources of both are appropriately scarce. Disarming mines requires the help of an adorably pathetic three-legged dog. It all comes off just a bit more natural than your average open world game.
You can make cars blow up real pretty-like in this game.
Taking down outposts, the main challenge in Mad Max, feels similarly solid. The game requires you to carefully scout each outpost’s defenses beforehand, although, thankfully, Mad Max never becomes a stealth game (unlike seemingly every other triple-A title). Max has never been one for subtlety, and crashing through sniper towers with your car, dismantling the gates, then punching everybody in the outpost to death makes you feel like a proper badass.
So yes, Mad Max has a well-designed open world, and yet, I often didn’t feel like I was having much fun there. The foundation is sturdy, but the developers didn’t add any personality on top of it, which is a major oversight for anything Mad Max-related. There aren’t many memorable characters to interact with in the wasteland, and straying off the beaten path will only net you more rocks, dust and maybe another outpost to knock over. The Max franchise is all about the weird stuff, and a proper Mad Max game should be teeming with bizarre characters and twisted Easter eggs, but instead, you’re given schlanger all. After a few hours, I was bored of Mad Max‘s world, and after a few more hours, I started to feel a bit oppressed by the non-stop banal grimness. I didn’t want to save this world, I just wanted to take my car and drive far, far away from it. I suppose in that sense, the game’s a good representation of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but accuracy only gets you so far.
Staying Power
If you keep the pedal to the metal the whole time, you can probably race through Mad Max in 12 to 15 hours, although most players will probably spend closer to 20 hours working through the game’s story. This being an open world game, there’s obviously a lot to do aside from the main quest line, and those looking to become a true Road Warrior could pretty easily sink more than 40 hours into Mad Max, although the sameness of a lot of the game’s content might kill your interest before then. With so many great open world games on the market, and so many more to come, I don’t see Mad Max being more than a passing fancy for most gamers.
Bullsh*t Factor
Ironically, Mad Max is about as stable as modern games get, not crashing or seriously glitching up once during my playthrough. You get an extra car body and handful of hood ornaments for pre-ordering, and so far, that’s the only known DLC. No other cars for sale, no season pass, no “refill your canteen” microtransactions. That all might be coming down the line, but for now, Mad Max is about as straightforward as game releases come, which I’m certainly not complaining about.
Final Thoughts
The Mad Max movies have always done a great job of making a horrifying, oppressive post-apocalyptic wasteland look kind of fun. The Mad Max game nails horrifying, oppressive part, but it doesn’t deliver the fun on a consistent enough basis. Mad Max is an undeniably well-made game, but I felt as dirty and beaten down as Max himself after playing it for a few hours.
If you’re somebody who loves the busy work of open world games, the side quests, the character building, the loot collecting, then honestly, Mad Max is a fine option. It’s a technically and mechanically solid game with a ton of content to grind through. Perhaps pick it up once the price drops a bit. If, on the other hand, you’re a Mad Max fan looking for some of the series’ trademark spark and verve, you’re probably better off just watching Fury Road again. Max’s video game redemption will have to wait for another day.
Verdict: Worth A Chance
This review was based on a copy of Mad Max provided by Warner Bros. Interactive.