As a huge Mad Max fan, I was very excited when this was announced all the way back in 2013. When the release date came around finally in 2015 (not long after the release of Mad Max: Fury Road), I couldn't stop playing for days!
The world design in the game is exactly what you would want in a Mad Max game. A leak post-apocalyptic desert with souped up flaming cars speeding about. Mutated savages, War Boys....the works. The whole concept of building your very own post-apocalyptic car (the "Magnum Opus") out of junk and parts was something that took me hours to get the hang of, but it is so rewarding when your vehicle is finally complete and is able to handle the threats of the Wasteland better.
The graphics are beautiful, and the cutscenes engaging. My favourite part of the whole game is the car race in Gas Town. The whole atmosphere is fantastic, and it is really a unique feel. Just the thought of a bunch of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world having a crazy deadly race at this huge flaming oil refinery like a psychotic version of a demolition derby is something that really pulls you into the Mad Max world. In fact, I really hope George Miller takes notes of these Gas Town races in the video game so he can perhaps make up something similar for Mad Max 5 when it finally goes into production.
The storyline of the game , however, is quite thin and is the only reason I have not rated the game a 10. Max's famous V8 Pursuit Special Interceptor is stolen and stripped by a gang of War Boys led by the main villain, Scaborus Scrotus. Max meets up with a mutant deformed mechanic named "Chumbucket" who tells Max that together, they can soon build a vehicle which will be just as powerful and fast as the Interceptor. It is called the Magnum Opus. To make it complete, however, Max knows that he must win the Big Chief V8 engine from a vile character called "Stank Gum", the current champion of the Gas Town races who wears masks made from human skin of his victims (much like Leatherface).
Late in the game, Max meets with a concubine named Hope, and her daughter, Glory. Romantic sparks are hinted at, but when Max fails to pursue these feelings, Hope and Glory are murdered by Scrotus. Much like in the first film, where Max goes insane due to the death of his wife and infant son, he goes "mad" again after the deaths of Hope and Glory and pursues Scrotus across the Wasteland for his final revenge. He is victorious, Chumbucket dies protecting the Magnum Opus, and Max gets his V8 Interceptor back before driving off in the Wasteland alone once again.
Now, though the story of the game is quite thin, I really did enjoy certain aspects of it. For example, I loved how they decided to give Max a love interest of sorts, because in the movies, he has never really had a love interest again after his wife's death in the first movie. It was interesting seeing Max's attitude with Hope and her daughter. But, of course that tragically comes to an end. I also liked how the plot revolved around Max on a quest to retrieve the Big Chief V8 for the Magnum Opus. I would really love to see a Mad Max film where he solely tries to help out himself, as opposed to helping strangers like he does in all the films. It really does build his character into a lone "road warrior". And through all of this, he is still not heartless, and tries to help others (Jeet, Gutgash, Pink Eye, and Deep Friah)--his obvious former intentions of a highway cop coming out onto the surface.
A couple things I could not understand within the story, however, was just a couple of minor details that contradict the films. The first being, that in the opening scene and through an old photograph, it would have one believe that Max once had a wife and a daughter who looked about 10-years-old. I really don't get that option. In the original film, Max and his wife had an infant SON named Sprog, not a daughter. And of course there are a few references to the biker gang who killed Max's family. Throughout the game, Max finds photographs and other items relating to Harley Davidson motorbikes. This is likely an obvious reference to Toecutter's gang from the original film (the ones who made Max "Mad" to begin with). In one mission, Max has to collect a vehicle with the skeletal remains of a biker (perhaps even Toecutter himself) war lord mounted at the back. Upon adding that vehicle to the vehicle collection in the garage, a quote comes up which Max is thinking, "I hope this does not haunt my dreams". These are obvious nods to the original film, but one nitpick is that Toecutter's gang in the original rode Kawasaki 900's and not Harley's. But this is not important, and the bikes may not even be a reference at all. Plus, I know that this game has been marked as non-canonical.
Overall, Mad Max: The Video Game is an excellent experience and should please any Mad Max fan or post-apocalyptic, vehicular combat fan alike.
9/10
The world design in the game is exactly what you would want in a Mad Max game. A leak post-apocalyptic desert with souped up flaming cars speeding about. Mutated savages, War Boys....the works. The whole concept of building your very own post-apocalyptic car (the "Magnum Opus") out of junk and parts was something that took me hours to get the hang of, but it is so rewarding when your vehicle is finally complete and is able to handle the threats of the Wasteland better.
The graphics are beautiful, and the cutscenes engaging. My favourite part of the whole game is the car race in Gas Town. The whole atmosphere is fantastic, and it is really a unique feel. Just the thought of a bunch of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world having a crazy deadly race at this huge flaming oil refinery like a psychotic version of a demolition derby is something that really pulls you into the Mad Max world. In fact, I really hope George Miller takes notes of these Gas Town races in the video game so he can perhaps make up something similar for Mad Max 5 when it finally goes into production.
The storyline of the game , however, is quite thin and is the only reason I have not rated the game a 10. Max's famous V8 Pursuit Special Interceptor is stolen and stripped by a gang of War Boys led by the main villain, Scaborus Scrotus. Max meets up with a mutant deformed mechanic named "Chumbucket" who tells Max that together, they can soon build a vehicle which will be just as powerful and fast as the Interceptor. It is called the Magnum Opus. To make it complete, however, Max knows that he must win the Big Chief V8 engine from a vile character called "Stank Gum", the current champion of the Gas Town races who wears masks made from human skin of his victims (much like Leatherface).
Late in the game, Max meets with a concubine named Hope, and her daughter, Glory. Romantic sparks are hinted at, but when Max fails to pursue these feelings, Hope and Glory are murdered by Scrotus. Much like in the first film, where Max goes insane due to the death of his wife and infant son, he goes "mad" again after the deaths of Hope and Glory and pursues Scrotus across the Wasteland for his final revenge. He is victorious, Chumbucket dies protecting the Magnum Opus, and Max gets his V8 Interceptor back before driving off in the Wasteland alone once again.
Now, though the story of the game is quite thin, I really did enjoy certain aspects of it. For example, I loved how they decided to give Max a love interest of sorts, because in the movies, he has never really had a love interest again after his wife's death in the first movie. It was interesting seeing Max's attitude with Hope and her daughter. But, of course that tragically comes to an end. I also liked how the plot revolved around Max on a quest to retrieve the Big Chief V8 for the Magnum Opus. I would really love to see a Mad Max film where he solely tries to help out himself, as opposed to helping strangers like he does in all the films. It really does build his character into a lone "road warrior". And through all of this, he is still not heartless, and tries to help others (Jeet, Gutgash, Pink Eye, and Deep Friah)--his obvious former intentions of a highway cop coming out onto the surface.
A couple things I could not understand within the story, however, was just a couple of minor details that contradict the films. The first being, that in the opening scene and through an old photograph, it would have one believe that Max once had a wife and a daughter who looked about 10-years-old. I really don't get that option. In the original film, Max and his wife had an infant SON named Sprog, not a daughter. And of course there are a few references to the biker gang who killed Max's family. Throughout the game, Max finds photographs and other items relating to Harley Davidson motorbikes. This is likely an obvious reference to Toecutter's gang from the original film (the ones who made Max "Mad" to begin with). In one mission, Max has to collect a vehicle with the skeletal remains of a biker (perhaps even Toecutter himself) war lord mounted at the back. Upon adding that vehicle to the vehicle collection in the garage, a quote comes up which Max is thinking, "I hope this does not haunt my dreams". These are obvious nods to the original film, but one nitpick is that Toecutter's gang in the original rode Kawasaki 900's and not Harley's. But this is not important, and the bikes may not even be a reference at all. Plus, I know that this game has been marked as non-canonical.
Overall, Mad Max: The Video Game is an excellent experience and should please any Mad Max fan or post-apocalyptic, vehicular combat fan alike.
9/10