The franchise that launched Mel Gibson’s career has made its return to video games, following its return also to movies with Mad Max: Fury Road. The last (and previously, sole) Mad Max game came out in 1990 for the NES while the last movie, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, was released in 1985. It was past due time for a new installment in this classic Australian series.

I think it’s important to highlight that the publisher, Warner Bros, should be harshly lambasted for the poor timing of its release. It is incredibly unfortunate (and honestly a mistake in planning) that Mad Max came out along with other more established and renowned names such as Metal Gear Solid V, Destiny’s Taken King, Halo 5 and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. These games directly compete in the genre of action-adventure, drawing away both attention and players from Mad Max. The game was listed as the 8th best-seller in its release month (September 2015) when it should have been top 3 in any more appropriate release window.

So you really like the game? How come?

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…dyin’ time is here!” Mad Max fans will remember this quote from Dr. Dealgood in Beyond Thunderdome as Max enters the arena in a fight to the death versus Blaster, a huge manchild with incredible strength. This is also a fitting description of the game in which you essentially wreak havoc in the wasteland as you fight the forces of Gastown. Mad Max feels like an old school brawler game put into an apocalyptic open world with super-tuned hot rods and muscle cars equipped with wicked weaponry.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most about the game is that it feels like its own installment in the movie series. The developers (Avalanche Studios) did a great job in using themes and iconic designs from the Mad Max universe. The game is linked to the story from Fury Road as the main objective is to defy the “War Boys” faction led by one Scabrous Scrotus, son of Immortan Joe, ruler of Gastown. The majority of the characters are recognizable from Fury Road and, in addition, the game also brings elements from the previous movies: you can eat Dinky Di dog food for health (as in Road Warrior), and you eventually fight in a thunderdome!

Mad Max introduces its own self-contained story, however, instead of being simply a spin-off of Fury Road: you start out as Max in your recognizable black V8 Interceptor heading to the Plains of Silence, a place to find peace. Scrotus eventually catches and destroys your car, and a battle ensues where Max chainsaws Scrotus in the face but also becomes severely injured and left to die. Upon waking, you run into a crazied hunchback “black finger” (a term for skilled mechanic) who sees you as a saint in his devout following of all things metal and combustion, and proceeds to build you a new car – the “Magnum Opus”. The game progresses as Max searches for stronger parts for Magnum Opus, most important of which is a V8 engine that can only be located in Gastown. In your adventures, you partner up with strongholds throughout the world, which help you find car parts while also taking advantage of your skills to lessen War Boy influence in their territories – true symbiotic relationships.

Well, searching for parts doesn’t sound incredibly enticing…

While I can agree with that, Mad Max isn’t really about searching for parts. It’s about killing lots and lots of enemies. Armed with your fists, trusty shotgun (relic from Road Warrior) and the occasional melee weapon, your go-to strategy is to run in and simply beat everyone to death. The game does this in a very rhythmic fashion as there are really only four buttons you need in battle: shoot, punch, parry and roll. A combination of these makes fighting feel like a dance especially when you are surrounded by enemies and need to constantly switch focus from one to the other, hitting, parrying, rolling away, rinse and repeat. Also, there are moments in battle where you can use special finishing moves which have awesome animations. At times I felt like I was playing a WWE game when Max flat out clotheslines or body drops enemies. Most of all, though, is the rush you get when eliminating 30 guys without ever getting hit because of your spot on parries and counters – one of the better feelings I’ve had with a game in a while.

In addition to the melee combat, you’re also constantly engaging in road wars with other cars. You can customize your Magnum Opus with weapons such as the harpoon and the “thunderpoon” (a crude rocket launcher), as well as improve your armor, engine, etc, for better performance in the constantly shifting environments you will be driving in. The Mad Max world is nothing like the Fallout world despite also being a post-apocalyptic one. For example, you traverse dried up ocean parts into canyons, and then into a deadened highway stretch and sand dunes, and need to be aware of terrain changes since they actually impact your driving. You will be constantly looking for scrap metal for Opus improvements and occasionally will participate in races.

Good combat is always a plus. What’s the bad?

Repetitiveness. While the combat is pretty smooth and very entertaining, one downside is that the gameflow is always the same: you attack a camp and clear it of enemies, and then move on to the next one. When not attacking enemy camps, you will usually be scouting and scavenging for scrap metal in the wasteland. Most times you will fight the same kinds of enemies, rehashed into different colors or clothes, and in the same layouts. Mad Max definitely does not break much ground in this sense, and it is a considerable downside in the game.

The storyline is also not as engaging as other games (The Witcher 3 comes to mind). To really delve into the Mad Max story, you will have to scavenge and scout on your own (and outside of missions) to collect items such as pictures and notes left behind by people in order to have a better idea of how the world degenerated into waste. This is where the repetitiveness can kill the game: the scavenging purpose is interesting, however, it gets somewhat tiring having to do the same thing over and over again in order to paint a better picture of the Mad Max world. I have probably spent about 35 hours on Mad Max and much of that was consumed by side quests and completion stats for this purpose.

Wrap it up!

Mad Max is a great value game. For $40 you get an open world apocalyptic environment full of blood, metal, explosions and raw power. You will destroy enemies with your fists, improve your skills and your car, and become a legend in the wasteland. The certain repetitiveness you will face here should not be a deterrent to playing an otherwise very well crafted game. Oh and you can make your own customized Mad Max wallpapers.

Drink Pairing

Gasoline. Or diesel. That’s the purpose of Gastown and essential to Max and should be to you too.

DISCLAIMER: DON’T ACTUALLY DRINK FUEL YOU WILL DIE.

Actually this game would be most well paired with a vodka-red bull. Smooth and with that burst of energy just like Magnum Opus.