Mad Max Reviews
With it's great visuals, film-like appeal, and incredibly fun and engaging car on car combat, there's a lot going for it. I give it a solid recommendation for any fan of the film series or of open-world, car-heavy games. Maybe it isn't everything it could have been, but it sure as hell isn't the typical film-to-game disasterpiece that many gamers might expect by now.
Mad Max's fondness for never-ending upgrades and tedious open-world quests stymies the exceptional car combat and compelling characters.
While the gameplay is solid and Avalanche Studios did a great job digitally creating the Wasteland, Mad Max starts off slow in the story department and may turn off potential players. However, if you stick with it, you'll finally get the Mad Max you were expecting.
Fury Road was a big, expensive, risky film that paid off because of the irrepressible will and talent of its director, George Miller. In video game form, Mad Max lacks that same kind of originality and danger. It's familiar and formulaic, competent but rarely exceptional. This Max could have used a little more madness.
There's one enemy that even Max can't overcome however, and it defines the entire Mad Max experience: repetition.
Overall, Mad Max is a game that's solid but could've used just one more extra push to really reach its true potential. Folks who are burnt out from standard open world gameplay or don't like driving won't get as much bang for the buck from it. If you love great car combat and wandering around a large sandbox while checking off side missions, however, this is a game you'll get lots of extra mileage from.
Mad Max has the basics right and looks great, but beyond the first few hours it's a monotonous grind.
If there weren't balances to these rather significant downers, the game would suffer greatly, but with the story picking up near the end, the driving being fun and the drive to customize both Max and the Magnum Opus being truly motivating, the game ends up being a fun, but not great experience.
Mad Max is a flawed experience, but its late game character moments and beautiful wasteland save it from being purely mediocre.
The world of Mad Max is a wonderful and interesting one. It features a host of characters that can be very enjoyable to follow. They have great designs, and, in the case of some, even better character narratives. But the meat surrounding Mad Max feels derivative and tired. The mission structure constantly disappoints, and the hand-to-hand combat provides no thrills. If it were released five years ago, Mad Max could have been revolutionary. But it was released in 2015, so Mad Max will be just another open-world adventure lost in the dust.
A chaotic dust bowl of an open world, rendered and recorded with Avalanche's usual technical excellence on PC. Like Max's car some parts are a little ramshackle, but if you stick to causing bedlam there's plenty of fun to be had.
Mad Max is a solid, if slightly unremarkable open-world game that does a good job in replicating the atmosphere and tone of the movies, and the character's essence, but fails to provide any real excitement beyond its vehicle-based combat. Exploring the Wasteland can be a boring affair at times, but if exploring Max's relentlessly bleak world sounds like your cup of tea, you'll probably love Mad Max. Still, it's hard to shake the sense that this could have been better.
Mad Max is a solid game. There's a lot to do and barring looking through every piece of rubble like myself, the game's story is fun and keeps you entertained. Throw in some massive car carnage, excellent brawls with ten or more enemies, and beautiful graphics and it completes the package nicely. My only wish is there was more to do in the world than just driving to mission markers to look for scrap or other assorted items. Things like the warbosses were wonderful additions, but I felt like the bulk of my time was exploring old shacks and boats to find some scrap for upgrades.
Avalanche Studios have managed to create a game that is true to its inspiration, while offering all the hallmarks of a AAA game.
An almost equal number of significant pros and cons make Mad Max an interesting and polarizing title. Ultimately, it's a game I would recommend, but with some due caution as described in the article.
Mad Max seemingly had it all but ultimately stumbles in the worst way possible - by not presenting enough interesting things to in its open world. Side mission and story quest design aside, there's a whole of repetition and not a lot of substance to the game's madness. Good for the odd casual playthrough but imminently forgettable.
Time in this wasteland isn't time wasted.
Mad Max is a decent if, uninspiring time waster. You have a vast laundry list of tasks to chew through, but hardly any of them are particularly challenging or interesting. The excellent road combat and meaty progression system make it worth your time once you've beaten the significantly better open world games available at the moment.
Mad Max's inescapable, monotonous looting in a derivative open world can't justify seeking the sparse instances of break-neck fun behind the wheel. Though there are moments that reach the level of Mad Max: Fury Road, they're unfortunately too few and far between.