Mad Max Xbox One review
Time to revive the black on black
Mad Max is a very interesting game both in and out of lore. The game debuted in 2015 a few months after Fury Road had hit theaters. The main point of the game is as a prequel to Fury Road, where Max rebuilds the classic Interceptor from the franchise that he flips in the first scene of Fury Road and loses it to the war boys.
The gameplay is very driving heavy as it should be for a Mad Max game. You work to clear up enemy encampments in territories where you have a safe house and garage to upgrade your car named the Magnum Opus by the mechanic who lives in the car. The progression is very much like Farcry in your just thinning out mini bases until the area is clear.
There are a few types of base encounters: clear all enemies, destroy all fuel transfer tanks, or destroy the oil pump. Essentially crippling Scrotus’ ability to produce gasoline. Oh right, forgot to mention the villain of the game is Immortan Joe’s other son Scabrous Scrotus, the ruler of Gastown. As you are clearing territories you are also collecting scrap to upgrade the car and Max. Scrap is the currency of this world. When you take a camp down, random people populate it and start tearing shit apart for scrap. They then give you scrap over a given time throughout the game.
The Magnum Opus is the focus of the game as well as taking down Scrotus. There are various side activities like clearing minefields, killing snipers, destroying scarecrows, vehicular combat, stunt ramps, sandstorms with debris and treasures, and death races to keep you busy. The main story mostly consists of go this place, kill everybody, and maybe bring something back or open a route into a new territory. As you lower Scrotus’ threat and complete side missions and story missions you will unlock all the upgrades for the car. Some upgrades come with Max’s legend status increasing by doing various activities.
For a game based on driving, the controlling of the cars take some getting used to. The cars are very drifty and can fly all over the road with a slight twitch of a joystick. It is something you get used to and adjusts as you add things to your car. Weight from armor or weapons will slow down acceleration and top speed but having no armor leaves you open to the car being destroyed in every battle. There are also various tires either traction levels on different surfaces and hood ornaments that give a slight bonus to account for as well. The upgrades for Max are pretty basic. You increase his defense with upgraded jackets, his shotgun gets more barrels, he learns a few fighting moves and you have a decent choice of hair options.
Mac himself controls like a man with very serious health problems. He has a 3 inch vertical jump, a run that is the same speed as elderly dog, and can fall from a height of 3 feet before getting a limp. This is not to say that the game is bad. It is surprisingly fun and polished, this is just to say that it plays a bit differently than you would expect out of the gate.
There are observation towers to add more locations to the map, in this game they take the form of hot air balloons that Max rides into the sky and scouts with a pair of binoculars. It’s a fun mechanic, but mainly used for fast travel. The map in this game is fairly large. It starts to get smaller once you get faster engines, boosts, and stop taking most roads. It’s the desert, most of the time you can just drive straight to your destination. There are plentiful random encounters of enemies driving, hanging by campfires, and wanderers dying of thirst that you can give water to get world information.
Overall, Mad Max packed a lot of content into the game while also giving the same presentation of the world from the movie. There are massive sandstorms with lightning fire and debris, every car explodes in spectacular fashion, fights are kinetic although repetitive, but the car combat is where the game shines. Giving you the ability to harpoon a cars bumper, boost into them for extra damage, shoot their gas tank, and see the car flip in a fiery explosion while you ram it out of the way is always fun.
Now that the Furiosa prequel is here, this is the perfect time to step back into rust spattered wasteland and see if you die historic in the Mad Max world.
