A not-so-interesting game

Mad Max mixes the Ubisoft open-world formula with Arkham combat and vehicular action to give a completely uninspired yet highly enjoyable experience. It is very atmospheric, with incredible draw distances showing the desolate wasteland. This is as pretty as a dessert can be in a video game and looks striking even during sand storms.

Just like Shadow of Mordor, the hand-to-hand combat is almost a direct copy of the Arkham games. It is serviceable, but it lacks the depth and style present in those games. Even as Max hits the final opponent and the game goes into slow motion, without the camera angles and that cinematic style, it looks cheap. This isn’t true for when Max unleashes Fury mode, where every hit lands with ferocity and bone crunching sound effects.

As the open world opens up, I found myself losing more interest in the game. Like all open world games, it has a large map just filled with missions, tasks and activities. But almost all of them feel like a checklist and none of them are compelling. This is the stark contrast to the vehicular sequences of Mad Max which are easily the highlight of the game and should have been given a greater focus.

Whether you are in a chase sequence across the dessert or firing harpoons at enemies to drag them from their cars and fling them in the air, the mechanics and systems work really well together. Collecting scrap is the focal point for the upgrade system which gives players a host of skills and a decent variety of upgrades to tweak their experience. Mad Max shows how saturated the market is with open world games.

It has a massive map with a large number of activities, but almost none of them are interesting. It has its strengths, but after a dozen hours, everything on foot feels like a slog, which takes all the attention away from its brutal and fun car combat. Another example of how movies just don’t translate into great games.