Sometimes it isn’t enough for a game to be good. Sometimes there are other circumstances which affect its success, be it release schedule, competition or maybe even genre fatigue. In the case of Mad Max, the open world action game from Avalanche Studios, it was a perfect storm of all of the above. The game released the same day as Hideo Kojima’s espionage epic Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. As a result, it was criminally overlooked, leading to it fading into video game obscurity, until now. Mad Max is part of the April PS Plus lineup and will be up for grabs for those willing to give it a shot. And there are many reasons to do so.
It’s Free on PS Plus This Month
This first one’s easy. For the entire month of April, Mad Max is free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Even if you don’t have time for it now, it’s worth downloading anyway as you can always play it later, provided you’re still subscribed to PS Plus. Mad Max is a huge game, with over 35 hours of gameplay to experience. Picking it up for free is an absolute steal so do yourself a favor and take advantage of your PS Plus subscription this month.
From the Team that Brought You Just Cause
So much of what makes Mad Max great can be directly traced back to the Just Cause series. Avalanche Studios was great at creating impossibly action-packed moments of chaos in the series, which has translated nicely to Mad Max’s vehicular combat and larger set-pieces.
They definitely have a way with explosives and fire, both of which manage to be some of the best parts of Mad Max. The way vehicles react when hit or set on fire is a great mix of realistic physics and a penchant for the bombastic. Mad Max exists as the more grounded big brother to the Just Cause games, and definitely shares its focus on creating moments of action-movie bliss.
Dynamic Open World
An open world game is only as good as the world it presents. While others may go all in on lush environments, bustling cities, and beauty, Mad Max offers up a post-apocalyptic and downright eerie desert setting. There’s decaying animal carcasses, violent sandstorms, and scorched sandstone, every inch of which serves as a reminder of what once was. Despite being so full of death, the world is surprisingly alive, with dynamic weather systems and small pockets of civilization adding depth.
It’s a sprawling and bleak landscape perfect to drive around in. Don’t let the wide open spaces fool you though, as there are plenty of outposts and underground caverns to search, all with a sawed-off shotgun in hand.
It’s Secretly a Survival Game
Mad Max is first and foremost an open world RPG, but dig a little deeper and you see that a lot of the design choices are based around survival mechanics. The player must constantly look for water, which is sparsely hidden at some of the game’s outposts. The car, too, must be kept running. Players must keep it stocked with fuel and allow Max’s sidekick Chumbucket to repair it when it takes damage. All of this, especially on higher difficulties, culminates in the feeling that you are always the underdog in every situation you find yourself in.
This is how a Mad Max game should feel and while it never leans completely into its survival game mentalities, it uses them to offer a different kind of open world experience.
Build Your Own Certified Killing Machine
One of the core mechanics of Mad Max is the vehicle customization system. It’s pretty extensive, allowing you to create anything from little dune buggies, to Max’s iconic Interceptor from the movies. Aesthetics aside, there’s also a ton of weaponry and armor options too. You’ll be relying on your vehicle constantly, so having control as to exactly how it handles and defends you is really important.
There’s nothing quite like building a new car from scratch and that’s exactly what you do in Mad Max. There are legendary vehicle parts to collect and a ton of preset vehicle builds to construct. The developers weren’t lying when they said that the player’s car would feel like a character in itself, a feeling which very few games have managed to create previously.
Simple, Visceral Hand to Hand Combat
Mad Max features a combat system which is very heavily based on that of the Batman Arkham games. It’s simple, dynamic and with the help of some seriously brutal finishing moves, you really do feel every single punch. Max himself is a survivor in every sense of the word and will do everything in his power to win a fight. This involves breaking bones, cracking skulls, and setting enemies on fire.
You can pick up weapons to beat enemies to death with and even take them out with the help of Max’s combat knife. It’s all about getting Max as angry as possible because after a few hits, Max can enter rage mode, during which he is a one-man battering ram. You can upgrade Max’s move-set too, taking him from scrappy bar-fighter to meticulous master of close-ranged combat.
Vehicular Combat
90 percent of any good Mad Max movie is spent on the road. In the post-apocalyptic wasteland it depicts, people worship cars as if they were gods. They also use them to fight, rigging them with all kinds of weaponry and death-dealing tools of destruction. Mad Max the game leverages the series’ trademark vehicular combat, offering up a gameplay experience unlike anything we’ve ever seen at this point. Players can use harpoons to tear parts of cars off, which they can later collect. They can also ram enemies with side-mounted spikes, sending them careening off of cliffs or into explosives.
The car combat is surprisingly robust and is always fun to engage in. When swamped by enemies, your first thought will be to run back to your car to gain the upper hand, showing just how useful a tool it can be. There’s gladiator-style arenas too, in which cars battle it out to the death to win new parts and money.
It’s Basically a Ubisoft Game
For fans of Ubisoft games like Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry, there’s plenty here to enjoy. The feeling of slowly conquering a map filled with objectives and outposts is one which many gamers play games to experience and Mad Max does it as good as any other open world game.There are hot air balloons littered around the map which act as viewpoints, where players can scope out new objectives and secrets.The world is split into a handful of different sections which can be taken over completely by eliminating warlords, destroying fuel depots, and infiltrating outposts.
Avalanche has clearly taken a lot of inspiration from Ubisoft games, and to great results. The world is packed full of side quests and distractions to tick off, most of which manage to be memorable and fun to experience.
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