There Will Be Spoilers - Mad Max the Game

​"Let my review of the game serve as a lesson to all that nothing is ever a 'sure thing,' and you should never get too excited about something because someone will always find a way to corrupt the things you love."

Developer:

• Avalanche Studios

Publisher:

• Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment

Platforms: 

• Microsoft Windows
• Linux
• OS X
• Playstation 4
• Xbox One 

Release Date:

• September 2015

Genre:

• Action-Adventure
• Vehicular Combat

Mode:

• Single Player

I’ve spoken about terrible movie adaptations of games on here so far, but few things in this world can be quite as terrible as a video game tie-in for a movie. Make no mistake, that’s exactly what Mad Max (the game) is, no matter what some people may say to try and convince you otherwise. It doesn’t just borrow from the established canon of Fury Road, but can be considered a direct prequel to the events of that movie. Aside from the inclusion of the War Boyz, it also has Scabrous Scrotus as the main protagonist, Scabrous being one of the three sons of Immortan Joe. It pulled from some of the greatest source material any game could ask for, and still managed to screw it up spectacularly.

I’m a big fan of Mad Max, I even quite enjoyed Thunderdome despite the weird departure it takes from the seriousness of the first two movies (and, to a greater extent, despite Tina Turner.) In fact, one might even say that the silly zaniness of Thunderdome allowed for the bizarre, cult-like society of Fury Road to make canonical sense.

So, when a Mad Max game was announced, developed in the spirit of Fury Road (which I love with every part of my wretched, blackened heart), I was incredibly excited to experience an extended look into the background of that film's world and lore. Let my review of the game serve as a lesson to all that nothing is ever a 'sure thing,' and you should never get too excited about something because someone will always find a way to corrupt the things you love.
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Mad Max as he should be – crazy, badass, and Tom Hardy.

The Mad Max movies are essentially a series of stories about a former police officer, Max “Mad Max” Rockatansky, caught in a world that is spiralling into lawless, violent chaos. His family murdered, his values and beliefs utterly shattered, the things he’s had to do to survive, and the weight of what the world has become have completely crushed his humanity. By the time we get to Fury Road, he’s essentially a rabid, wild animal, operating on pure survival instinct, always fleeing from both real-world horrors, and vivid hallucinations of his own haunting past. 

"Videogame Max, however, is far from being a quiet anti-hero; he’s a surly, self-possessed asshole who never shuts up, and would make a sailor blush with the litany of obscenities that leave his filthy mouth."
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So divorced from what it means to be human, he barely even speaks – in a movie bearing his own name, he has but 52 lines of dialogue and otherwise communicates in grunts. By sheer virtue of the fact that he’s still alive, or at the very least his interactions with other characters throughout the movies, Max does not easily trust or care for others. There are times, however, when he'll feel compelled to fight for those who need fighting for, his humanity occasionally returning to remind him of the upholder of the law that he once was.

All in all, he is the epitome of a post-apocalyptic veteran anti-hero, having seen and done more than any human ever should. That’s what Max is – a near-silent, violent badass with a moral compass pointing just vaguely in the direction of justice.

​The day is about to get a whole lot less lovely for that War Boy.

Videogame Max, however, is far from being a quiet anti-hero; he’s a surly, self-possessed asshole who never shuts up, and would make a sailor blush with the litany of obscenities that leave his filthy mouth.

Not concerned with justice of any kind, he’s content with carrying out odd jobs for gang leaders and cult personalities that are, in all likelihood, only a few steps behind Immortan Joe himself.

He is revered as a literal divine being made manifest by an odd, but mechanically talented hunchback that gives him a car to match, after said hunchback nurses him back to health from a state of near death. The hunchback’s reward for his unwavering devotion is a constant stream of scorn and abuse from Max “What a Dick” Rockatansky, who instead gifts his unique, oppressive brand of affection to a slave girl he barely even knows. 
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​Teehee – “Thunderpoon” is never going to be not funny.

The gameplay isn’t even really that representative of Fury Road or any of the Mad Max movies for that matter.

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched the films before Fury Road, but I don’t remember the ‘thrilling’ moments of Max performing the same fetch quests over and over for hours on end.

And the ending is easily the biggest insult to the player throughout the entire experience. You’re treated to every character of significance dying in some horrendous way, most of them at Max’s own hands, before the status quo from the opening cinematic is restored, ultimately achieving nothing of value. It’s one thing to change the character of Max to being one of the most unlikeable c****s in gaming history, but this game outright eschews the subtle narrative of Mad Max in general, while wasting the time of anyone unfortunate enough to play it. 

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​The car-based combat was kind of neat for the most part, though. 
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A bombed out Ford Falcon/10

Written by Frank Watts​.
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