His name is Max and he is a very angry man.
He’s also off his chops.
Max is a product of his environment and in a world gone mad, madness is inevitable. Mad Max is the type of open world sandbox game that could only be on current-gen consoles and PC. It’s genuinely pleasing to see Warner Bros. and Avalanche cancel the old-gen version so as not to compromise the quality of the title. Mad Max won’t be available for a few months, but even now the title is incredibly polished, much moreso Max’s work-in-progress Magnun Opus.
Thrust somewhere into the middle of the campaign, the focus for my hands-on was squarely on building and rebuilding the Magnum Opus and on driving and vehicular combat. In Mad Max, Max’s iconic Interceptor is stolen by the Warlord Scrotus and scrapped. After escaping Scrotus and meeting a mechanical savant — or Blackfinger — named Chumbucket, Max decides to build his Magnum Opus from the scrap of other vehicles in the waste. Whether someone is driving them or not. But we’ll get to that.
On foot, Max is an absolute beast. Mad Max employs the popular, tried and true Batman: Arkham style of melee combat. Pressing Square attacks and Triangle counters. During combat, the camera pans and zooms to maximise the cinematic qualities while simultaneously giving the player the optimum viewing angle. Like Batman, when the player is confident and skilled enough Max can tear through a group of enemies quickly and brutally. Unlike Batman, Max is not as fast or acrobatic. His hits are more like the kind reserved for bar room brawls. Powerful, devastating yet unrefined.
Once the War Boys are dealt with, Max is free to explore their former camp and scavenge anything worthwhile. Icons on the HUD show the location of useful items, although I wished I could turn it off so I’d have to look for myself, rather than just follow the breadcrumb trail of the developers’.
In any case, Max can find scrap metal, water (which acts as his health bar) and petrol and parts for the Magnum Opus. In the small encampment I had liberated, the final piece of scrap was inside a shipping container. The only way in? The most excellent grapping hook fired by Chumbucket from the back of the Magnum Opus. Pulling the doors off the container allowed Max inside to grab the sweet loot, but the grappling hook isn’t used just for exploring. It’s one of the most important weapons in Max’s arsenal.
By selecting and aiming the grappling hook while driving, Chumbucket is able to tear off armour, wheels and weapons from enemy vehicles. Even more rewarding is grappling an enemy themselves and watching as they’re sent flying into the distance. Once a tyre has been removed it’s generally gameover for the War Boys, but the more highly armoured vehicles definitely take a bit more work before they can be defeated. One such vehicle was the main target of my demo. The engine it was carrying was exactly what Max needed to upgrade his Magnum Opus and so it had to be destroyed. Tracking the convoy through the waste, I eventually caught up with them and then, the battle began.
Driving in Mad Max feels fast and fluid. There’s a boost to help catch up — or escape from — enemies and sliding around in the sands of the waste while boosting off dunes and generally being a bit of a rev head is loads of fun. Combat on the other hand, is at first, at least a little difficult to grasp. Simply ramming enemy vehicle will deal damage, but will also damage the Magnum Opus. Upgrades to Max’s car will make it less susceptible to damage and offensive upgrades, like new ramming grills and tyre spikes — will make a mess of enemies far more quickly.
Using ranged weapons (Max’s shotgun, grappling hook, molotovs etc) is a little more confusing. Players will need to aim with the L1 button and then fire by pressing the Circle button. While it’s logical that a player can’t press R2 to fire when they’re already using that to accelerate, it still feels odd and took a little while for me to adjust. Even outside of vehicular combat, aiming and firing was always handled by the same button combination.
Regardless of the control issues, vehicular combat is clearly the main event and boy, does it show it. Vehicles explode in a violent mess of parts that are strewn across the white sand, leaving a trail of black death behind. Explosions and fires continue to burn and once again the camera zooms, slows down and focuses on the most important and grizzly moments; while still giving the player the best possible view. Simply put, Mad Max is a joy to play. It’s a game that I’m excited to play and one that puts a smile on my face. That, to me, is the sign of a good time.
Mad Max will be available from 1 September on Windows PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
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