Mad Max was released a few months ago to an interestingly mixed reception. While it was simultaneously being put on blast for it's repetitive nature, weak story, and and restrictive gameplay, the game was at the same time scoring well with players. As has been pointed out several times at this point, no one is really wrong here. Mad Max certainly isn't for everyone, and it definitely makes some design choices that I and many others think are questionable. Despite all that stuff, though, I haven't been able to put this thing down even after 3 playthroughs and 100+ hours, and it's in part because of the aspects of the game that I didn't see mentioned nearly enough: the actual building blocks themselves.
The first thing that everyone is willing to admit is that it looks damn good. Really good. Like, way, way better than anything post-apocalyptic has any right to, and it isn't just the skybox. Although the camps do consist of mostly rusty metal there is a huge amount of variety and creativity in their designs, built into the remains of beached boats and submarines, plane wreckage, silos and towers -- quite a step up from the art asset musical chairs game that the Far Cry games play. Small touches like cooking fires and beds are littered throughout, lending a real sense of physical presence that other games of this type so often lack. In the regions that once made up the seafloor, for example, you'll find stands of petrified coral and seaweed strewn about in addition to the nautical nature of the settlements and camps of that area -- whereas once you ascend to higher ground you'll find actual blacktop and ruined buildings.The models and animations are another high point, especially for Max -- all of his actions, from refueling your car to curb-stomping a lizard have a heft and weight to them. The combat animations are brutally satisfying and excellently mocap'd.
On the whole the voice acting is fine, with a few bright spots here and there (Chum in particular - Jason Spisak killin' it. The Outcrier is also great). The soundtrack is subdued and unfortunately mostly forgettable, but the amount of work that went into the engine sounds for the cars is thorough, to say the least. Different types of cars actually sound distinct and small details like the various metal grinders attached to rims produce an identifiable "whooshing" effect that scales depending on the size of the actual metal plates.
The game also features, at it's core, a cast of characters that are related only in the fact that they are all somehow disabled. Jeet suffers from bipolar mood swings, Gutgash relies on a crutch and Pink Eye is completely wheelchair-bound. Despite their impairments these characters are all leaders of people that persevere in the wasteland in spite of everything, and Pink Eye, the most encumbered of them all, rules the most territory! Gradually making their "states" safer and watching their strongholds grow and become more populated is actually pretty satisfying and provides a nice "help the settlers drive off the bandits" motif that lines up nicely with the "modern day Western" shtick the films went for. It's unfortunate that no one really grows or changes besides Max but the biggest misstep the narrative takes is the death of Hope and Glory, which seemed unnecessary plot-wise and a bit gratuitous for such an otherwise comic book-esque experience.
I could go on about this stuff for a while -- about how cars with shredder rims on their tires make increasing amounts of road noise as they speed up, or how Gastown is a persistent feature in skybox always giving you a reference to North, or heavy armor and ramming grills add progressive amounts of weight, eventually turning your car into a tricked-out death hooptie. On the other hand, I could mention how the enemies are so dumb that they'll pull up to you and get out of their cars so you can kindly beat them to death, or how there is something like triple or more the amount of melee slogfests and bullshit optional collectibles than car combat in a Mad Max game, or that the way you get currency is kind of nonsensical, etc. I'm not dumb enough to want to try and make you like this game -- I just wanted to say something in appreciation for the copious amounts of great work that went into building this beast.
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