Mad Max - the game, not the film

I've been playing Mad Max since release, which is very strange for me! A friend of mine told me, on the day of release, of a website where I bought a steam code for about £17. Otherwise, I was going to wait as I had been a little sceptical about the game.

One of the first things I should point out is that I haven't watched the film yet. I did really want to watch it when it went into the cinema, but I was busy with work, my girlfriend wasn't keen on watching it and I was being stingy. I will definitely be watching it as soon as I can though, pending dvd/bluray release or lovefilm rental release or something.

Anyway, back to the game! In short, I was impressed instantly and it just got better. It reminded me a lot of Red Dead Redemption; you're basically a loner, on your ride, going round a massive open world doing stuff, with everything being loosely tied together with a functional story. You're not totally a loner in Mad Max though, you very quickly gain a companion, Chum Bucket, who is a skilled mechanic and offers to build you a new car. MINOR SPOILER ALERT! I should explain, the game involves you making a good enough car to venture out into the desolate wilderness, as you lose your car in the opening sequence of the game.

The story is almost non-existence, there's a sort of token love interest, and the various favours you need from people mean that you end up having to do various things for them, but the basic need for a good enough car drags you around quite nicely. To be honest, I am so glad there is not more story! The reason I was originally sceptical about the game was because I thought it would be a horrible film license game with rubbish gameplay and too many cinematics. So, having it the other way round was fantastic and might even allow for re-playability for big fans of the settings and gameplay; unlike Red Dead Redemption, which was a legendarily brilliant story, but due to the story being quite heavy, didn't give itself over to being replayed.

Travelling and fighting in your car is the bread and butter of the game and it's wonderfully satisfying. The engine noises and the handling are very well designed and I have never tired of it, ramming enemy cars and tweaking my car loadout. The melee combat is functional and works very well, it's the classic batman-esque brawling combat system. Not something that really interested me, but was satisfying enough to keep me going into those situations, when needed.

So, to sum up, you'll spend most of the game driving around an intensely atmospheric wasteland, filled with interesting places to loot, blow-up, discover and people to do favours for, who then help you out, while your car gets better and better. If you like post-apocalyptic themed games and you like driving a hand built car where the size of the V8 engine is the most important factor, you'll love this game.