Only those mobile enough to scavenge and brutal enough to pillage will survive the gritty, post-apocalyptic open world of Mad Max.
I’m still not entirely sold on this Mad Max business. I’m a big fan of the first two movies (and I’ve completely forgotten about the third), but something about this game project feels a little off somehow. Not that I don’t like the idea, I’m just not convinced that this is really the Mad Max game the world needs.
“Be Mad Max!” the press release says, which sounds pretty cool as these things go – notwithstanding the fact that Max’s life is actually pretty horrific – but then it goes on to talk about “crafting and upgrading Max’s equipment and weapons to survive by combining melee combat, gunplay and tactical techniques,” and I find myself wondering just what it is we’re in for here.
The game will take place in a “gritty, dynamic” open world populated by roving gangs of marauders. You’ll scavenge scrap and raid enemy encampments for the resources you need to survive and enhance your equipment, weapons and vehicles; and speaking of vehicles, it doesn’t sound like you’ll spend too much time behind the wheel of the Interceptor. Instead, you’ll “design, customize and upgrade the ultimate combat vehicle” called the Magnum Opus with the help of a “gifted but peculiar” mechanic with the unfortunate name of Chumbucket.
To be fair, that actually sounds like it might be fun, and while I don’t recall Max ever doing much to his car beyond pumping dirty gas into it, open world games need some kind of progression mechanic and upgrading stuff seems to be what the industry has settled on. It may be a little more generically post-apocalyptic than Mad Max fans might have hoped (which is kind of ironic, given how heavily Mad Max has influenced contemporary visions of post-apoc scenarios) but that doesn’t mean it can’t be decent. As the old saying goes, hope for the best, prepare for the end of the world.
Mad Max is expected to come out sometime in 2014 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.
