Video Game: Mad Max
It took me almost 70 hours to do it but I finally beat “Mad Max” on the PC. It is the first game to be completed by me on my new rig, and it was both fun and exhausting when I look back at the endeavor. It’s an open world game, and the first like this I’ve actually beat. There’s a lot of ground to cover and some of the tasks seem repetitive. The majority of the story takes place in the last 1/8 of the game, which is exciting and in a way makes up for all of the grinding you do, somewhat.
“Mad Max” is based on the world from the most recent movie featuring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy. It features Scrotus and all of his War Boys who use Gas Town as a base to wreak havoc upon the wasteland. Max quickly loses the Interceptor and needs to find a car if he wants to survive. He meats Chumbucket, who becomes his companion and mechanic throughout most of the game. There are other interesting characters who run fortress type installations that Max assists in exchange for fuel, food, and ammo. Game play is mostly surrounding his automobile and the quests he undertakes to get parts for it, with raids into enemy camps and hand to hand combat. There is scrap to collect, Griffin tokens to earn, races to race, convoy routes to disrupt, bosses to defeat, and plenty of side missions.
The overall feeling of the game is hard to describe. Each of the different areas of the game are unique and an accompanying soundtrack (that is great) gives you a feeling of loss and wandering while Max makes his way through a hell like wasteland. There’s an ocean bed, expressway system, a refinery, plenty of caves and abandoned stores and camps inhabited by violent antagonists. There’s a half buried airport full of Buzzards (the guys who drove the spiky cars in the first couple of minutes of “Mad Max: Fury Road” and huge dust storms that force you take cover for five minutes or so. Occasionally you meet a good person, wanderers in the desert just scraping by, or other characters that help you on your way. But for the most part, it is a sad, violent place.
If there’s any criticism of this game it is the story. There’s a part that is a glitch that hangs up when you do not combine a certain order of parts to form an “Archangel”. I actually gave up because the game wasn’t progressing far enough and didn’t touch this game for seven months. Then I felt like having an unfinished game didn’t make sense if I was going to pick something else up so I decided to just hammer through it. After discovering the glitch by researching the game more I progressed pretty quickly. Unfortunately it skips over an important part with Hope, a character in the game that is pretty important but you don’t find again until the end game. Whatever, it is done.
In the end, Max does what he always does. Upsets the evil world, destroys the leader organizing the havoc, sets himself up to become a king in his own right, then disappears into the wasteland again. Would I recommend others play it now that I’ve finished it? I don’t know. Maybe. There are better games out there. If you are a fan of Mad Max, then absolutely yes. If you like open world then go to Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto V first. If you have a ton of time on your hand and you’re a weird completionist like I am, then go for it.
