I really wanted to love Mad Max. Fury Road is one of my favourite films of all time and the Mad Max universe seems like the perfect setting for a videogame. While Avalanche games does prove this, their execution leaves me wanting more. The gameplay itself is fantastic. Cars drive like a dream and the over the top car combat is fun and utter carnage. The drip feed of car upgrades you get throughout the game keeps things fresh, though I wish some of the better ones were dished out sooner. Hand to hand combat is decent, with an adaptation of the Arkham style combat system that doesn’t feel nearly as fluid but compensates for this with satisfyingly brutal animations and finishers. The wasteland is the perfect location to try out these systems, and it is stunning even by todays standards. The desolate nature of the world is captured perfectly. The cherry on top would’ve been a bit more visual variety with more diverse landmarks.

Unfortunately, Mad Max’s story is unengaging and forgettable. Max himself is very lifeless and the vibrant cast of misfits that surround him do little to make things more interesting thanks to poor voice acting and storytelling. On top of this, quest design is pretty average with everything you’d expect from this sort of game and nothing more. Side quests are a particular let down, leaning into the trap of open world syndrome where they value quantity over quality. And that sums up a lot of the game for me. As much fun as I found the individual gameplay elements, eventually the repetition became too much and I decided to stop playing before completing the campaign. Ultimately, Mad Max is fun for a bit, but once the initial novelty of the gameplay and setting wear off, the bland story and repetitive gameplay loop drag the whole experience down. When there’s so many better open world games available, as fun as some elements are, this one isn’t worth your time.