Have you noticed that games based on films have died as a genre?? Previously, any more or less major blockbuster was paired with a light “motivator” – as a rule, an ugly arcade game or an action game put together on the knee. Now related products have moved closer to the “casual” audience, to mobile platforms.
The gaming industry, of course, hasn’t lost much from this transformation, but it saddens me personally. After all, there have always been good examples like Peter Jackson’s King Kong or The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. Besides, the games are gone, but the childhood desire to be the main character of a good movie remains. This is what is successfully exploited Mad Max from Avalanche Studios. Of course, the developers insist that the game has a very indirect relation to the brilliant Fury Road, but you and I understand everything.
Neither George Miller nor his followers cared how they managed to build such monumental structures in the new Stone Age.
There is no madness on the road
Initially, the game was supposed to be released simultaneously with the film, but the start was delayed: the release was delayed on outdated platforms, the visual effects were tightened up (although paste roots still creep out sometimes) and the moments that the press at exhibitions responded negatively to were polished.
Nevertheless, the “ears” of the fourth film are here at every turn: the style of the cars, the appearance of the opponents, the approach to the scenery and, in general, to the level of violence and madness. The interaction with the film team is really noticeable, about which Avalanche mentioned in numerous interviews. Therefore, getting behind the wheel of a virtual Interceptor after watching Blu-ray turns out to be completely seamless.
Gamers got a typical open world according to the laws Ubisoft, although in reality Warner Bros. A huge territory divided into zones, staged story missions, a crazy number of additional tasks and markers in the area. Most of the time you will have to drive around in a car, periodically going out to smash someone’s face or pick up a canister of gasoline.
Plot-wise, the game is nothing special: we have a typical episode of a road movie that starts nowhere and ends with nothing. Max is beaten and his car is taken away, so he has to join forces with a crazy hunchback named Tin Man. Together the heroes want to assemble the “Masterpiece” – the best car ever created. After Interceptor, of course.
“Masterpiece” is not a specific https://casinoluna.uk/ car, but a conditional name for your vehicle, which will have to be meticulously designed during the game. “Customization”, of course, is more modest than in Need for Speed, but it is strictly functional: having hardly received your first body at the very beginning of the game, you gradually open up more and more modifiers and capabilities. Improve the armor, install studded wheels, “bleed” the exhaust pipe… It sounds magical, but in reality there is no creative scope.
Conventional “upgrades” do not offer variability in technical characteristics, and the next pipe is always better than the previous one. The only question is what exactly to improve first. “Pumping up” occurs at the expense of scrap metal, sometimes you will need to complete a task or kill more enemies.
The fun starts with gaining access to the Archangels. Once all the relevant parts are collected, based on them you can assemble a unique “build” of the car, concentrated on one thing. "Speed Demon" speaks for itself; he has no protection at all. But “Aurelian the Striking”, on the contrary, is hung with spikes and ramming systems so that in the event of a collision it can tear neighboring “cars” to shreds.
In addition, you can steal any wrecked vehicle right on the battlefield and bring it to the garage for personal use. Such machines also have some characteristics, but are weaker than the “Archangels”; the main bonus is that enemies begin to mistake you for one of their own.
Over time, the main character himself develops – the jacket, super punches, shotgun and beard become better by ten, fifteen, twenty percent. In addition, the game has a built-in system of internal achievements: “eat worms ten times”, “kill thirty vultures” – all this increases your personal rating from “Lizard” to “Road Warrior”, opens up new “upgrades” and allows you to access story missions.
I’ve already said a hundred times what madness is
Move through the plot, remember relationships with characters, watch videos, listen to dialogues – you don’t even have to think about it. The scenario is completed in a few hours. In addition, the story is simply disgusting: pathetic attempts at drama are unable to evoke any emotions, and most of the game is simply the hero’s journey to Gastown, the local gasoline capital.
Starting in a small hangar on the edge of the global map, we gradually move upward. The accessible territory is supposedly divided into regions, each of which has its own “danger level”, its own visual style and its own type of landscape.
Possible allies sit in several fortresses with charismatic leaders. Max arrives at the fortress, comes in, says hello, and receives another batch of tasks: find gunpowder, saltpeter, a large pile of metal, or a beautiful toilet. In general, forts also need to be “pumped up” for the sake of some ghostly bonuses.
If you thought that the game had too many characteristics, statistics, menu items and numbers, you didn’t think so. You can understand all the directions and nuances of “pumping” in only three to four hours. But I’ll save you time: there is no meaning, strategy or sense in local development at all. In the end, you just have to randomly clear the map. 80% of the game consists of almost aimless driving through the wasteland from one marker to another.
But the most interesting thing is that in some incomprehensible way this is what Mad Max needs. The map is not just strewn, but filled to the brim with events: at every step there are small locations where psychopaths store goods (there are also several types of it), snipers sit on towers, signs are placed, convoys drive along the roads, and if you take on additional quests, you will also have to jump on trampolines, for example. The inner perfectionist never lets you pass by.
Separate entertainment is forts, gasoline stations, fortifications, etc. There Max organizes a whole assault. First, hiding behind the rocks, you need to take out the snipers. Then – collect cartridges and deal with defensive flamethrowers, towers and other things. Inside – fight in Batman style with dozens of enemies, run around the territory, collect/explode/kill “bosses”. It would also be a good idea to prepare for a campaign against the latter, look for scouts who will reveal the enemy’s weaknesses.
The main thing is that technically everything is implemented quite decently. Fights go smoothly, the hero controls well. The car is generally a delight: there is always a hunchback in the trunk, which allows you to perform several actions at the same time, so storming some convoy is entertainment at the same level FlatOut. You’re rushing along the highway, in slow motion you tear off someone’s tire, you shoot your neighbor in the gas tank, and you press your side against the truck to push it off the road into the abyss, and then land on top..
Sometimes you find a plank in the sand and discover a whole underground complex under it, and inside are drawings of the tank that you have been looking for for a long time. And this place is unlikely to be marked on the map. The search for objects occurs with the help of balloons: you need to rise on one of them and independently, with binoculars, survey the area in search of interesting points, so not everything can be noticed.
It turns out that the game really works like a road movie. While completing some completely symbolic background quest, you drive through an endless wasteland, admire the beautiful landscapes and get involved in endless alterations. You are looking for water, which is here instead of first aid kits, saving ammo, smashing other people’s cars for new parts, collecting scrap metal – in general, you are constantly doing those things that Rockatansky would actually do in everyday life. And there is a unique charm in this.
It turns out to be a very strange situation. Mad Max – weak game. All you need to do in it is just ride around the map and collect trash. There is no story, no amazing attention to detail, no interesting situations. But the core mechanics work well and hitting cars on the road is fun. The fortresses are just begging to be captured, but that tower on the hill is not marked on the map, so you need to immediately turn around and check. So an hour passes, two, five… An empty game! Vapid! But it still takes half an hour to launch again – collect ammo and attack the nearest convoy.
Pros: atmospheric world; excellent car fights; outside entertainment awaiting the traveler.
Cons: lack of plot; secondary combat system; confusing locations; the design quickly becomes boring; There is nothing to do in the game other than side quests.
