Mad Max is a 2015 action-adventure video game based on the Mad Max franchise developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game follows Max Rockatansky as he progresses through the wasteland building a vehicle, the Magnum Opus, to battle against a gang of hostile raiders led by Scabrous Scrotus and reach the storied "Plains of Silence", where he hopes to find peace. Mad Max emphasizes vehicular combat, in which players can use weapon and armor upgrades on their car to fight enemies. It is set in an open world, a post-apocalyptic wasteland consisting of deserts, canyons, and caves. The game adopted a free-flowing combat system, similar to Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham series.
Two other Mad Max games, developed by Cory Barlog and Interplay Entertainment respectively, were in production before the announcement of this game, but neither of them were successfully released. Although Mad Max is not based on a specific film in the series, it was inspired by its universe, features locations that appear in the films, and franchise co-creator George Miller was consulted during the game's pre-production. Avalanche Studios found developing a vehicular-combat video game a challenge because of their inexperience with creating that type of game. Unlike Avalanche's previous games like the Just Cause series, Mad Max had a more mature tone. The game was re-tooled a year into development, as the studio pivoted from making Mad Max a linear experience to an open world game.
Announced at E3 2013 and originally planned for release in 2014, Mad Max was released in September the following year, several months after the theatrical release of Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth film in the series, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Feral Interactive published the game's Linux and macOS versions, while the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were canceled. Mad Max received mixed reviews from critics. Although the game's environment, direction, vehicular combat, and graphics were praised, its quest design and story were criticized. The game underperformed commercially, with former CEO of Avalanche Studios Christofer Sundberg attributing its underwhelming performance to going on sale on the same day as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Plans to release downloadable content packs for the game were scrapped.
Gameplay
Mad Max is an action-adventure game set in an open world post-apocalyptic environment caused by resource shortages and ecocide. It emphasizes vehicular combat, in which the player is the eponymous Mad Max. According to its publisher, up to 60 percent of the game focuses on driving. Some weapons and tools, including flamethrowers and turbo boosts, are mounted directly onto the Magnum Opus, while others, such as a harpoon and sniper rifle, are used in conjunction with the vehicle by Chumbucket, Max's assistant, or Max himself. Max's Magnum Opus, with its V8 engine and powerful ramming ability, can destroy enemies' vehicles and weaponry. When simultaneously driving and aiming, the game changes to slow motion to allow the player to toggle between targets. Although Mad Max primarily uses a third-person perspective, the player can switch to first-person view when fighting enemies while driving the Magnum Opus. Chumbucket repairs the car when instructed to do so or when the player exits.
To encourage exploration, the Magnum Opus can be upgraded with materials scavenged from the desert, by hijacking enemies' cars or collecting their car parts. An enemy can jump on top of the Magnum Opus to make it explode, but the player can avoid that by surrounding the car with hazards such as spikes. The player can access the garage screen throughout the game, allowing them to customize the Magnum Opus. Max's garage can change and modify the car's engine, chassis, wheels, body work, paint job, and its "shell". Upgrading one aspect of the car will negatively affect other aspects; upgrading the engine will allow Max to drive faster, but handling will be more difficult. The sound produced by the engine changes when the player changes, adds, or remove parts of the Magnum Opus. Max, his armor, and weapons are customisable; the player can unlock new skills and upgrades for him as he progresses through the game and earns experience points. Max is also customisable, with his clothing, appearance, fighting skills, and weapons being modifiable. Griffa, a wasteland wanderer, also offers Max tokens which can be used to upgrade his abilities.
Mad Max features a variety of weapons, including Max's iconic shotgun, but ammunition is scarce and the game emphasizes melee combat over firearms. One weapon is the explosive Thunderstick, which can be lanced into an enemy's chest. The game has a free-flow combat system combining professional wrestling attacks and boxing techniques, similar to Warner Bros.' previous Batman: Arkham video-game series (in which indicators on enemies' heads remind the player when to strike, counter or make finishing moves). Attacks by Max during his "frenzied" state are more powerful than usual.
Mad Maxs landscape consists of canyons, caves, deserts, and abandoned wastelands. The game's world is divided into several regions, with each having its own backstory and landscape. Unique landmarks and ruins can be discovered in each region. Side activities such as races, time trials, invading enemy fortresses, and eliminating enemy convoys can be found in each region. A region's threat level is lowered by completing these activities, facilitating its navigation. Each region has a boss, who can be found and defeated in their base. Some of the game's strongholds are friendly, and eliminating hostile strongholds gives Max additional quests and rewards. These strongholds can be upgraded, offering Max different benefits such as helping Max to collect scraps when the game is turned off, or restoring Max's health and shotgun ammo upon visits. Max can ascend in a hot-air balloon (permanently attached to the ground) to look for new objectives and locations. After seeing the objectives through binoculars, they are highlighted on the map. Max can be guided by Chumbucket in strategically completing his objectives. Max is accompanied by a dog companion who can detect land mines. Max has limited climbing abilities, and objects that he can climb are highlighted in yellow.
Most resources in the game are scarce except for gasoline, which is needed for driving. The player can collect one jerrycan at a time, storing it in the back of the Magnum Opus, and can find collectibles (history relics) throughout the game. The relics are primarily photos and notes of the wasteland before the apocalypse. Food and water are vital to Max's survival; the player can collect them in the wasteland and use them to replenish their health. Max can also eat small animals, such as rodents, and maggots from decomposing corpses, to replenish his health, and areas where he can find food and supplies have crows flying around them. As initially described, the player would be able to venture into the Big Nothing, an uncharted, volatile area of the wasteland with dangerous sandstorms and no food or water in which rare parts for the Magnum Opus could be found (according to Avalanche, the "Big Nothing" made the game map infinite) but ultimately this was not a feature of the final gameplay. A dynamic day-night cycle, a weather system and a variety of environmental hazards are included in the game, whose terrain is affected by weather and natural disasters.
Plot Highway patrol officer-turned-survivalist Max Rockatansky (Bren Foster) journeys in search of what he calls the Plains of Silence. He runs into War Boys led by Scabrous Scrotus (Travis Willingham), son of Immortan Joe and ruler of Gastown. The War Boys run Max off the road and steal his car and supplies, leaving him to die in the desert. Max chases them and duels Scrotus on top of his vehicle, the Land Mover. Scrotus sics his war hound on Max, but after Max fends off the dog, Scrotus throws it aside in disgust. Max then stabs Scrotus in the head with his own chainsaw, but Scrotus, with the broken chainsaw blade still stuck in his head, kicks Max off the Land Mover.
Max obtains a weapon and clothes from a dead Wastelander, cares for the wounded dog, and resolves to find Scrotus's base of operations and recover his car. In the desert, Max meets a hunchbacked mechanic named Chumbucket (Jason Spisak). Max agrees to find parts for Chumbucket's project, a car he calls the Magnum Opus; Chumbucket believes that Max has been sent by God to aid him and addresses him as "Warrior Saint". Max must first liberate Wasteland leaders' territories from the War Boys: Jeet (Josh Keaton), whose stronghold is in an old lighthouse, and Gut Gash (Liam O'Brien), whose followers believe that they will be protected from a flood in their ship stronghold built on the remains of an oil tanker. Chumbucket builds an exploding harpoon launcher for the Magnum Opus, allowing Max to destroy a massive gate protected by War Boys and explore new territory. Max and Chumbucket must then save Pink Eye (Adrienne Barbeau), a woman whose mechanical skill rivals Chumbucket's, from an invasion of her silo base led by Stank Gum—one of Scrotus' Top Dogs.
Searching for a V8 engine for the Magnum Opus, Max learns about a race in Gastown with a Big Chief V8 as a prize. After winning the race against Stank Gum (Yuri Lowenthal) and defeating the fighter Tenderloin in a Thunderdome duel, Max receives the engine and the concubine Hope (Courtenay Taylor). His victory is short-lived; Scrotus recognizes Max and attacks him. After he is shot with a crossbow and thrown down a mine shaft, Max is saved by Hope, who takes him to the medic Organic Mechanic (Fred Tatasciore) and his blood donor Scab (Orion Acaba) before Max loses consciousness. While he is undergoing surgery, he has a hallucination of marrying Hope, officiated by Chumbucket and a man with a dog's head. When he wakes up, he and Hope steal the Big Chief; they drive to the temple of Deep Friah (Robin Atkin Downes), a friendly fire cultist.
At the temple, Hope asks Max to find her daughter Glory (Madison Carlon), who had fled to Buzzard territory. He travels to the Underdune and rescues Glory from the Buzzards. Returning, he discovers that Chumbucket has taken the Magnum Opus to his old home. Max follows him in one of Deep Friah's cars, but learns that Scrotus and Stank Gum tortured Chumbucket, who revealed Hope and Glory's location and their ties to Max. Max kills Stank Gum, rushes back to the temple and finds Hope hanged and Glory tortured on the floor. Glory dies in his arms, and Max swears vengeance against Scrotus.
He returns to Gastown and learns Scrotus' location from Scab. Max and Chumbucket find Scrotus driving around the Purgatory Flatlands, and after a prolonged chase the Land Mover is left teetering on the edge of a cliff. Over Chumbucket's protests, Max rams the wreck with the Magnum Opus, leaping clear while Chumbucket is killed and both vehicles are sent over the cliff. Scrotus reappears driving Max's Interceptor, and the two fight on until Max pulls the chainsaw blade back out of Scrotus' head, killing him. Max enters the Interceptor, restores a picture of his family to the dashboard, and drives away.
Development