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The partnership of Warner Brothers and Feral Interactive has brought us another great video game title, Mad Max. Mad Max is a one-player, open-world, action-adventure game, loosely based on 2014’s Mad Max: Fury Road movie. For anyone who has seen the movie and is familiar with the atrocious characters, the arid wasteland setting, and its post-doomsday storyline, the video game will feel like an extension of the movie.
Mad Max was developed by Avalanche Studios and released by Warner Bros. on September 2015, on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows platforms. Then, late in 2016, Feral Interactive gave us a Linux port, and as usual, they’ve done an excellent job. So far, I’ve played about 30+ solid hours over the course of about 4 weeks, and that’s without giving it the full exploration that it so rightfully deserves. Not only is this game a delight to play, but it also keeps introducing new elements the longer you play and the more you level up. Just when you think you’ve gotten to know the game, something new is thrown into the equation and you feel like you’re back at square one, trying to figure out how to improve upon and conquer your newest quest.
Currently, Mad Max is selling for around $19.99 at the Humble Bundle Store as well as through Steam. It can be played with mouse/keyboard or with a gamepad controller.
As I began playing the game, the first lasting impression it left on me was the stunning & breathtaking visuals. The graphics are impressive, from the post-apocalyptic wastelands, to the high-speed car chases, to the detail in the characters – whether it’s during cinematic cut-scenes or during actual in-game playing, the graphics are among the best available in today’s games on Linux (or any other platform for that matter). The sound is equally impressive, from the sound effects during fistfight brawls, shotgun shots, explosive blasts, or the revving of Max’s car, to the Hollywood-quality voice acting. As for the game-play, it does not at all take any time getting used to, and yet it manages to remain fresh as you explore the vast wide-open world. The tutorial is easily accessible through the menu, but, as of today, I believe I’ve accessed it only once. Instead, what I’ve had the need to access multiple times, especially at the beginning of the game, was the key bindings/controller mapping. The one and only thing that took me a while getting used to at first was the lack of a jump button. Max will jump up only when needed, and not at will, though there is a way to jump out of the way if a car is trying to run you over, for example. After I got used to this seemingly simple detail, I was able to more fully enjoy the game and now I understand why they made it this way.
The beauty of Mad Max is that, in a way, it’s sort of like two games in one. First you’ve got a car game very much like Grand Theft Auto or Saint’s Row, but with a definite twist. The twist is that, while driving, you’re expected to demolish other drivers as well as menacing structures such as Molotov-tossing-towers that will straight-up burn you unless you take them down with your car’s harpoon. As such, beefing up your car is one of your main priorities. Right from the start, after you’re beat up and your car gets taken away (just like in the movie), you befriend Chumbucket, a very loyal and talented humpback mechanic. Chumbucket sees Max as the “Angel” for whom the Magnus Opus (Chumbucket’s dream car) will be built. From early on, Chumbucket will ride along with you on every quest, as long as you’re driving the car he’s refining. If you’re on foot, or driving another vehicle that you might have taken from one of your enemies, then you’re on your own. The advantage of having Chumbucket is that he will repair your car whenever it gets damaged, but he’ll also make improvements as you gather scrap (like cash) or as you level up. Some of the harder driving I’ve had to endure was taking down enemy convoys which took me a while to master, but, once the Magnus Opus had been beefed up a bit, it was a breeze.
The other side of the game is what happens while you’re on foot. This aspect of the game is very much like the Batman Arkham games or like Shadow of Mordor, both games also released by Warner Bros. The fighting sequences are easy enough to grasp but sometimes not so easy to win. The key here is to know how and when to parry since you’re constantly being attacked by more than a few war-boys, buzzards, or any other frightening enemy. You get to use melee weapons as well, but these always break and you cannot carry these with you while driving – which makes it that much harder to use one if you just got out of your car or if there isn’t one around. The limited weapons you get to carry with you are a shotgun with a very low amount of ammo, and a couple of homemade shivs that will also break with very limited use. When compared to driving, the ground-combat isn’t that complicated, especially given that you only need to hit the same key/button for almost everything, except for parrying and an occasional finishing move. Although you do get to use a shotgun, it’s rarely the option you want to take since you basically have only a couple of shells in reserve – maybe 5-6 once you’ve leveled up – and, even then, you want to be conservative when you use them. If you happen to die while in battle, you get to continue from the previous checkpoint and, given the fact that you can have multiple automatic saves stored, you can even start from an earlier save if you were cautious enough to keep more than just one stored save. A great time saver is the fast travel feature which lets you travel to any one of the various fast-travel destinations which need to be unlocked in order to be used; and some of these are challenging in that they borrow from puzzle-solving genres and can be quite difficult to figure out.
Max’s ultimate goal is to find and kill Scrotus, but, in order to do so, he must first defeat other territorial enemies while at the same time building and forging relationships with independent leaders who’ve managed to fight off Scrotus and his war-boys – but, with Max’s help, can regain much of what’s been taken from them. Chumbucket also convinces Max to look for his dog, which is a blessing – especially in mine-infested fields. Along the way, Max encounters other characters who become crucial to the ultimate goal that leads to Scrotus. One of these characters is Hope, whom Max first meets as she’s held captive by Gut Gash, one of Max’s early allies. The storyline is different from the movie’s, but there is a lot of crossover, especially when it comes to locations such as Gas Town, the Bullet Farm, but also with some of the characters, such as Scrotus, Immortan Joe, the War-Boys and others.
I strongly recommend Mad Max, especially if you like the movies upon which it’s based, and also if you enjoy great action-adventure, open-world, vehicular combat games. If I could write another review for Mad Max, I would, since that would mean I’d get to play it some more. It plays very smoothly on Linux, and looks amazing at the same time. At first I was a little concerned that I’d have problems with it since my gaming rig’s CPU is slightly below the recommended minimum requirement, but, so far, I’ve encountered zero problems by letting the game automatically detect the best settings for me. Definitely worth the $20, or less if you find it on sale.
Minimum Requirements
OS: Ubuntu 16.04, Steam OS 2.0 or equivalent (64-bit required) CPU: Intel i5 3.4 GHz, AMD FX-8350 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: 2 GB Nvidia 660ti or better (driver version 367.35) Storage: 35 GB available space Additional Notes: AMD & Intel Graphics Cards not supported yet