Taking Mad To The Max!

After reading Reds' awesome review of Mad Max, the dusty, oil spitting, flame throwing and utterly wicked game from Avalanche Studios,

I have decided to throw my 2 cents in with what i think of this Aussie ripper!

This game is nothing short of gritty, tough and ballsy. Combat for one is just loaded with Max throwing clenched fist after clenched fist into the face of his enemies, of course accompanied by a shotgun for blasting through some wastelander guts and gauntlets made from some spanners and wrapped wire for that extra jawbone crunch. Seriously, it's bad arse! Breaking jaws, snapping knees and stomping enemies into the dust is just as gratifying now as it was the first time.

Road rage? What road rage? Living up to the legend that was Mad Max 2: The Road Warriors epic car chase scene this game really gets the fury up when you hit the road. With your ever trusty Magnum Opus pumping 8 cylinders as you plow across the endless wasteland you'll come across trucks, hot rods, bomb covered cars and even full on convoys to bring down with the help of the large array of weapons Chumbucket keeps loaded and ready for you. The weapons range from a harpoon to rip the driver from his very seat, the thunderpoon if you want a bit of extra bang on your truck, flamethrowers from the sides of your vehicle to ensure to hitchhikers get up in your business and of course a sniper for the times you feel a little epic tyre shot coming from the top of a cliff in the distance.

Chumbucket, the creepiest sidekick ever. Taken straight out of the movie 300 or even LewkOne's darkest fantasy comes the twisted little blackfingered hunchback Chumbucket. Noone loves their cars more than this guy, even to the point where you exit the car and he's excited to have a few moment of privacy with her.... Unfortunately for our pal his hideout had been blown to pieces and really was somewhat Max's fault so he's come along for the grand sand adventure! Thankfully the guys at Avalanche have pulled him off quite well as he is always with you he never leaves the car so despite chatting away in the back of the Opus, repairing her when you need a even firing weapons for you he never really feels like he's encroaching on the loneliness that is Max's life and the barren wasteland.

My favorite feature of the game has hands down got to be the weather. One minute its dry and dusty and you almost feel the need for a drink of water, all of a sudden Chumbucket screams "The 

Mighty Duster!" and along barrels a desert tornado which if not dodged will hurl your car or Max through the air like a piece of tissue paper! Then there's the storms...... oh the storms! Nothing feels more bad arse in this game than being warned of a storm on its way, driving around to see a massive sand cloud thundering across the plains directly towards you, hitting the accelerator and going head first straight into the insanity that bring insane winds, lightning, massive debris and a feeling of possibly not making it out alive. If you find shelter before the storm the game will cut time and you'll skip through to lovely fine skies, however if you get to cover during a storm you will have to wait it out. On the other hand if you're a real man you scream "I am the night rider!" and hit it as hard as you can to reap some good rewards of loot once you've survived the storms mayhem.

Australians all let us rejoice for we are in a game! My inner pride shon brightly as I discovered the level of Australian-ness gradually coming out in Mad Max, which only seems appropriate. Somewhat of a nod was the sun shining through a rust hole on the roof of Chumbuckets hideout creating an image of Australia on his wall made of pure light. Secondly were the accents, Max himself of course is Australian, many of the enemies and characters are also from the land of Oz, a few characters here and there have american accents but i can forgive this as in an apocalyptic world gone mad i'm sure there's going to be a few people from different countries still living. The best nod is the slang, every so often you'll hear the words 'mongrel' or 'flammin' which really get that Aussie vibe going, almost like when your dads had too many XXXX Golds and can't start the mower.

To own up to my obsession, i'll confess to you that I haven't played anything but Mad Max since it's release, putting many things to the wayside including Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, much to the disgust of my Aussie Gamers Express colleagues.

I just couldn't help myself because it's bloody marvellous, it's a cracker of a game, it's flammin' grouss, she's a beauty! That's enough of that, i'm off to have a Bundy rum, roll a few white ox, watch Bathurst and if the kids play up they'll cop a thong to the arse...... Cheers.