Earlier this week, we announced that the original post-apocalyptic anti-hero, Mad Max, graces the newest cover of Game Informer. We traveled to Avalanche Studio's office in Stockholm, Sweden, to test our mettle in an exclusive hands-on session in the open-world Wasteland. I survived several hours roaming a vast, dried-out sea bed looking for trouble, and compiled the moments that made me feel most like the Road Warrior himself. My exploits include impaling raiders with harpoon guns and punching my way through oil-pumping shanty fortresses.
Become Death On Four Wheels
Mad Max is only operating at maximum efficiency when he's joined by his better half - a badass car. Max's deformed, Igor-like mechanical assistant, Chumbucket, refers to the game's featured vehicular murder machine as the Magnum Opus.
Pursuing and taking down enemy vehicles feels awesome. Max has tools like a turbo boost, spiked grill, tire-shredding rims, mounted guns, and flamethrowers at his disposal to take out the Wasteland's trash. I love the options available when it comes to dismantling enemy cars. Sidling up next to another car and watching sparks fly as your rims shred theirs. Seeing would-be hijackers accidentally impale themselves on your defensive spikes. Even good, old-fashioned head-on collisions are a blast when you engage the boost to obliterate your enemies with a beefy grill.
Modifying the Magnum Opus is almost as fun as driving it, but that's a topic we'll dive deeper into later in our month of exclusive online content.
Harpoon Mayhem
Early on in Mad Max, Chumbucket helps our hero by attaching a harpoon weapon to the Magnum Opus. This gun's primary function is to launch a cable-tethered spear into objects, which can then be dragged or pulled with the car. Discovering new ways to dissect and demolish structures and enemies with the harpoon is one of Mad Max's most fun features.
Players can take aim on objects like fortress walls and sniper towers while driving, then use their car's momentum to yank them to bits. Even more fun is tearing pieces of a pesky foe's car apart, then eventually blasting the harpoon into the driver themselves. Winning a heated vehicular battle by dragging your enemy off the back of your car is rewarding.
Chase Down Convoys
The Road Warrior's unforgettable climax involves an intense assault on a moving caravan that's barreling through the Wasteland. Moments like this one have been integrated into Mad Max's open world. Players are likely to see huge clouds of dust billowing up in the distance. Should they follow these cues, they're likely to drive up on a convoy of up to 12 vehicles defending a lead truck carrying precious cargo.
Charging grill-first into these wheeled warriors isn't the smartest idea. Max could easily succumb to a rear-mounted flamethrower, get caught in a pincer attack between two cars' grinding rims, or be boarded by an enemy. Players are better off picking off cars one-by-one. Destroying the lead vehicle of a convoy scores Max a hood ornament, which can be attached to the Magnum Opus for an automotive stat boost.
White-Knuckle First-Person Driving
Mad Max is primarily a third-person action game, but players have the option to look through the Road Warrior's eyes when driving. I'm usually averse to driving in a restrictive first-person view when I have the option to see more of my surroundings in driving games, but this is different. Seeing Max's jagged metal-studded gloves and the beefy engine jutting out of the hood elicited a cathartic, joyful thrill I haven't felt while behind the wheel in a game for some time. The sense of speed when cruising down a worn road and the visceral impact of boosting into a wrecked enemy vehicle feels amazing.
Crack Skulls
Max is fast behind the wheel, but his more lumbering fighting style still packs a wallop. This bruiser's approach to combat feels inspired by the popular mechanics first seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Max doesn't have Bruce Wayne's martial-arts training, but he can manhandle enemies with a more straightforward and murderous approach, complete with visceral suplexes and leg locks.
Enemies surround Max, sizing him up before closing the gap for a punch. Max has the opportunity to counter these attacks and follow up with a flurry of brass-knuckle punches. His Fury Mode helps differentiate itself from similar combat systems, too. Following up light attacks with a heavy attack deals more damage to goons and fills his Fury level faster. Fighting enemies builds up a meter that, when activated, sends Max into an adrenaline-fueled state where he deals more damage faster than usual. Similar to another post-apocalyptic tale, The Last of Us, Max can pick up rare shivs to take enemies out of the equation even faster.
Up next: Pushing the boundaries of the Wasteland and making an impact on the big, wild world.