Mad Max comes out on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC on Tuesday. While developer Avalanche Studios has been working on this since well before Mad Max series creator George Miller started work on this year’s fantastic Fury Road, there are a few elements from it and the rest of the Max films we’d like to see represented in the forthcoming game.
More so than in the original films, Fury Road used light and shadow to incredible effect. It’s just a gorgeous movie to simply gawk at. I don’t want to be too fussy about graphics, but… come on. This game should be pretty.
We all know Max Rockantansky (Did you know that’s his real name?) didn’t just trundle into the Wasteland like a post-apocalyptic Ned Flanders. He has demons that chase him that give him reasons – albeit unhealthy ones – to want to live. And we players want some haunting reason to continue to fight. Max is one of the original silent protagonists, too -- so show us, don’t tell us.
I don’t know what the hell Tom Hardy was trying to sound like in Fury Road, and I think he was a terrific Max otherwise, but come on – Mad Max is Australian. Let the Wasteland denizens sound Australian. It might not make complete sense in the context of the post-apocalypse, but it would give the game a continuity and authenticity that it definitely needs if it’s going to be part of the Max canon.
All of us post-apocalypse fans have eaten our share of iguana-on-a-stick. Mad Max is Fallout’s spiritual father, and in Fury Road, Max begins his journey by stomping on and eating a two-headed lizard. We have nothing against lizards. We just want to survive.
Obviously the digital versions of Mad Max and his enemies won’t be performing actual stunts in the game, but the Mad Max films live and die by George Miller’s heavy reliance on practical effects and stunts. We want to see that homemade, practical effects feel brought to life in the Mad Max game.
This one should be easy. Mad Max is about cars more than Grand Theft Auto is about cars. Fans need chunky, muscle-y, dirty, Australian-outback-worthy vehicles to bomb around in, and if the game is going to be true the series, that should make up a sizeable portion of game time. Cars in the game need to have a very home-brewed modded feel to them, too – DIY superchargers, cowcatchers, roll cages. From the material Avalanche has publicized ahead of release, we should be in good shape on this front.
George Miller didn’t just recently get it into his head to have strong leading ladies in his films – although Charlize Theron’s portrayal of Imperator Furiosa was a major reason for Fury Road being incredible. Beyond Thunderdome starred Tina Turner opposite Mel Gibson’s Max as the psychopathic Aunty Entity. It would be easy for a Mad Max game to be an exercise of boys in cars beating each other up – but let’s see what kind of women the wasteland creates, too.
