Mad Max

Mad Max brought the post-apocalyptic world inspired by George Miller's film series into a sprawling open sandbox full of wrecks, gangs, and a waterless wasteland. As the titular Max, the player crosses a parched landscape with the goal of building the perfect war vehicle called the Magnum Opus and escaping territory controlled by the tyrannical warlord Scabrous Scrotus and his henchmen.

The core of the gameplay consisted of vehicular combat full of ramming, harpoons, and explosives, complemented by third-person fistfights and exploration of a desert world full of side activities, from destroying enemy camps through gathering resources to upgrading the car and Max himself. Despite its monotonous desert setting, the open world was surprisingly varied thanks to sandstorms that altered visibility and tactics, as well as the technical detail of vehicles, whose components could be visibly upgraded and damaged. On PS4 the game offered a solidly smooth performance and an atmospheric, visually unified setting steeped in the parched, raw aesthetic of the film source.

The game lacked an official tie-in with the character of Furiosa or other elements of the film Mad Max: Fury Road, which was released in theaters shortly after the game's launch, yet its own post-apocalyptic story of revenge and survival held a consistent tone and visual language with the entire film brand. The extensive Magnum Opus upgrade tree let players gradually turn the car from a fragile wreck into an armored fortress with plating, a harpoon, and a mounted machine gun, giving a sense of tangible progress in an otherwise harsh world.

While reviews praised above all the vehicular combat system and the atmosphere, the game was occasionally criticized for a repetitive side-quest structure typical of Avalanche Studios' open worlds. Even so, Mad Max found its community thanks to a faithful handling of the license and the satisfying feeling of destroying enemy vehicles, and to this day it is valued as one of the best game adaptations of the post-apocalyptic universe.

Why play it: For fans of destructive vehicular combat and post-apocalyptic atmosphere, Mad Max offers a faithful handling of the license, even though its side quests suffer from the repetitiveness typical of Avalanche's open-world games.