Mad Max

MAX MAX

So, I haven't written in a while.  

         I had planned to keep up at least mildly with posts on the games I was completing as I was completing them.  But work and other projects, not to mention actually playing the games got in the way.  I was looking forward to writing about the games right after I had finished them, while they were still fresh in my mind and the emotions were still running strong alas FarCry 4 was the only one to receive that treatment.  Even then, I lost my first post and ended up rewriting it weeks later without the original fervor involved.

         However, I recently completed the newly released movie tie-in game Mad Max for the PS4, borrowed from a friend at work.  (No game purchases this year, remember?)  In finishing this game I was left with that feeling; that feeling you get when finishing a great book or completing a tv series.  The story is over and reality comes crashing back, leaving you thinking about the world you delved into the past few weeks, months or years.  Writing about it seems like the best way to expunge that overflow of feeling out of my system.

         You see; Max Mad was, for me, was one of the most engrossing games I've played since Far Cry 4.  (Ok, that wasn't that long ago, but I digress.)  I love cars, I love driving, but so few games that aren't of the racing genre focus on cars so well.  Grand Theft Auto comes close, and so did Saboteur; but the cars feel so disposable in those games.  In Mad Max your car is yours and it's as much of an important part of the story and the gameplay as Max himself.  Even though Max may not seem connected to anything or anyone, the Blackfinger Hunchback who fights alongside you the whole game makes it clear that your Magnum Opus is a beloved and dear soul who deserves nothing but to burn guzzoline and pave your way to Valhalla.

       And so, after weeks of me playing the game's side quests, driving around every element of the dune covered freeways and flame spouting encampments I started to realize there was a story being pushed alongside all of this.  It comes up quick near the last portion of the game but when it hits it hits hard.  Suddenly Max has more going on than just trying to get revenge for a stolen car, more than just trying to drive away from his memories of the past.  The unfortunate part is that although it was written quite well, it used some standard gaming tropes.

**spoilers beyond**

      You see, although it doesn't ruin the game for me, the use of the Women in Refrigerators trope which is a common use of the death of a women/girlfriend/wife in order to progress the main character's storyline.  Here, when Max meets a girl, starts begrudgingly helping her out and eventually rescuing her daughter; I thought for sure they were going somewhere with some writing that involved more than just Max killing his way to silence the voices in his head.  Now don't get me wrong, some of the characters near the end, the acting and the writing is amazing and I loved it.  But when Hope and Grace are murdered in what seems like an attempt to just fuel Max's revenge even further, it worked, but felt like cheap writing at this day and age.

     Nevertheless, the emotion in the final chase and the murderous rage in Max's eyes felt real and Mad Max's ending felt like a real one.  Solid and without a push for a sequel.


      In fact, in writing and thinking about the ending I realized something.  In the end, you 'sacrifice' your car, your Magnum Opus as the blackfinger hunchback (Chumbucket) calls it, in order to drive Scrotus (the final enemy) off a cliff.  Chum is distraught, the Opus is his life's work and in his mind his partner, his wife.  In a sense, since the car is almost as big a character in the game as Max, the Opus made the ultimate sacrifice and Chum couldn't take it.  He refuses to leave the car and follows it to their ultimate death.  The Opus and Chum were almost written better than Max and Hope, not to mention less mysogynistically.  In their story, the girl sacrifices herself to save the land and refuses to leave her.

    Anyway.  That was somewhat of a rant, but I had to get all my thoughts out on paper, as it were.   It just goes to show you that a game is more than just that anymore.  They are thought provoking and push your imagination, not to mention your feelings.

   By the way, if it wasn't clear, Play this game.  It's extremely enjoyable.  And for a full set of screencaps check here