I have been excited for this game for a while. It's actually a big reason behind my PS4 purchase (besides Arkham Knight and Kingdom Hearts III), so I want antsy to get home and pop this bad boy into the disco drive.
Positives;
Gameplay - This game isn't fluid at first by any means, but I called upon previous gaming experience to adapt quickly. Seeing as the game is about adaption, perhaps that was the intended plan. Burnout III was all I needed to recall to get the hang of "Offensive Driving Maneuvers" in vehicle combat. The Batman gaming franchise had trained me well for the fighting (it uses the same engine), but it didn't prepare me for the brutality. Coming from batman games, I was use to bone snapping, but careful consideration for human life. Max says "F*ck human life" and eviscerates his adversaries. Grand theft auto has taught me not to become overwhelmed by large maps, the story will take you through all of it in time. The initial area you are dropped into is the same size as the desert in GTA V. And it's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the map that you unlock.
Story- The initial first 2/3's of the game creep by slowly. Tons of driving, fighting, and exploding, but not much as far as exposition goes. Like most Mad Max stories, we're introduced to the world abruptly and forced to figure things out for ourselves. Once you've worked you way up to your first car and stronghold though, the story dries out like the desert you're surviving. I had explored half the map and done most of the side missions for the first two strongholds before I even ventured near Gastown. However, I was glad I did, because the northern half of the map is unforgiving and relentless. Once there, the story picks back up and doesn't let up til the very end. At first I thought maybe the game maker didn't have enough plot so they spread it thin, but then i realized; this game wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling if you didn't have to brave the wasteland, walk for miles to find gas or shelter when you didn't plan well and run out, or die fighting your way into an enemy camp. By the time you come the final acts of the game, you feel like a weathered warrior.
Negatives;
Gameplay - In game mission markers are not well done. Sometimes the activate, sometimes they don't, sometimes they move and don't tell you. The map system can be a joke at times; good luck looking for mission markers the size of pencil erasers on a map the size of Pennsylvania. There's no way to jump to current mission markers, it's just a hunt and peck type mapping system that can drive you crazy. There are some sound issues as well, one I had happen pretty often was the dropping of certain sound layers. Sometimes the music would drop out, sometimes it was just the car sound effects that would mute. Chumbucket (faithful companion and mechanic) has little quips in game that sometimes wouldn't activate, and then would all catch up and be spoken in succession. Maybe that was just me, but it happened enough for me to learn to quit the game and restart to fix it.
Story - My only real issues with the story were at the end. The characters would tend to be a little flat and stereotypical of dystopian settings, but I could look past that. Opportunities for good exposition into Max were glossed over, replaced with bipolar helpfulness-to-gruffness transitions without rhyme or reason. I could even look past that, but the real kicker for me was the ending. SPOILER: You beat Scrotus with two thunderpoon hits. That's it. By the time you've brawled your way through thousands of war boys and bosses, the final boss is defeated with two measly hits. You don't even get to punch him. Maybe it's because I was raised on increasingly difficult arcade bosses that glowed red with a good hit, but I was expecting more. Maybe they wanted you to feel hollow in your revenge victory to really pull you into the emotion of the game. If that's the case, they failed on my part. I spent the next 5 minutes into the credits going "is that really it?" over and over in disbelief to my TV. I need harder bosses.
All in all, I was satisfied with this game. There is lots to be learned and improved on, but that just means further installments will be that much sweeter!
Positives;
Gameplay - This game isn't fluid at first by any means, but I called upon previous gaming experience to adapt quickly. Seeing as the game is about adaption, perhaps that was the intended plan. Burnout III was all I needed to recall to get the hang of "Offensive Driving Maneuvers" in vehicle combat. The Batman gaming franchise had trained me well for the fighting (it uses the same engine), but it didn't prepare me for the brutality. Coming from batman games, I was use to bone snapping, but careful consideration for human life. Max says "F*ck human life" and eviscerates his adversaries. Grand theft auto has taught me not to become overwhelmed by large maps, the story will take you through all of it in time. The initial area you are dropped into is the same size as the desert in GTA V. And it's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the map that you unlock.
Story- The initial first 2/3's of the game creep by slowly. Tons of driving, fighting, and exploding, but not much as far as exposition goes. Like most Mad Max stories, we're introduced to the world abruptly and forced to figure things out for ourselves. Once you've worked you way up to your first car and stronghold though, the story dries out like the desert you're surviving. I had explored half the map and done most of the side missions for the first two strongholds before I even ventured near Gastown. However, I was glad I did, because the northern half of the map is unforgiving and relentless. Once there, the story picks back up and doesn't let up til the very end. At first I thought maybe the game maker didn't have enough plot so they spread it thin, but then i realized; this game wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling if you didn't have to brave the wasteland, walk for miles to find gas or shelter when you didn't plan well and run out, or die fighting your way into an enemy camp. By the time you come the final acts of the game, you feel like a weathered warrior.
Negatives;
Gameplay - In game mission markers are not well done. Sometimes the activate, sometimes they don't, sometimes they move and don't tell you. The map system can be a joke at times; good luck looking for mission markers the size of pencil erasers on a map the size of Pennsylvania. There's no way to jump to current mission markers, it's just a hunt and peck type mapping system that can drive you crazy. There are some sound issues as well, one I had happen pretty often was the dropping of certain sound layers. Sometimes the music would drop out, sometimes it was just the car sound effects that would mute. Chumbucket (faithful companion and mechanic) has little quips in game that sometimes wouldn't activate, and then would all catch up and be spoken in succession. Maybe that was just me, but it happened enough for me to learn to quit the game and restart to fix it.
Story - My only real issues with the story were at the end. The characters would tend to be a little flat and stereotypical of dystopian settings, but I could look past that. Opportunities for good exposition into Max were glossed over, replaced with bipolar helpfulness-to-gruffness transitions without rhyme or reason. I could even look past that, but the real kicker for me was the ending. SPOILER: You beat Scrotus with two thunderpoon hits. That's it. By the time you've brawled your way through thousands of war boys and bosses, the final boss is defeated with two measly hits. You don't even get to punch him. Maybe it's because I was raised on increasingly difficult arcade bosses that glowed red with a good hit, but I was expecting more. Maybe they wanted you to feel hollow in your revenge victory to really pull you into the emotion of the game. If that's the case, they failed on my part. I spent the next 5 minutes into the credits going "is that really it?" over and over in disbelief to my TV. I need harder bosses.
All in all, I was satisfied with this game. There is lots to be learned and improved on, but that just means further installments will be that much sweeter!