While doing our coverage of Comic Con 2015, I had the opportunity to get hands-on time with the upcoming Mad Max game at the Xbox lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel. The vast ballroom where the event took place was filled with several exhibits including a Halo laser tag arena and a Tomb Raider photo booth in addition to several upcoming games. I started with vehicular combat as I drove over the barren wastelands in pursuit of other vehicles after slapping down several bad guys at the start of my session. The game mixes free-roaming, side quests and core missions so I took the opportunity to test out combat against other vehicles. This took some getting used to as one must use the directional pad in order to select your weapons. With options such as shotgun, flame, harpoon, and charged spear, Max can certainly give it as well as he takes. You can use the B button to quick fire or a combination of buttons to aim and fire while in vehicles. Hitting a vehicle with the harpoon requires you to pull away in order to damage the car. Once you have defeated opponent you have the opportunity to scrounge for resources as you would with most games this type. After taking on several opponents and emerging victorious, Chum Bucket will fix your car if you come to a complete stop, or will do repairs while you’re away on a mission. I decided to raid an enemy camp and used the harpoon to snare and pulldown enemy sentry towers. I also used it to tear down the main gate with a little help from my afterburner.
While inside the combat was fairly similar to what you expect from most like games as I was able to block, pick up weapons, and lay down an array of attacks. It Max truly gets angry, then a special set of attacks is made possible. Aside from collecting scrap and other valuables along the way, I had the opportunity to fill up my canteen which is extremely important in game as Max needs water to replenish his health.
After making my way through various minions including satisfyingly taking out a suspended alarm sentry with my remaining shotgun shell, I sent the top and took on one of the big bosses. I kept my blocking to an absolute minimum as I was curious to see just how much damage Max could take before going down. The answer is quite a bit as I was clubbed mercilessly by the big boss. Standing over an object allowed me to pick it up and use it and in time I was able to get the upper hand and unleash a devastating series of attacks which resulted in quite a brutal had stomped finale from Max. The rep on hand was quite surprised that I had taken down the boss without dying and told me that as you go on in the game you have the option to enhance your vehicle by completing several question missions.
While the game was fun to play, the control system is very tricky so I would likely want to play this on the PC where I could set up controls that work better for me. I also would like to be able to take advantage of the higher range of graphics as the game while looking good, did not appear to run in 1080 resolution.
There were a few camera issues and lags with picking up objects but I will hold off on this until I see the final game is hopefully this will be addressed before the game is released.
For now, Mad Max is a promising game for fans of action, Grand Theft Auto, and the series.
