Mad Max in Close Critique [Major Spoilers]

This is a long-form video critique of the new Mad Max game by Avalanche. It looks at the game in terms of how it draws inspiration from the movies that preceded it, how it actually plays, and why critical opinions about Mad Max have been so thoroughly mixed. MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT, including an extended discussion of the ending.
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[@seanmcdonald1111]

I like how the game describes Max's shotgun as reliable, when it's two most prominent moments in the film are both of it not working.

[@shaliir]

Sean McDonald isn't that the point? I assumed that it was a fun jab that it never works in the films.

[@daltonbecker4494]

The gun works perfectly fine. Its the SHELLS that are unreliable.

[@oh-not-the-bees7872]

You mean when he had no ammo at all or when the shells turned out to be duds? Learn a little.

[@Puppy_Puppington]

Oh-not-the-bees people don’t know how firearms work. Smh.

[@Gwestytears]

It only had like 3 misfires ever in the series

[@InfernalDalek]

My favorite part of Relics is that many have a voice line. Often you'll have to flip the picture to read the back, then flip it back over for Max to talk.

[@GTAfan421]

+InfernalDalek I think finding relics and exploring is by far more rewarding than the main story in every way.

[@KingOfMadCows]

Beyond Thunderdome had problems because George Miller's friend Byron Kennedy, who was also a producer since the first Mad Max, died while scouting locations for the film. Miller almost dropped out. Eventually, he directed half the film and had a friend direct the rest. Also, when they made Fallout, they had Mad Max constantly being played around the office.

[@dildonius]

Fallout 1 even has a dog companion - the original Dogmeat - who is designed after Max's dog from _The Road Warrior._ You find him in Junktown in a shack, with two people trying to get him out but he's too mean and scares them. One of them says his owner went out to get some supplies and never came back, probably died. Their description of his owner is dead-on for Mad Max. And the only way to get Dogmeat out and as your companion, is to give him some jerky...OR to approach him while wearing the game's "Leather Armour." And that armour....just so happens to make your character look PRECISELY like Mad Max circa _Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior._

[@edwardnigma9756]

From what you said it seems that the entire story is in Max's head. From the two women being called Hope and Glory, the fact they are a mother and daughter and that they die to a bunch of hooligans in a manner similar to how his own wife and daughter died, the fact that he is younger than all the versions of Max shown in previous media portrayals of him (much as we like to remember ourselves as younger than we are) all smacks of him reliving his past in a cycle of guilt, rage, and despair. All the pointless busywork that he puts into creating a car that will finally allow him to escape this world, this cycle, is all lost when he relives the very thing that made him snap and kill all those people in blaze of madness and anger. The game ending, but allowing you to still traverse the world, collecting bits to improve the car you know will be destroyed only highlights how fruitlessly Max tries to escape his guilt and anger. He can't cross the Big nothing, no matter how what engine part he thinks will allow him to succeed. Max will simply die, and thus be forcefully brought back into the large sandbox that is his mind, both mechanically and thus psychologically. But I never played the game so I would be interested in what people who have played the game actually think.

[@giorgialadashvili4771]

Max had a wife and a baby son in the original film. I have no idea why they changed it to a little kid daughter. I do like your theory though, it does explain some strange things I have noticed in the game after finishing it, like Griffa and Chumbucket appearing literally out of nowhere to guide Max just moments after he loses his prized Interceptor, Chumbucket's weirdly silent and relaxed acceptance of Max's suicide attempt when he tries to drive the Magnum Opus down the abyss after Glory and Hope get murdered by Scrotus (yet Chum also raves like a lunatic at the mere thought of losing Opus throughout the game and especially in the final mission, saying he will never abandon it), the shaman Griffa who nobody else notices and who tells Max that his "Plains of Silence" are "here" (whatever that means), Max going absolutely insane in the end with voices of both Glory and Hope (and even more bizarrely, Chumbucket) telling him to murder Scrotus. Honestly, perhaps this game's story is much deeper than we think, with Chumbucket, Griffa, Glory and Hope representing particular parts or aspects of Max''s broken and tortured psyche.

[@dildonius]

Max has a hallucination about Hope and Glory in _Mad Max: Fury Road_ where they ask him why he couldn't save them. They're both real and part of the thread tying together the original trilogy, this game, and _Fury Road._

[@Franky566]

pro tip. dont put so much effort into explaining things you have zero experience with.

[@Franky566]

@@giorgialadashvili4771"Mad Max," is a waste land legend... not a man. Tom Hardy and Mel Gibson play different characters. this is the Tom Hardy Mad Max.

[@Franky566]

@@dildoniusthis game takes place imediatly before Furry Road. However, Furry Road and the original trilogy have different characters entirely.

[@BakaSmurf]

Fantastic critique, I doubt that there's much I can offer which hasn't already been brought up at this point; but since you didn't mention it in the video I have to ask: did you catch on to the fact that post-credits gameplay takes place entirely in Max's head? How everyone and the Magnum Opus 'bring back' was a result of him deluding himself into believing he hadn't done what he did? Occasionally when you're in one of the strongholds one of the NPC's may randomly transform into Hope or Glory to insult him, or directly refer to their deaths as having been his fault. The playable epilogue feels weird and disconnected by design: Max has literally gone Mad by that point.

[@MacJulian88]

The shift in sound design immediately gives it away. Things feel oddly muffled and not quite right. I suppose the only reason Noah didn't notice was that he had his volume turned down and, as he says in the video, didn't have anything left to do after the end credits, quitting mere moments into the epilogue.

[@giorgialadashvili4771]

I have noticed the post-credits gameplay, which also had no sound. I thought it was some kind of glitch. Now I am convinced it was by design. Though I don't remember any NPCs randomly transforming into Hope or Glory, maybe the voice actresses are the same, but the in-game models for both of them are unique and I would definitely notice that.

[@JesusProtects]

I think you may be overthinking it. Max is... Mad. You know. After everything he has lost he just wants to be left alone and find somewhere to be at peace and reconstruct his mind. And because that place doesn't exist, he made it up in his mind. He is trying to reach an illusion. Another problem is, he wants to do it by himself, and that can't work because we are social creatures, we need each other. Unless he learns to let things go he will always be the mad, mad Max that wanders around the desert, fighting for survival, and sometimes for a good cause if the opportunity comes across. Is a curse.

[@sandroq95]

I did the exact same thing when I finished this game. Looked at the car and the environment one last time, then drove off into the distance until I died.

[@cynical8330]

What's weird is I started the Mad Max game the same week I watched The Road Warrior for the first time and immediately saw numerous extremely specific similarities.

[@MickeyLeeBukowski]

LOL. Everyone describes the original Mad Max film the same way: "a motorcycle gang kills Max's family and he takes his revenge." This entire bit is literally the last 10 minutes of the movie. The first hour and a half, while having some iconic visuals and a few good stunts, is a meandering mess which is more about Goose than Max. The Road Warrior is a freaking masterpiece, on the other hand.

[@darthXreven]

that was the movie though.... it starts out with high speed chicken then the motor gang comes in for revenge, terrorizes a town and when Max feels the pressure is too much and he's losing it he takes a vacation to the terrorized town unknowingly and suffers for it, then the last half of the movie.....it might be a slow build to get there but that was the movie....Goose and what happens at the cop shop, all the legal system BS is backdrop, not important, the important thing was Max was one of the last decent guys in a dead world that got chewed up and spat out, that's the real crime lol Road Warrior was a masterpiece cus now Max is hardened, his dog is the only person he can trust, he drives, fights and kills all raiders he sees, he's the best wasteland warrior there is....then the stuff with the gas, why'd he take the decoy truck? cus it was a tactical decision, he likely knew there was nothing out there and decided to stay so he could kill more raiders lol and Thunderdome well yeah the stuff with the kids was bizarre but I think thematically it was him getting in touch with his inner child?? nahh.....a bad dream? perhaps but again it repeats a theme from Road Warrior, a group leaving the wastes and Max staying behind in a way I bet what that means is Max was given 2 chances to seek balance and inner peace but was unable to see the truth of it

[@whatisbestinlife8112]

Disagree with this. I always like Mad Max for it's indy filmness and as the precursor to the second film. But I gained new appreciation for it when a friend made the observation that it is actually more a horror movie than a revenge/action tale. The horror in the case of Mad Max (the first film) isn't a serial killer or a supernatural monster. It's the breaking down and de-evolution of society. In that way it shows something we don't often see. We see a lot of post-apocalyptic tales. Stories taking place years after the apocalypse where humans struggle to survive and rebuild. Or we see fast apocalyptic tales where everything goes wrong at once as in a zombie apocalypse or nuclear war or some natural disaster. But Mad Max (the first film) shows the horror of a slow-motion apocalypse of a degrading society caught in some downward spiral. Of the de-evolution of laws and rules and morals that we rely upon to peacefully live together. The functions of human society are breaking down and the characters of the first film are journeying through it without perhaps completely realizing what is happening overall.

[@Bergzore]

I loved the first movie! I especially loved how each movie was very different.

[@ealing456]

3:43 It IS a game about what Max does 'between movies', but not really what Max does between MM1 and MM2, this is very much a 'what Max did after Thunderdome' sort of experience. That said, I would LOVE it if Avalanche made a sequel to this set after MM1, or shall we say, using the themes and iconography of that era: the bikee gangs, the 'comfy apocalypse' vibe, leading up to where we are when we meet Pappagallo.

[@dildonius]

The video game seems to have one foot set in the film continuity, and the other in a sort of semi-self-contained continuity. For me, this game actually works as a bridge between _Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome_ and _Mad Max: Fury Road._ The thing Max is lugging along before getting robbed at the start of _Thunderdome_ is the ruined remains of The V8 Intercepter after having to blow it in _The Road Warrior._ By the end, he's left alone at the home of the guy who took his stuff. It can be assumed he recovered that stuff, rebuilt his car, and went off as the wastes became more and more Falloutian. And then this game happens - in fact, there are characters that Max meets here who then die in the game, and in _Fury Road,_ they're actually some of the people he hallucinates when freaking out about those he couldn't save beyond his wife and kid. By the end of this game, he's gotten The Interceper back and fucks off into the wastes after having made war with and killed Scabbarus Scrotus - the son and a Liutenent of Immortan Joe. And that brings us to the beginning of _Fury Road._ Max has continued to roam endlessly but with nowhere to go, all he's really done is come into further conflict with Immortan Joe's vast armies - no doubt also pissed about the death of his son and lieutenant and loss of territory. So Max takes a moment to chill, now with long hair and beard, when the soldiers of Immortan Joe whose army has been hunting him relentlessly since the end of this game. So he hops into his car to try and outrun them. And thus begins _Mad Max: Fury Road._ Badda-bing-badda-boom. There is now a throughline connecting _Mad Max, Mad Max 2: Fury Road, Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome, Mad Max: The Video Game,_ and _Mad Max: Fury Road._

[@BadHouses]

Thanks to your critique I played a beautiful game I would have totally missed. I did not have the same experience with the scrap amounts. I found that the regular deliveries of scrap from the captured outposts, occasional Srapulances, plus scrounging up 3x100 scrap bundles in storms had me upgrading the Magnum Opus regularly right to the end. I did however find lowering Jeet's threat rating to 0 tedious so I didn't bother doing that busywork for other areas. I also followed in your footsteps and drove my trusty Magnum Opus into the wild blue yonder in search of the Plains of Silence and, even having seen it in the video, found it tremendously satisfying as a "true" ending. Once again, thanks a million.

[@JesusProtects]

Is not tedious if you don't look for the signs at all and just destroy them as you happen to come across them around your travels through the main missions. Just a quick ramming attack and done. If you feel lazy you can leave the 10± scrap pieces and continue your way.

[@Gwestytears]

I like how in the first movie max sits in front of the ocean as he decides he's going to go hunt down the gang. In the game, he drives off to the edge of the map to state off at the dried up ocean to plan how to kill scrotus.

[@H240909]

I'm actually pretty sure this game takes place before Fury Road as we never hear about Scrotus in the movie and there is clearly a different person running Gas Town by then. Also with the way this game ended with Max driving off just as insane as when he started after almost finding happiness, it meshes better with Fury Road. Max started the movie as his usual insane and selfish self but ended with him actually trusting other people again and putting his own survival second.

[@HCroaks]

I know this is an old comment but it's exactly what I was thinking lol. Pretty sure the timeline after Thunderdome is the comic -> the game -> and then fury road. his life is a painful cycle

[@21Trainman]

I didn’t know there was a game, so I thought I was clicking on a Noah Caldwell-Gervais movie review for a second.

[@theechothief5594]

Noah, you are what's missing in the KZbin gaming culture. Love all of your videos, reviews and retrospectives. Keep it up buddy.

[@salokin3087]

Either an overview of Baldurs Gate or KOTOR would be INCREDIBLE!

[@TheJovian16]

+Salokin Sekwah I'd love to see him talking about KOTOR II's restored content mod.

[@PaladinV0ci]

+Salokin Sekwah KOTOR!

[@sonte99]

+Salokin Sekwah He should talk about Planescape: Torment too.

[@Chillermushroom]

+Salokin Sekwah Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2!

[@CeroAshura]

+Salokin Sekwah How about "Infinity Engine games and their spiritual successors"?

[@salokin3087]

Oh Hell yeah! I've been missing you too much

[@seron16]

Your videos have become some of my favorite videos on youtube. I just sit down with a drink and relax to your fascinating and insightful look at what really are works of art in their own right, an art form I've enjoyed since childhood. You seem like someone I would have greatly enjoyed talking with as I grew up, experiencing the entire plethora of games out there and seeing them in new ways as my life experience and age grew. Keep up the outstanding work mate, I'm going to see what i can scrounge together to help you out on Patreon.

[@PurePara1]

This game actually takes place BEFORE Fury Road.

[@broadcaststsatic]

+Pure Paradise Then what's the deal with Scabrous Scrotus being *in* Fury Road?

[@PurePara1]

no was not? Erectus was in fury road, madmax.wikia.com/wiki/Rictus_Erectus

[@broadcaststsatic]

+Pure Paradise I'm genuinely astonished that these are supposed to be two different characters.

[@PurePara1]

lol yeah i know.

[@REXanadu]

+Pure Paradise Yeah. It HAS to take place before Fury Road, since the Interceptor gets destroyed during the final car chase in the movie. Also, it would have been interesting (and possibly thematically appropriate) to have a Magnum Opus(Chumbucket) v. Interceptor(Mad Max) final boss fight. You could say the rejection of the Magnum Opus is another abandonment reminiscent of the other Mad Max films: a return to the wasteland Mad Max knows as home.

[@AnaxofRhodes]

"[Major Spoilers]" Please, it's a Noah video. FULL SPEED AHEAD!!

[@h.ulrich7243]

I just finished this game, and came back to see what you said about it...and you spoke my thoughts two years earlier. At its end I, too, drove off into the big nothing until there was nothing left of Max or the Interceptor, and now I'm delighted to find that you did the same.

[@TripleZeroFilms]

Certainly one of the best game reviews I've ever seen. It sums up my experience with the game almost perfectly. Amazing work!

[@spy6277]

Keep up the good work, I'm studying games design and thoroughly enjoy your videos.

[@zenmastah9051]

Excellent piece, been missing these. Keep it up.

[@LethalKicks]

You my man are a true legend. Always listen to your videos when going to sleep and just wanted to say Thank you. Really some of the best content on KZbin. Greetings from Germany

[@vemu333]

You're seriously well spoken. Huge fan and was one of the first that subbed!

[@redRadiationInc]

I always look forward to your videos, they're great!

[@giampaolomannucci8281]

Damn man, I love the way you talk about games in general. I can sit still and watch you talk about a game I'm not even interested in and love it! :D

[@Mike23443]

"This game is 40 hours of scouring a forsaken desert for car parts. 0/10" "This game is 40 hours of scouring a forsaken desert for car parts. 10/10" Mad Max the game is an exact example in how jarringly unique some tastes can be, to a point where they fail to be taken into account by those who don't dare venture beyond the safe boundries of what they perceive to be normalcy.

[@michaeljamesmccabe]

Nice work Noah! Thoroughly enjoyed the in-depth review.

[@RazorbackPT]

Ah man, so happy to see a new video posted but it's from a game I'm currently playing and haven't finished yet. I can't wait to get that done so I can watch this.

[@BlackWidowMac]

Really enjoy your videos man. Keep it up. Your style inspiring.

[@Xegethra]

I loved this game, it felt like a modern Outlander...kinda. It had the overall driving to a place journey, stopping to get resources and fighting off those defending said resources, it had car and player upgrades and fun vehicular combat. One difference is that the hand to hand sucked, really sucked in Outlander and it followed a straight line road as opposed to a explorable world, however I still really enjoyed Outlander. The car combat in this game was so much fun, so much fun...the Arkham style beat em up bits I could forgo (Despite loving the Arkham games and beat em ups in general) and the junk grinding got a little stale....but man, I loved fighting off other wastelanders and raiders at high speeds. a 1950's car..with fins would have indeed been cool, I went with the 30's/40's Death Rattle one. I guess the after end game stuff....pretend its...all a dream, after the credits, he's imagining it because he is mental. There was a Mad Max game for the NES though.

[@dercannabist-infoaufklarun8938]

I hate games that need extensive "grinding" and I usually avoid those titles. on the other hand, I absolutely *LOVE* vehicular combat and I was hoping to get that from Mad Max. the last truely great game that combined cars and combat had been "Interstate '76" - that was in 1997! so I was really hoping for "Mad Max" to fulfill that need for decent vehicular combat a great deal... on the other hand, I absolutely *HATE* "grinding" and the whole "completionist" mentality. that said, I played through "Mad Max" in about 85 hours and while the story really was lacking, I loved the cars and combat with them and because of that, I drove through the desert, updating my base-camps and my car, making the wasteland a better place....and VERY surprisingly for me, I really enjoyed it a great deal! even though I was constantly on some tedious quests, out there "grinding" my butt off, the vehicular-combat made me enjoy it and it lasted for the whole 85 hours. everything I did, all the little busywork, it felt like achieving something. a work towards a higher goal, so to speak. while I understood your comparison with "Red Faction Guerilla", I think it actually IS much more like the busywork in "Far Cry 3 & 4" - you work and do stuff, to better things and ultimately progress in the game. ultimately, I've had a lot of fun with "Mad Max" and while I understood "why" it has gotten so bad critiques by "professional" critics, I also see the perspective of those players, who, like me, enjoyed it a lot. I've gotten a load of dumb achievements and I completed everything apart from collecting all the scrap - I, the completionist-hater, who HATES grinding!

[@TheSoulHarvester]

+ZeGermanGamer ayyyy interstate '76!

[@MizterMoonshine]

+ZeGermanGamer I agree. Though a lot of what I was doing in the game felt like tedious busywork, it felt like it was worth it to upgrade my car. I think the aesthetic and atmosphere of the game helped a lot with that.

[@effyiew7318]

I wish there was a function to just reset the convoys and the camps after you've finished the game. It'd be great to take on convoys with different vehicles, including the interceptor, in your garage.

[@prajwaljayaraj5887]

I had the exact same experience

[@cgunugc]

Noah, I'd just like to say that this review has been my single favorite piece of Mad Max critique... ever. I've rewatched it a good dozen times, and something about the review, much like the game, just sits and feels right.

[@grod4L]

Awesome, awesome critique. I just discovered your channel and I am seriously in love with all your in depth reviews. You bring up some amazing points and I could honestly listen to your analyses for days! Great job. Subscribed.

[@Zombiepull]

once again u nailed the Pro´s and con´s of a game better than i or any other reviewer i know ever could... good work.

[@Davidesrajohn]

Hey man, great to see another video from you. Take all the time you need to make them though, don't burn yourself out.

[@jessehenderson2967]

Mad Max's movies: Folks stories told about Mad Max in the world of Mad Max. Mad Max the game: Being Mad Max in the world of Mad Max.

[@ZappasMudshark]

Thank you for helping me understand why I enjoyed this game and why I felt steadfast in defending it.

[@popnlocknessmonster6860]

Thanks for the video Noah, you're the best!

[@SlamifiedBuddafied]

I love this game. In spite of it's flaws, I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys busywork in a game sometimes. I know it seems a bit off and off kilter, but sometimes I like a game that's visual pleasing with fairly solid core mechanics and just tick off that checklist. Usually I'll have a movie playing on the other screen, something I've probably seen quite literally one-hundred plus times, and just go at it and enjoy the mundane nature of it all. Just to note, I will say that the core game play loop is a fairly solid core. While the story is incredibly mediocre, it's a solid core and it's issues are more or less forgivable. Then again, I may just be looking to justify my 87 hour playtime.

[@AndrejGobec]

I think game developers should employ you as a consultant to give their sometimes perplexing brainstorms some focus and direction! I wish many a follower upon you!

[@haydentravis3348]

That's what I've thought of most reasonable content creators. Their job involves getting really intimate with the game, but from an outsiders perspective. For any creator, an outside perspective is invaluable, so having these focused people providing that would be even more so. software developers are very proud, making criticizing anything they put work into like a minefield, and so very often they turn away or ignore useful, critical feedback. Often times, the conversation ends with them firmly stating you are wrong, they are right and ghosting you shortly after.

[@aZeddPrattFilm]

I've been a sub for awhile and though I can not contribute at this time to yah, I do love your work and please continue. Your work is something I like to listen to in the long tired hours of the sleepy morning.

[@johnoneil9188]

My favorite relic that you find is a flyer for a Mad Max themed event in the desert. Max just comments it with "What is this?" but my head cannon is now that the whole thing is just a giant LARP that went way overboard and at some point the people forgot it was just make belief.

[@LordsSky]

First new upload since I subbed. Fantastic video!

[@Crispy360s]

Great video Noah Keep it up man!

[@northmetalguy]

You're great man. Keep doing an awesome job

[@RadiantSolarWeasel]

Stellar work as always, Noah. There are very few people who can critique a game I haven't played and still keep me engaged and fascinated. DFTBA.

[@deadlegs187]

Your videos are brilliant. Thanks for the content

[@aidanduncan3056]

Double tapping the button to switch to the sniper while in the car will put you into a first person driving perspective. While often impractical, playing the game this way added a lot to the immersion of the Max simulator for me. Thanks for your well voiced thoughts man!

[@royorbit3800]

I was almost hoping this would be a review of the movie. I love your voice and the way you express things, it would nice to hear you talk about cult movies like mad max.

[@led9296]

+Roy Orbit I'm not surprised let's drown out fans watch Noah's videos, haha.

[@AniCator]

+Led I let Noah drown out my thoughts as opposed to the games themselves.

[@compassionatecurmudgeon7025]

Having just played this game I didn't feel the same compulsory completionist drive that you did. I puttered around for ~30 hours clearing I think 4 minefields total. Then I continued the main story quest through to the end. You really don't need all of the upgrades on normal. I saw all the major sidequests because they were fun and interesting. You get real OP pretty quick, able to swiftly end most enemies in 3 or 4 button presses. As you near the top of the upgrade tree you're utterly invincible, I was consistently clearing large bases without taking damage. I wandered till I didn't feel like wandering, then I finished it and was reasonably satisfied with the bleak plot. It's the rare property where the gruff asshole is consistent and not secretly nice. He's a psychopath and acts like it. There's something refreshingly consistent about that. He's not the player, he's max. With some mysterious background. You're just the driver gremlin that lives in his skull. Summary: You played it in a way that made you get super invested in the car in a way that Max never was. Essentially you were empathizing more with chumbucket then with Max. Chumbucket wanted power for power's sake (and religious reasons), but what is power without something to use it on? Max saw the vehicle's only purpose is to do what max wants. At first that was running off into the desert, priorities shift though. Rage has a way of narrowing one's vision.

[@hamzaisa3130]

Noah I love your review you as well as Matthew Matosis are absolutely brilliant.

[@hamzaisa3130]

reviews*

[@wakesake]

I would love to see a video about Daikatana the PC version and a HUGE thank you for making these videos

[@TheThomasCW]

Noah, your videos are so damned good. Hats off!

[@omnaysayer]

another excellent review. you're a videogame priest to me, i hear each sermon wholeheartedly. guide us through the dark, father.

[@BassbaitGG]

It's too bad you've never done anything console related, because I'd love to see your take on the Twisted Metal series, particularly Twisted Metal: Black, which is one of the most absurdly dark games ever.

[@stuart9411]

Here at the 7 year anniversary. Thank you, sir!

[@michelekribel2247]

Most insightful and correct (whatever that means :D) review of the game I've seen. Thank you.

[@remoteviewer6]

the idea that this game and these films are a mythical patchwork assembled from ideas common to each of them reminds of dark souls and the way that those games also deal with figurative echoes - characters and archetypes appearing in different games; some of them with different names and appearances, and others who are more or less the same every time. i wouldn't assume that mad max was any sort of influence there, but berserk most certainly was and it's much easier to suggest that berserk was inspired by mad max (along with conan the barbarian, hellraiser, etc). i might finally have to play this.

[@nathaneskin3572]

You should give the movies a watch if you haven't. But I can only recommend The Road Warrior and Fury Road, since Mad Max hasn't aged well at all, and Beyond Thunderdome was mediocre.

[@MoMoGFunk]

Amazing quality as always.

[@DocFlamingo]

Griffa would have worked much better if he was explicitly revealed as a hallucination once Max started getting his shit together and making the decision to reclaim his humanity.

[@flagainst3]

Again, i love these videos. :)

[@zetetick395]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence" _and_ "A Canticle for Leibowitz" - Two properly special books! - (to this day I wish someone would publish the famed visionary mass of notes ( nearly 2 decades worth) that later became reduced into "Lila" - the labyrinthine sequel to 'Zen'). - Both books have deep wells of Human experience, *Well* worth checking into. Noah : If you enjoy 'Canticle' maybe you'd like "Riddley Walker" by Russel Hoban : for me it's just the perfect Post apocalyptic novel. - Also "Wool" by Hugh Howey, if you Love Fallout (and the paranoiac head-space of those trapped in a 'Vault' after the end of the world) - Deeply Enjoyable!!

[@Flatlander81]

Very cool review, one thing though the character's name as Pappagallo and it was implied this was his surname with his first never being spoken. Keep up the good work, you've got a new subscriber.

[@UponDemise666]

Metro: Exodus in the desert section (Summer in the game) reminds me SO much of the world of Mad Max. A fantastic game as well.

[@pavelskrylnikov9658]

Honestly i cared about Chumbucket lot more then about whatever their names were. And actually felt bad when Max betrayed him.

[@diegowushu]

I agree with most of the vid, excelent points bro. The environments are really breathtaking, I just played it a few months ago, 3 years after release and found it astonishing. One of the few times I've actually stopped and gawked at the scenery. I also found the ending infuriating, was that really the best they could do? "Everyone is fine again! Finish your checklist!". They could at least ask you if you wanted to keep playing, so as to not leave the sour taste.

[@JaredEMitchell]

Noah! You're back! :D Also, your video seems to be linking to a lot of film reviews in French.

[@Skriak]

Despite being a big fan of the movies it somehow took me 5 years to play the game. Honestly it was worth the wait: like the Magnum Opus the game is more than the sum of its parts.

[@KudiGamer]

Excellent review

[@unclepatrick2]

Love your music choice.

[@OldmanJables]

I will admit that a Mad Max game review was not what I was expecting from you Noah. I don't mean that as a if it were a problem, simply that prior to really thinking about it, this didn't strike me as the sort of game you would play. Either way your review is fantastic and insightful as they always are and I very much enjoyed it. Looking forward towhat you do moving forward as always.

[@krovarus1911]

by the end game I just used a trainer to add scrap and that kept the game play fun for me

[@schweinebauch666]

The funniest thing is when you enter the car from the left side too often and Chumbucket expresses his concerns about your sanity.

[@t.websterproductions5383]

Just a note, it's been said offically that the game is a prequel not a sequel, that's why your fully upgraded outfit resembles the outfit from the beginning of Fury Road.

[@SandroAerogen]

I can absolutely agree with your sentiment on the ending of this game. It felt so contrived, stupid, pointless and just generally poorly written and thought out that it was highly frustrating and completely made me regret playing the game through to the end. They really should have done Chum better imho since he really was the most likeable character in the game.

[@namelessone3989]

I actualy wanted to play the game before watching your video, but I couldn't resist.

[@TheTundraTerror]

gg sleep

[@glocks4interns]

I liked the game quite a bit and I liked this review as well. I think it's very interesting that you'd not played the Arkham games or SoM, when thinking about this game I thought "man, I would have liked this a lot more a few years ago" and I think your take on it really confirms that. The combat system in Mad Max is great in the abstract, it feels good, it feels fluid. The thing is the Arkham games and even more-so, Shadow of Mordor do it better. I'd really recommend SoM, surprise great game of 2014.

[@jamsque]

I was on board with this all the way until you said you hadn't played any of the 'new' Batman games, by which I can only assume you mean everything from Arkham Asylum forward. I think the vast, vast majority of the critics reviewing this game will have already experienced the combat system in those Batman games, if not Shadow of Mordor and the more recent Assassin's Creed releases too. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that you enjoyed the combat in this game given your situation since Arkham Asylum laid out a really fantastic set of melee combat mechanics, but surely you cannot begrudge reviewers holding it against the game when they have probably played multiple games with identical combat in the past five years.

[@DOC0OC]

+Jamsque i agree with you. the combat is miss compared to Arkham games. and holding buttons during combat is the worst thing they added. they should've at least made picking weapons from the ground by pressing.

[@bazzy5644]

+BackDack His point with not scaling scrap is for me personally a gamebreaker i will not pick this game up, unless it can be moded to scale. Also his 145k scrap number is a thing this game should be punished in ervery review for, because it does not rspect the player and the time investment. In conclusion with the final plot i have my doubts if i will be always playing this game to completion.

[@broadcaststsatic]

+Hans Peter It's actually just 45k, which is still an outrageous figure considering the size of scrap bundles.

[@bazzy5644]

Ok, thanks for the right number :)

[@amazonguitar22]

+Hans Peter yea i totally agree. I also think that they missed an opportunity with the survival gameplay. Water for health doesnt seem like enough there should have been a water and food meter present. Also im not a fan of chum being essentially part of the car. Its a single player experience i dont think he needed a sidekick it should be mostly silence when youre exploring the wasteland.

[@rancho890]

Just bought it because of your review. Heard a lot of negative but after seeing your reviews I felt like I can trust your opinion. Enjoying it so far. Thanks for your thoughtful work.

[@hiteshk1]

wow! what an insight. Totally loved your take on it. Thanks for making such elaborated videos. I will support you on Patreon one day (when I would be able to earn much). and I have a request. Noah, Could you please make a video about Shadow of Mordor? I know you haven't played the game. But it is an excellent one. Give it a try.

[@Minority119]

actually there's been a mad max game back on the NES, but I can't blame you for not knowing, it's pretty shit also a totally-not-madmax game on genesis and snes called OutLander

[@Absolynth]

I adored this game in its best moments, while admittedly finding its open endedness bordering on pointlessness here and there. Still, in the moment, I was treated to an experience combining all my pleasant memories of Twisted Metal, Interstate 82, and even a little fallout, juxtaposed with extremely beautiful aesthetic presentation made for a highly enjoyable experience for me. The biggest misstep of the game in my opinion is the limited number of convoys. Once these epic encounters are gone, a good chunk of fun feels abscent suddenly for no good reason. It feels arbitrary, but perhaps necessary in some game mechanic consideration. But by the time your asking that, the immersion and fun is hurt for it. Still, at its core, this game tries very hard to offer an approachable, beautiful, brutal and geographically massive, finally giving me a lot of aspects i often had over multiple titles over several decades, rolled up into one package. For a generation that tends to heavily to its detriment at times focus on quality over quantity, this game presented me with both in jaw dropping abundance. No it isnt witcher 3,but lets be honest, its a movie tie in game, directly or indirectly. This could have been waaaay worse and you all know it.

[@kavinskysmith4094]

Hey Noah I have a request, do the driver series for one of these, I say that as I just finished the mad max review you just did, and I'd be curious to see your take on them. and their ties to the 1978 movie the driver and how other car chase films and games were inspired by them.

[@stefan0453]

damn those intos just bring back the good old days

[@Ataor]

Hello Noah, say did you played Planescape: torment? And if you do, are you planning to do review on him? Thanks in advance.

[@mahound9]

11:51 ooh! is that an easteregg? The wheel rim hanging off the back of the truck... like the one Johnny the Boy threw through Goose's ute's window in the first one?...

[@SilentAttackTV]

Hello Noah. Found your channel and subscribed last night.

[@walrusman86808]

That drive into the big nothing was poetic

[@bobbinsthethird]

What I didn't really get was during the video you were saying it was enforced completionism, to get the highest tier upgrades. But, did you need the highest tier upgrades? It seems like it wasn't necessary.

[@Iceozo1]

It's definitely not needed although you do need certain upgrades to continue the game (like the first V8 upgrade) but the car does not need to be maxed to finished. To fully upgrade your car is a choice, but it's definitely something I'd recommend because it feels so great to be behind the wheel of such a powerful car.

[@FrankieTroll511]

One thing i really appreciated of Mad Max is the "madness arising". After seeing Hope and Glory are dead, during normal gameplay happens to have allucinations hearing their voices. "You left us" "What are you doing, Max?". They gave me cripples...

[@kloakovalimonada]

It's three decades between Thunderdome and Fury Road, not two :) Great analysis, as always.

[@vermithraxplays1615]

As an old MM fan, where do you people get these numbers from? I mean yeah I have read what you said on a wikia before but really? The chronology of the first movies makes kinda some sense but fury road? 30 years after thunderdome? almost as weird as that thing i heard of it taking place right after the first movie. all I can find is a handful of non-commital comments by george miller which make no allusions to dates whatsoever. he won't even commit to his old continuity only making vague remarks along the way... not to be rude. just wondering...

[@aspie182]

Just want to point out something. About 23 minutes into your video, you speak of the Gyro Captain and Jedediah as if they are the same person. George Miller has made it very clear in the wake of Fury Road that just because the same actor appears in two different films does not necessarily mean they are playing the same character. The Gyro Captain and Jedediah are two different men. This is especially obvious when you stop to remember that the good guys in Mad Max 2 left a wasteland to travel to what they were under the impression was a beachy tropical paradise whilst Beyond Thunderdome takes place in what is essentially the same wasteland. Nonetheless, I am going to give the game another try. Your review has motivated me to reassess it.

[@xaosbob]

I feel the ending also violates the mythic arc of Max in the movies. He fights so long to pull himself back up into humanity again, and at the end of the game, throws it all away, including all his/the player's work on the Opus, including his only real friend, for what? A gesture? A dramatic "fuck you" that doesn't even stick? I actually wrote the publishers about that, because until that moment, Mad Max was actually threatening to unseat Fallout as my favorite game version of a post-apocalypse. Mechanically, though, the end of the entire third act is a mess. -The Gastown race: the game should have been teaching you all along how to drive in circumstances like that. Tight curves, lots of obstacles, no shortcuts. The race is not a measure of the driving skills you have developed and built up the Opus for, it is a one-off, and because it is so different from literally all the other gameplay--even the races!--it was an hours-long slog for me. -The convoy fight was amazing, and felt like we had been trained for this by the game itself, in stark contrast to the Gastown race. My only wish was that it had spanned the map and had ALL the bad guys, AND that the warlords you helped along the way would have come in as support. But that's just me wishlisting, not criticizing. That this part was so good only highlights how terrible the previous race was, as well as the disaster that was... -The fight with Scrotus. Ostensibly, the Top Dogs should have been prep for that fight. The fact they were palette swaps of the same dude would have been forgivable if that Scrotus fight had been like those, just ramped up. I would have been delighted to have twenty minutes to punch in his fucking face for everything he had done (to me, to my car, to Chum, to the wasteland, and oh yeah, to Hope and Glory). The melee really is gratifying in Mad Max, and all I wanted to do was go in full-on rage mode on that bastard, and what did I get? A bizarre fight with me throwing boomsticks at MY INTERCEPTOR (after the Opus is toast, mind) while dodge-rolling out of the way, and then a fucking quick-time event. A QTE? Where the hell did that come from?! Yeah, I'm still sore about that. -And then unlocking free play for no discernible goal other than sandboxing, with all the good toys and nothing to use them on that matters, like you said. And that's sad, because honestly, again, overall this is one of my favorite games, and I hate almost everything about the ending. Still love the game. Great review, and on point! Subbed.

[@Toecuttah]

Your videos are awesome!

[@0Letten0]

hey hey good to see you again