Recent reviews by Al'Jinn

Finally done with this game so here are my 2 cents about it:
Mad Max is pure wreck~ownage!

The guys at Avalanche Studios sure know what Mad Max as a video game should be.

Mad Max is what an open-world game is these days: A really big map full of secondary missions, collectibles etc. If you go straight to the main story point, there's little chance you'll get bored of it. The introduction scene shows us how Max bumps into the big-badass-evil guy of the game and gets hard-beaten by him, leaving Max alone now that his beloved car got stolen. You'll then leave a blood path on your way getting back Max' humming property by all means.

Max is kinda apathetic and you probably won't feel close to him but this is what living in a post-apocalyptic world, fighting for everything you need makes you. You'll even have much more empathy for the secondary characters like Chumbucket, the hideous mechanic, or for those chieftains getting a hold of their stronghold and trying to restore a trace of civilisation in this devastated world by asking Max mutually beneficial favours.

The Just Cause series' engine is reaching a peaking potential in Mad Max: The game is just blowing in every possible way regarding scenery and art direction (Just give a few minutes of your time to take a look at this game media hub and its splendid screenshots). It's like you're playing a film in real time (Ok I might be over-reacting here but I really got struck... or thunderstruck sometimes -"O~oh here it comes, the mighty DUSTER!"). Of course, most of the game is a massive desert but even if it sounds like "emptiness", it really swarms with details. So are the interior parts of the game where the level design is smart, various and accurate.
Ah yeah, and there's just no damn loading screen at all while you roam around dusty roads, conquer camps and do your badass stuff. Well ok, loading screens happen when you use the fast travel, enter a stronghold... or if you die or retry a car race but it's all your unskilled fault! No bug, no hiccup, not a single crash: Smoothness incarnate.

The game might be sorted as a TPS but it's more of an arcade racing game actually. Gameplay is mostly about customising your car, making it a Carmageddon-like wrecking machine to fight your way through the hostile desert and its horde of wandering vultures -but those have spiky cars and petrol-fueled weapons so beware of scars and burns!
Apart from that, you'll obviously get out of your car sometimes and have to fight with bare hands. Combat gameplay looks like a mix of Batman (Rocksteady ones) and Assassin's Creed, punching hard from time to time between QTE parries. The main difference is how violently Max deals with it: breaking spines, arms, heads and any body part you usually care of (He knows a bit of Onizuka's German Suplex too!). Sensations and feedback are there but this might feel like déjà vu.


This game really deserves to get more spotlight even if it feels old now (Sept. 2015). It suffered from lame reviews at the time it was released and from other games outshining it for no reason (MGS V anyone?). Just get it from next sales if you don't trust me or buy it now and let go of your wrath on the fury road!

Un jeu splendide, tant graphiquement que musicalement, et à l'ambiance vraiment atypique. L'héroïne -chanteuse rendue muette par ses détracteurs- assouvit sa vengeance, armée d'une épée où est emprisonnée l'âme de son bien-aimé, dont l'esprit distille ses encouragements et conseils au fil du périple. L'univers confronte la chaleur d'un monde humain à la froideur des règles et structures établies par l'entité IA qui dirige la ville.

Le système de combat est bien amené, mêlant combinaisons et synergies de compétences dans des phases où la réflexion est de mise au vu de la difficulté marquée. La possibilité d'interrompre le déroulement des combats pour planifier une séquence d'actions apporte une dimension stratégique très appréciable et pousse au "die & retry" afin d'effectuer le combat parfait, pour les plus exigeants d'entre nous ;)

Un must-have pour le quidam en mal d'aventure dépaysante !