History VideoGame / MadMax2015

With the PC release of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' coming earlier in 2015, and Mad Max being released on the same day as ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', it was massively overshadowed by those two open world mega franchises. Despite this inauspicious start the game launched to fair to good reviews and did enough to become one of the sleeper hits of 2015. Subverting the expectations of many people in the media & gaming community who thought it would be a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames rushed, zero-depth licensed game]] due to launching around the same time as ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. In short, ''Mad Max'' was praised for its [[Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries Arkham-style]] combat, driving mechanics and wasteland aesthetic, but received criticism for its graphical glitches and repetitive missions.

* DownerEnding:
** [[spoiler:This game somehow manages to have an ending even more depressing than the end of the first movie. You know, the one where Max's family is killed and leaving him a broken shell of a man? Hope and Glory end up getting brutally murdered by Scrotus, triggering the voices that Max starts hearing, and Max ends up destroying the Magnum Opus while trying to kill Scrotus, killing Chumbucket in the process. The only consolation is that Max gets his Interceptor back.]]
** [[spoiler:Thematically, it's completely appropriate to a ''Mad Max'' story; despite everything that happened over the course of the game, Max ends up almost exactly how he started. He gets into the Interceptor with the photo of his family and drives off in search of the Plains of Silence, exactly what he was doing before the War Boys caught him.]]

* EveryCarIsAPinto: As might be expected, every car in the game explodes in a massive fireball when you kill it. The Magnum Opus is only slightly less volatile; when it runs out of health you get a five-second timer to bail out and let Chumbucket repair it, and it explodes if you don't.

* MachineWorship: Chumbucket believes that auto mechanics is a holy pursuit. He worships the "Angel Combustion" and believes his goal in life is to make the greatest car ever, with Max being the Saint sent by said Angel to help him in his sacred work.

** You can unlock blue facepaint for Max. [[Film/BraveHeart Hmm]]...

** Chumbucket says the Buzzards "[[Film/AlienS mostly come out at night. Yes, yes, mostly.]]"

** VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Alternatively, you can stay in your car and run them over if you're feeling particularly evil.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Some of the cars Max can collect have cool and unique properties, such as "The Twelve"'s V12 engine and the "Drop Kicker"'s ability to dispense mines from its rear, and high ramming damage. However, without Chumbucket's repairing ability or the other weapons available on the Magnum Opus, they aren't very useful. Though it does help if you have been upgrading Strongholds you should be getting a sizable donation of Scrap, you can repair the vehicles yourself with the "quick repair" function.

''Mad Max'' is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure game with vehicular combat elements, set in an open world environment and is heavily based on the ''Film/MadMax'' film series. It was developed by Creator/AvalancheStudios and published by Creator/WarnerBrosInteractiveEntertainment and was released for [[UsefulNotes/{{MicrosoftWindows}} Windows]], UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 on September 1, 2015, with a macOS and [[UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} Linux]] port provided by Creator/FeralInteractive on October 20th, 2016.

* AlternateContinuity: The game fits George Miller's view of ''Mad Max'' as a series of myths and legends about one figure, [[NegativeContinuity in which you can usually find quite a bit of inconsistency.]] The game references things found in all three films. The tie-in comics for ''Fury Road'' feature details from the game as backstory for the film, so the game fits best as a prequel to that film, but the film itself never directly references the plot of the game.

* TheAllegedCar: The Magnum Opus starts out as a rusty frame on wheels, but can be upgraded and customized into a four-wheeled, fire-breathing death machine.

* MagnumOpus: In-universe this is Max's car to Chumbucket, literally referred to as the 'Magnum Opus'. What starts off as nothing more than a chassis with tied-together wheels and a pitiful V6 engine eventually evolves into a monster of a vehicle capable of taking on anything within the game with brutal effectiveness.

* FreakOut: [[spoiler:Max near the end, in which he starts hearing voices, possibly leading to his AmbiguousDisorder status in ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''.]]

* ActionGirl: Tenderloin, the "fighter" who mans Max's Thunderpoons during the big race.

* ContinuityNod: Like all of the ''Mad Max'' films, the game ''sort of'' makes nods at previous movies and stories, such as the War Boys, but they're also not exactly holding continuity.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:This game somehow manages to have an ending even more depressing than the end of the first movie. You know, the one where Max's family is killed and leaving him a broken shell of a man? Hope and Glory end up getting brutally murdered by Scrotus, triggering the voices that Max starts hearing, and Max ends up destroying the Magnum Opus while trying to kill Scrotus, killing Chumbucket in the process. The only consolation is that Max gets his Interceptor back.]]

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Inverted. Max makes some allies through the game that eventually become the closest things to friends he has. However, he is in so much denial about it that he can't see it. Dog in the dream sequence even points out that it is a bit too late for Max to not make friends.

* KickTheDog: Literally in this case. Scrotus sends a dog after Max, but when Max fends off the dog, Scrotus tosses it off of his truck for his failure.

* MythologyGag: The game has a couple of little nods to the movies.

With the PC release of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' coming earlier in 2015, and Mad Max being released on the same day as ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', it was massively overshadowed by those two open world mega franchises. Despite this inauspicious start the game launched to fair to good reviews and did enough to become one of the sleeper hits of 2015. Subverting the expectations of many people in the media & gaming community who thought it would be a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames rushed, zero-depth licensed game]] due to launching around the same time as ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. In short, ''Mad Max'' was praised for its [[Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries Arkham-style]] combat, driving mechanics and wasteland aesthetic, but recieved criticism for its graphical glitches and repetitive missions.

* AlternateContinuity: The game fits George Miller's view of Mad Max as a series of myths and legends about one figure, [[NegativeContinuity in which you can usually find quite a bit of inconsistency.]] The game references things found in all three films. The tie-in comics for ''Fury Road'' feature details from the game as backstory for the film, so the game fits best as a prequel to that film, but the film itself never directly references the plot of the game.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Improving strongholds involves building various facilities in them, and for most of those, you need to find project parts, which can be scattered across different scavenging locations. These only become marked on the map once you've been in their vicinity at least once, which would make looking for missing project parts quite frustrating if it were not for the Survey Crew, the stronghold project that reveals all of the scavenging locations in the region. This project always has its parts located in Enemy Camps (with exception to the Dump, since it possesses no camps), which can be marked on the map by visiting Vantage Points in the region. This means you always have the means to locate the required project parts without having to aimlessly drive around the map and hope you're lucky.

** Because of the minefield side missions, the player will have to take the Dog and Chum's Buggy out of the Strongholds very often. To compensate for the fact that the game is forcing you to use a car with no repair function or any weapons besides the shotgun, the Buggy travels relatively quickly both on- and off-road, has an excellent suspension that allows it to withstand most bumps and falls, alongside insanely high health that makes it all but indestructible.

* BigNo: After [[spoiler:Max discovers he was too late to save Glory (who [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in his arms]]) and her mother from the hands of Scrotus.]]

** Scrotus [[spoiler:survives having a chainsaw shoved straight through his forehead in the opening cutscene, bisecting his longitudinal fissure. Due to the fact that the blade couldn't be removed without killing him, he wears it like a crown for the rest of the game.]]

* CrapsackWorld: The game does a very fine job of showing how the wasteland sucks balls, even more so when war tribes own everything. Corpse-infesting maggots, rats, lizards and expired cans of dog food are considered a delicacy and the main sustenance the common people. You'll see a few people wandering the desert dying of thirst, people begging for a MercyKill and desiccated bodies being hung on the gallows from here and there.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:This game somehow manages to have an ending even more depressing than the end of the first movie. You know, the one where his family was killed leaving him a broken shell of a man? Hope and Glory end up getting brutally murdered by Scrotus, triggering the voices that Max starts hearing, and Max ends up destroying the Magnum Opus while trying to kill Scrotus, killing Chumbucket in the process. The only consolation is that Max gets his Interceptor back.]]
** [[spoiler:Thematically, it's completely appropriate to a Mad Max story; despite everything that happened over the course of the game, Max ends up almost exactly how he started. He gets into the Interceptor with the photo of his family and drives off in search of the plains of silence, exactly what he was doing before the War Boys caught him.]]

* InNameOnly: Ultimately averted. Avalanche initially dropped the Australian accents and the setting, admitting to treating it as an entirely new story instead of a Mad Max game, resulting in something that appeared as nothing more than a generic post-apocalyptic game rather than anything resembling the ''Mad Max'' series. Although a combination of a petition to have Max voiced by an Australian (eventually revealed to be actor/martial artist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bren_Foster Bren Foster]]), George Miller himself intervening to set down some ground rules for creating the Wasteland, and even had his production company create all the characters, did a great deal to alleviate the concerns of the fans.
* InformedAttribute: The Top Dogs. Each is given a rather colourful bio, many of them feeling like they'd make great ''Mad Max'' film villains. In practice, the only difference their personality makes is how they taunt you pre-fight; otherwise, they're just [[PaletteSwap Palette Swaps]] of each other, who use the same fighting style and whose boss fights, therefore, play out almost identically.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Scabrous Scrotus. He begins as a (relatively) normal warlord, but something happens to him that turns him into a bloodthirsty monster who can only find solace from his own pain through the suffering of others. [[spoiler:Turns out that he ''survived'' the chainsaw to the head, albeit taking severe brain damage in the process.]]
* KickTheDog: Literally in this case. Scrotus sends the dog after Max, but when Max fends off the dog, Scrotus tosses it off of his truck for his failure.

* MachineWorship: Chumbucket believes that auto mechanics is a holy pursuit. He worships "Angel Combustion" and believes his goal in life is to make the greatest car ever, with Max being the Saint sent to help him in his work.

** [[spoiler: Did the events of the game even happen? Due to ending up exactly how you started the game there is a good chance that everything that happened was entirely in Max's mind.]]
* MeaningfulName: Hope and Glory represent the potential for a better tomorrow. [[spoiler:So, of course, they end up dead.]]

* ThePromisedLand: Max is trying to make his way to the Plains of Silence when he is accosted by Scrotus's War Boys. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted. Max's character bio reveals that the Plains of Silence don't exist: Max is so mentally broken that he created a mythical place in order to escape from his demons. That said, it might be double subverted. Griffa tells Max at one point in the game that he is "already there," at the Plains of Silence. The Plains of Silence are actually the result of Max wiping Scrotus' influence from the game map. After all the convoys, fuel pumps, and transfer stations are destroyed, the wasteland does seem to be noticeably quieter, and emptier. At the end of the game, after the credits roll, Max stands on the edge of a cliff overlooking the wasteland, proclaiming that his mission is done and that the Plains of Silence await. The game then presents you with free roam mode, inviting you to continue exploring...or "crossing the Plains of Silence," as it were.]]

** At the beginning each settlement is pretty much only existing because it has some form of shelter and everyone is miserable. After Max comes along to offer assistance, he can transform them into thriving societies where the people now believe there is hope that things can change.

* ShoutOut: You can unlock blue facepaint for Max. [[Film/BraveHeart Hmm]]...

* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:Scab, a former war boy turned into a human blood bag after he had failed Scrotus. It's thanks to his blood that Max was saved and then later gives Max the information of where to find Scrotus.]]

** One codex entry explains that the slave trade is a specialized business, as most people in the wasteland are already perfectly willing to work in slave-like conditions just in order to stay alive, so the only people actually worth enslaving and selling are either beautiful, have particularly useful skills, or [[CollectorOfTheStrange have bizarre mutations]].

* EldritchLocation: Any of the places where Griffa appears, rocky mazes that only Max can enter, where the air turns into an unearthly [[SupernaturalIsPurple purple or burgundy tone]] that gradually turns red as he approaches Griffa. Ethereal screams fill Max's mind and the walls are covered in strange, chalky Aboriginal glyphs seeming to depict corpses and atomic blastwaves. Not only does the atmosphere clear after speaking with Griffa, but the drawings disappear as well, further deepening the mystery of just who, or what, the hell Griffa actually is.

* BossArenaIdiocy: One of the Top Dogs is weak to fire, yet has a bunch of flame traps in this arena.

* BossArenaStupidity: One of the Top Dogs is weak to fire, yet has a bunch of flame traps in this arena.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:This game somehow manages to have an ending even more depressing than the end of the first movie. You know, the one where his family was killed leaving him a broken shell of a man? Hope and Glory end up getting brutally murdered by Scrotus, triggering the voices that Max start hearing, and Max ends up destroying the Magnum Opus while trying to kill Scrotus, killing Chumbucket in the process. The only consolation is that Max gets his Interceptor back.]]

-> ''"It is known that the world fell, and that most people in it died. The dead will not suffer the hardships of the terrible world which remains. Those born into this hell have no remembrance of anything else. Those who survived...Those who are the truly broken. For they know what was before."''

The general plot is that Max has run afoul of Scabrous Scrotus, a psychotic warlord and his War Boys. After a scuffle that left him half-naked and wounded, he got his beloved V8 Interceptor stolen and dismantled by marauders and he ends up reluctantly working with Chumbucket, a zealous, hunchbacked "blackfinger" (mechanic), to build a new car. Chumbucket sees Max as a saint sent by the Angel Combustion (Chumbucket's personal deity) to help him complete his car, the Magnum Opus. Max simply sees Chumbucket as a means of getting a replacement vehicle so that he can finally reach an area of the Wasteland called the Plains of Silence and find peace in a world gone mad, but not without going up against many of its savage inhabitants with the only way he knows: [[GoodOldFisticuffs fists,]] [[WrestlerInAllOfUs sick wrestling moves]] and his trusty [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter sawn-off shotgun.]]

-> ''"I know you, you're the driver."''
-->-- '''Chumbucket, upon meeting Max'''

* BadassBeard: Max sports one in the game. You can even unlock alternate looks that progressively grow out his hair and beard.

With the PC release of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' coming earlier in 2015, and Mad Max being released on the same day as ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', it was massively overshadowed by those two open world mega franchises. Despite this inauspicious start the game launched to fair to good reviews and did enough to become one of the sleeper hits of 2015. Subverting the expectations of many people in the media & gaming community who thought it would be a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames rushed, zero-depth licensed game]] due to launching around the same time as ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. In short, ''Mad Max'' was praised for its [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity Arkham-style]] combat, driving mechanics and wasteland aesthetic, but recieved criticism for its graphical glitches and repetitive missions.

* RealityEnsues:
** Falling a pretty long way down is a bad idea. If he survives, Max will limp for a few seconds before being able to stand upright again.
** One codex entry explains that the slave trade is a specialized business, as most people in the wasteland are already perfectly willing to work in slave-like conditions just in order to stay alive, so the only people actually worth enslaving and selling are either beautiful, have particularly useful skills, or [[CollectorOfTheStrange have bizarre mutations]].
** Stank Gum, being way skinnier than the Top Dogs or Scrotus, is way easier to fight on foot than during a race. While he is fast, Max is stronger, trained as a police officer and is armed with a shotgun.

* BoringButPractical: The most basic combo finisher is a vertical spinning backfist. It's nowhere near as flashy as some of the wrestling moves, like the suplex, but it's also one of the fastest. Considering enemies can damage you during the slower ones, and break your combo string, the backfist will be your go to.