In the first cutscene, before you even get control, Max is run down by Scrotus' land mover. He proceeds to catch up—on foot—climb all over it, and fight Scrotus with his bare hands, ending with Scrotus getting his own chainsaw-staff right between the eyes.
Similarly, Max kicking the asses of War Boys in his Interceptor is pretty badass as well. The Oh, Crap! reactions that they have when he escapes them briefly and turns the tables are epic.
Vehicular combat is handled perfectly in this game. Taking out a convoy by yourself, by a combination of ramming and long-ranged weapons, really brings you to that glorious feeling of being Mad Max.
The visual effects of this game are glorious. Regardless of one's opinion of the minimalist plot, one cannot deny that Avalanche Games got the look and feel of a Mad Max universe perfectly.
Max's reaction to Hope and Glory being killed by Scrotus. While it's a tragic moment, up until now Max has not taken Scrotus' Roaring Rampage of Revenge personal. After this, Max finally has a reason to stand up to the tyrant, and everyone who knows Mad Max will know this can only end badly for Scaborous Scrotus.
The Gastown race has Max beating Stank Gum in a race, Tenderloin in a fist fight and would have killed Scrotus here and there had Stank Gum didn't intervene. No one can come close to beat the Road warrior be it on car or on foot.
Fighting enemies in the middle of a sandstorm is dangerous but feels great, as debris and sand blot the light and no one give up, even the war crier who is being dangled by the wind won't stop.
While the ending is tragic, it is rather badass to watch Max become so full of rage that he takes on Scrotus's armada pretty much all by himself. Even if it led to the death of Chumbucket solely because of his rage, seeing someone become so full of the wasteland's horrors to the point of becoming scarier than Scrotus himself is disturbingly awesome.
Crosses over with heartwarming, but over the course of the game Max can help build up the strongholds of his allies. The changes are subtle at first, but over time you see them becoming more and more self-sufficient, with an increased number of people visible and eventually leading to the sight and sound of children. Max's actions change the land around him, and he leaves the people he encounters better off, even if that wasn't his intent.
