I just watched Fury Road for the first time last night, and I really enjoyed it.
I'm not usually a huge fan of post-apocalyptic movies or games, but after watching Fury Road I thought about giving the Mad Max game a try.

The minute I considered that, I couldn't help but think about Shadow of Mordor, which I've never played. I know they've drawn some comparisons with the similar "Arkham" combat, and I've also heard that the nemesis system makes Shadow of Mordor the better game, but I want to know what you guys think.

Which game do you duders prefer?

Haven't played Mad Max, but word of mouth is solidly behind Shadow of Mordor. GB's GOTY for last year, and my personal favorite game, too. Most of the reviews of Mad Max were pretty tepid, although some people really liked it.

I know some people really disliked Shadow of Mordor, but I had a great time with it.

I did not want to play more of Shadow of Mordor for some reason. In Mad Max, I cleared out all of Jeet's territory before putting it down, although the entire time, I was admitting to myself that the whole thing is just a mediocre open world action game with barely-contextualized activities populating the map.

Honestly, I think your time is better spent playing something else until Fallout 4 comes out. Watch The Road Warrior instead.

Currently almost finished Mad Max. This is what I think.

Shadow of Mordor is a more unique game. The nemesis system really does add a lot. However, it starts to fall apart the farther you go. As you level up, you gain abilities that basically negate the nemesis system entirely, and make the game far too easy. The final sections of the game really aren't very good or difficult, and in general, the game has a lot of promise that it doesn't deliver on. However, they've added modes after release that are about assassinating war chiefs like in the main game, but without the campaign structure, and lend themselves more to the games strongsuit, which is playing around with the nemesis system. The story isn't the best, but there are some decent moments and performances, and one villain called The Tower is way too awesome for how they end up using him in the game.

Mad Max lacks the nemesis system, but has some really satisfying, exciting car combat. Fighting convoys is always great fun, and while simple and derivative, the animation work (real hard hitting wrestling moves) and finer details of hand combat make it really exciting. Story isn't really why you come to the game, but the villain is good fun, and it has some decent moments the farther you get in it.

I'd put them at a dead even personally, Mad Max only gets better as it goes on, while Shadow of Mordor only gets worse, but Shadow of Mordor does have a cool gimmick to play around with, and some of the alternate modes seem like the way that game should be played. Mad Max has the benefit of variety in that it's also got car combat. Story wise, they're about even, which means not great but not bad. The foot combat, in my opinion, is better than any of the batman games, and really fun, but still derivative and might be too much if you've played a lot of batman games. Mad max has better foot combat if only because it isn't made ridiculously easy by later upgrades as in Shadow of Mordor.

One thing, exploration is better in Mad Max. You don't get the nemesis system random encounters, but there are some neat things to find out in the wasteland, whereas the world of Shadow of Mordor is really quite bland.

So I'd rate them pretty much evenly, but since Shadow of Mordor is cheaper, that may be preferable to the very new Mad Max

@betterley: They're both basically the same quality of game except Mordor came out at the right time and Mad Max didn't. All the GOTY nominations, all the praise, for a fairly uninteresting world and mechanics we've all seen and done before.

As said above, you'd be better off holding onto your money for the time being. Ultimately if you're on a Mad Max high then the game is probably going to satiate that a lot better than Tolkien high fantasy.

I played, did most of the side stuff, and finished both games, and I can easily say that Shadow of Mordor is my preference and can recommend to that over Mad Max, without question. I had a good time with Mad Max, but there was a lot of persistent annoyances in that game, and near the end I wanted to be done with it and uninstall it. With Shadow of Mordor, other than collecting plants or whatever, I finished all the side missions, killed as many warlords as I could, and I was bummed when it was over.

So, if I were to recommend which to get, it would be Shadow of Mordor, for sure. Mad Max is decent, there's some cool stuff about it, and real uncool stuff. Mad Max is a game you should pick up when it goes on sale....after you finish the other game.

Dude that's some hard choices. Neither of them are really that great.

On one hand you have Shadow of mordor. It has really satisfying combat , and fun but shallow stealth segments. Nemesis system makes the game but that is not a compliment. After 10 or so hours I started to get burned. The world is bland and not that interesting even with the second zone. The story is quite bad. Like I said everything relies on Nemesis system and you dying from time to time. The core sword play is some fine flashy and brutal stuff.

On the other hand is Mad max. It is similar no Ubisoft colectathon open worlds and a lot of stuff is nothing ground breaking. But the car combat is really satisfying, upgrades are also alright event if they are linear. Story is also not that good. There are some memorable characters. Melee combat is not as fluid as most games with batman combat. The strongest point besides the car is the visual aesthetic . The skyboxes are amazing, the post apocalyptic desert is a sight to behold . It is a very pretty game with a satisfying car combat. And pc version is one of the most optimized pc releases to date.

So pick your poison. Both are games are alright but nothing exceptional. If I may ask are there any other games you are interested besides these 2?

Shadow of Mordor has the more interesting mechanical contribution to games, there's no doubt about that. Mad Maxxy at the very least is prettier, and feels like it has more variety and personality. Also, great explosions/fire/smoke.

Mordor is kind of a bleak game when you look back on it. Just this depressing ass barren world that's just you and 1,000,000 orcs that love to kill you over and over again. After you and your family are murdered, you chop off an innumerable amount of green limbs while murdering every living organism you bump into.

Mad Max is better than most people say, the world looks fantastic and while the side activities are kinda bland the car combat is really great

Mordor's a good game but it starts off strong and really, really peters out as it goes on. The final act of that game almost torpedoes the whole thing

@betterley: Actually I have the perfect solution for you!

You want an open world game, with some fun car combat, unique fighting system and gangs?

Get Sleeping Dogs

If you're coming off the movie high, then Mad Max would make more sense. IMO it's a mediocre game with jank melee combat and bland campaign/side-stuff, only highlight being the car combat (which I personally don't enjoy). Mordor is the better game mechanically. Nails the Batman combat, unlike Mad Max. And Nemesis is amazing, unless you're not dying. Even though I only died twice during my play-through, I still appreciated the system. However campaign in Mordor is also boring.

Mordor is a better game, never beat either but i kinda got bored with Mad Max after a couple of hours at least mordor kept me interested for longer than that.

@edgaras1103: Maybe I just ought to finish the Witcher 3, huh?

@betterley: Nah man, finishing witcher 3 left me empty for a week and I needed to readjust to other games. Its the worst feeling lol. You better hold on finishing the game until the last expansion droped.

Mad Max grabbed me immediately, Mordor did not. I'm about 40 hours into Max because I have a ocd problem and I love it. The car. It's all about the car.

I think Mad Max is far too tame to be played after Fury Road or even Mad Max 2. The action is nowhere close. I think they failed.

Just finished mad max at 55 hrs, I finished mordor in a little over 100, I honestly really enjoy both games. Mad Max has more stuff to do for sure I probably have at least another 20 hours to finish all camps and side missions, however that nemesis system is truly something to behold, I loved mordor but if the nemesis system wasnt in it it would have been bland to the point of unplayable.

Mordor plays very, very, very well.

The only downsides are a disappointing story and not enough variety in the environments (basically, the same complaints as MGS V).

But really, it just plays great and I loved my 20 hours with it.

Shadow of Mordor.

I have them both Shadow of Mordor is better. HOWEVER Mad Max is highly entertaining though a bit repetitive.

Brilliant. I haven't played Mad Max, but I really liked Mordor - however, if I had to choose which was the better game between Mordor and Sleepy Dogs, it would be Dogs for sure. Plus, there is that recent Definitive Edition or whatever it is that is supposed to be pretty good.

Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor are VERY similar games. I've enjoyed Mad Max more so far (after 30 hours).

I haven't played Mad Max (bought it, but trying to finish MGSV first), but I'll say in a biased fashion that you should go with Shadow of Mordor - really cool game plus you could pick it up cheap now I imagine. Then play Mad Max when there is a lull in gaming + it's cheap next year.

Having played both games (and kind of still going through Mad Max) I will say Shadow of Mordor is 100% better. Mad Max will be OK as a bargain purchase at $20-30, but I've seen the Shadow of Mordor game of the year edition for around that price and even then its still better. Mad Max has interesting ideas but no one is ever fully realized. Not to mention the "mission" structure is mostly just you doing busy work (imagine if 99% of the things done in Far Cry 3 and 4 were towers). I want to like Mad Max, but it was released at the wrong time of year and in a sadder state than I would have wanted.

Both games are similar...but they are nowhere near the same. The combat in Mad Max is as simple as it could possibly be and I personally never once enjoyed and of the hand-to-hand combat. The car combat is OK...but again, its not realized and only about 10-20% of what it really should be. Shadow of Mordor has no real story (though neither does Mad Max) but the combat was amazing and satisfying in a way no game like that has been since Assassins Creed: Brotherhood.

Again, Shadow of Mordor > Mad Max any day of the week...even if you liked Fury Road (which the game has no real ties to Fury Road other than stuff they added to it after the fact).

I think I hit platinum in Shadow of Mordor around the 30-35 hour mark. There is also a couple of bigger DLC packs that the game of the year edition included, but I didn't play those. Mad Max looks like its prolly a tad longer, but only because things are more spread out because of you having to drive around.

Eh, I played Sleeping Dogs for the first time last year via the Definitive Edition. It was a good game but nothing revelatory, certainly doesn't live up to the Vinny/GB hype. I'd go with Shadow of Mordor, great game with nearly flawless mechanics. Sure the last 2 or 3 bosses are fairly underwhelming but the rest is so good. And if it's getting too easy towards the end with all the upgrades, just make sure to do the thing where you openly challenge the warchief so he has all his lieutenants with him. That ups the challenge quite a bit.

@nasar7: I agree. Watch Dogs was also super easy and provides no real challenge. The game was pretty...but that was about it. Solid...6 out of 10 game? Not enough to be considered 'fine' and not enough to be considered 'middling'.

If you haven't played SoM you should. It's pretty fantastic.

Sleeping Dogs! Not Watch_Dogs. Although I consider Watch_Dogs a way better open world game than Shadow of Mordor, it had a lot of variety.

@humanity: ah, I misread. Sleeping Dogs was cool. Thought I would like to play through it again on PS4 but couldn't do it for some reason...lost some of its charm then.
I'll agree to disagree with the Shadow of Mordor/Watch_Dogs part :p

Mad Max is just Shadow of Mordor without the nemesis system but with a cool car and a dog

@sammo21: Oh sure, it's all a matter of taste. I really like open world games, especially if they have driving and the driving feels good. So what other people saw as some worst game of the year contender or whatnot I was more than happy to go around hacking cameras and collecting songs cause hey, I find that stuff fun.

I played Sleeping Dogs on PC so I already got to see it in it's full glory - those wet roads are something man, wet-tech has come far!

also depends on how much time you want to spend with it.
Mad max seems to have some content, even if it is with busy work.

Also, after a certain point shadow of mordor has the risk of realy falling of because your growth makes the combat inconsequential later on. And I would argue that batman combat isn't great to begin with, but liking or disliking that is something you will know for yourself.

Shadow of Mordor is a bad game. The controls are bad, it looks bad, it's soulless, and borrows heavily from better games.

I haven't played Mad Max.

Don't get Shadow of Mordor.

Shadow of Mordor gameplay is a lot of fun plus the nemesis system is fairly unique. Overall, I'd say if you like the Arkham style gameplay and are in the mood for a LOTR game then go for Shadow of Mordor.

Play Borderlands.

@giantstalker: Yeah, if feels like they saw an assassins creed's map and were like we can do that... If I had a complaint about mad max, the open world (by the numbers) would be it.

The Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor is fun as hell and makes the entire game. The environment is to a large extent cubes with textures, I didn't think most outdoor environments in that game looked like nature because of it. SoM is in my mind a fantastically overrated game, but the nemesis system is in my mind interesting enough to recommend it.

Mad Max looks great (visually).

I haven't played mad max. However, for the roughly 25 hours I put into it before beating it, I had a hell of a lot of fun with SoM. The first half of the game has you tearing through strongholds murdering the chiefs, and the second half has you adding like every chief to your army.

I think this is going to come down to which theme the OP is more interested in, fantasy or post apocalyptic. I finished all of SoM and had a great time playing through it. I'm currently playing through Mad Max and I will say as of right now I am really enjoying the car combat. I don't think Mad Max will be up for Game of the Year like SoM was, but it's still a fun game and is graphically really nice to look at.

I haven't played Mad Max, but I just want to temper the SoM backlash a little bit. It plays really well and the Nemesis worked a hell of a lot better than I ever thought it would. As an open world sandbox type game, it's great. The story is throwaway garbage, but so is just about every open world game's story not made by Rockstar.

Mordor. And I say this as someone who prefers the Max Mad franchise about a hundred times more than the LOTR franchise. It's still an incredible game.

@csl316: MGSV is 100% this year's Mordor; just with more stuff to do. However unlike last year a decent number of games came out that are at least as good as MGSV (instead of just Dark Souls II).

I absolutely hated Shadow of Mordor, the way it puts restrictions on how you can kill chiefs is infuriating, i'm really good at the Batman style combat but can't land counters in SoM for some reason and it drove me mad, the play areas are empty and soulless, i saw everything the Nemesis system had to offer within an hour after which it became boring to have it shoved in my face constantly, being forced to listen to a chief give his repeat introductory speeches every time you walk near them was annoying, especially when another chief was nearby and wanted to give his speech too, then you've got two or more really annoying chiefs to kill with various invincibilities you have to deal with, UGH.

Sorry, i play all kinds of games of varying qualities, but i've never hated a game more than SoM, Mad Max takes it by a country mile.