I've listened to a lot of the GB team say this game is terrible, has problems, and is a lot of the same of other stuff that has been put out. And i listened at first, I said I would not own this game because the site I look too said it was "lacking."

But I'm here to say they are wrong in my opinion, and I mean no offense by it. I don't get what the deal is with this game receiving such poor criticism. Yes I understand the backbone of this game has been done before, but not in this way. This game is Red Dead Redemption all over again, and I cannot count how many times I hear people asking for another RDD.

This is the first attempt at this type of game! Yes I hate the batman style combat, and yes the controls suck (at first), and yes the story line isn't the strongest. I will address each of these with my honest opinion, if you care!

1. The combat style can be fixed in the next game! I hate it, but I got used to it, and now after 20 hours in the game, i don't mind it! If this game gets a sequel I know they won't make the same mistake! I promise this game is fun!

2. Controls. Witcher 3 blew ass with controls at first and they fixed it! Yes WB studios has a horrendous history, but they are fixing mortal kombat and hopefully batman, but they know this is a problem! give it a chance!

3. Watch Fury Road. Watch it. And try to get an honest story line out of that movie. The main actor has less than 2 minutes of dialogue through the whole thing! The game? Sure we want it to be better, and I do too! but this game is not that bad! I seriously don't get why this game is getting badgered by GB so much! It's not THAT bad!

In the end, i hated this game in the previews and fell in love with it playing it. If you hate it, I understand and respect your opinion. But if you love car games, can put up with some bad controls (That might get fixed! Alex I also have blown myself up trying refuel cars!), and a little bit of a weak storyline, then give it a go! This game reminds me so much of Red Dead Redemption it's scary!

Anyways, i'm done. I will play this game. I have 28 hours in the game and I love it and just hate to see people dismiss it over what I think are simple things. If you buy a game called Mad Max, and know it's based on the movies it is, I hope you aren't expecting something more then what the movies are. Action.

What? There's a very clear story line in Fury Road and all the other Mad Max movies with a very clear beginning, middle, and ending with heroes and villains. How is that not an honest story line? It makes sense that Max doesn't talk much in Fury Road because he literally hasn't talked to anyone in probably years and he also just doesn't want to affiliate himself with people because of what he has lost. He's "mad" in the head.

I haven't played this game yet, but I don't mean to burst your bubble on the bad control issue, Witcher 3 in my opinion is still a buggy mess with terrible controls, especially when it comes to the horse. After playing MGSV, the bar has been set higher for open world games and even though Witcher 3 may have a bigger open world with probably a more coherent story, I still think MGSV just has better gameplay because of how tight the controls feel. There's just zero excuse in my opinion for having bad controls and even if they do have a fix for that, which probably wont happen, it's kind of sad since the developers are basically admitting to "yeah, our controls suck in our game".

This is such a weird game, for the most part critics don't like it, but people on gaming forums do.

Personally, I don't trust Giant Bomb to tell me if a game is worth playing. The last time I was tricked was Axiom Verge, man I hate that game. I have wondered why this is and I think it's because game critics look for the bad parts of games and expand on that whereas I look at the good points. Someone I watch is Totalbiscuit (which is ridiculous as I play on consoles exclusively) and he does say he looks for bad stuff to talk about.

I spent hours playing Mad Max today. I think it's fun, especially the car combat (fighting convoys is my favorite part of the game, it's just so frantic and fast-paced and you've got several great tools at your disposal). But it's got a bucketload of problems and if I were, say, someone whose job is criticizing video games, I'd have a whole lot of criticisms to bring up. But really, its biggest issue is that it doesn't really do anything. The most meaningful progress in the game lies in filling out a checklist and upgrading your car.

Also, I think you maybe need to watch Fury Road again. No, that movie doesn't have much in the way of a complex story, but what it does have are characters placed in a vivid, extremely detailed setting. The audience learns pretty much everything they need to know about the world from watching - for instance, at no point is it ever explained to you that War Boys are devoted followers of Immortan Joe, we are only shown details that clue us in on that fact. That movie is full of masterful world-building like that.

The video game's story feels like it could have been in the manual of a NES game - Max's car has been destroyed by a powerful gang of bandits controlled by a warlord and you have to do missions to gather new parts and build a new car. That's literally all there is to it. What little writing there is actually isn't particularly bad, it's just that nothing of particular significance is said by anyone. Just go here, do this, get that, and then move on to the next thing.

I'm glad you like the game - and I like the game, too - but you can like something while admitting that maybe it's got significant issues that not everyone is going to be OK with.

Also, saying that someone can "fix something in an update" is not a reasonable excuse at all, and "they'll fix it in the sequel" sure as hell isn't a reasonable defense against anything.

@mikew1980uk: I'm half with you. Most the time I feel like I can rely on certain Bomb Squad members opinions matching my own, as they've come to grow over the years, but every once in a while something falls through the cracks and I'm disappointed, and like you that game was Axiom Verge. Felt like that game was hot ass garbage, and I love Metroid games. But fuck man...that game was awful.

The Mad Max game seems super interesting, with critics ranging from "Awful" to "Not good but not bad", to "Enjoyable". Maybe that's a super good thing, and means that tons of games are being made for everyone. Some people think the game is garbage, and plenty others are enjoying there time with it.

I picked up Mad Max yesterday (on sale from Greenman - I was dubious because the last time a new release was heavily discounted was Arkham Knight, but people say the PC port of this is decent). I picked it up mainly from watching the Quick Look. Alex didn't seem to hate the game, he seemed 'meh' on it. From the Quick Look I felt the same. After MGSV, I'm happy to have a 'meh' game where I can play aimlessly and just enjoy myself (if I can drag myself away from Rocket League that is)

The guys I think were extremely fair to Mad Max compared to how some other outlets have been bashing it as a huge piece of trash. I mean it's one thing if this game was getting universal praise across the board, but that's clearly not the case.

Are you sure they said it was 'terrible'? I just remember them saying that it doesn't have a 'Wasteland' feel to it which is disappointing for them.

I think this game is suffering massively from the timing of the release. If it had hit early in the year like Dying Light or in the early part of the summer drought I think it would be receiving very different reviews. Reviewers and people in the media seems be unconsciously comparing it with Metal Gear.

I'm having a great time with it and really believe that with different release timing it would have been a big hit. I don't hate the combat but then again it's been a long time since I played a Batman or Assassins Creed game so I'm not fatigued on it. This game is at least as good as Shadow of Mordor which was so universally loved last year (myself included) and I can't really understand where the hate is coming from.

I think Mad Max is a good game too, mind you not a great game, but good and fun. I think that alot of reviewers especially are tired of open-world games, because of their job they have to play alot of them every year. Personally, I only play one, maybe two of these games per year. Last year it was Shadows of Mordor, year before that Black Flag, year before that FC3, etc.

I personally don't think you should take the GB cast's opinion on games too seriously, especially Jeff's. I like the GB cast for their banter and commentary on games, but as far as game reviews are concerned, I value regular people's opinions more than anything.

i think the game is awesome, really fun, with simple yet compelling systems, solid atmosphere, and plenty of neat touches.

i have no real use for the opinions of the gb crew, caught up in their own worlds as they are.

I haven't played the game so I don't have much to say on it. I'd just like to point out that Furiosa is the main character in Fury's Road, not Mad Max.

isnt this game literally someone loaded up a AAA game template on unreal engine then slapped some mad max models in and called it a day

Mad Max Fury Road doesn't have the titular character say a lot of things because it's a movie that is confident enough to tell its story visually. It doesn't have characters sitting around spouting exposition because the exposition is in the composition of the shots and scenes and world. It's effectively using the visual language of film.

That's really all I wanted to say since I've not opinion on the GAME since I've not played it.

K.

What?

I also think people have been way too harsh on the game, and that it's actually pretty great, but you aren't really putting up a convincing argument here.

I actually thought the game looked like an enjoyable Mad Max simulator from the Quick Look, but the TC's persuasive essay skills could really use some work. Your three points are un-selling me on the game.

1. You actually didn't enjoy the feel of combat? Well, shit. "They'll fix it in the hypothetical sequel" means nothing for those on the fence about this game.

2. You don't like the controls in general? Well, that's not promising.

3. You're trying to tell a public that universally loves Fury Road that its story was bad, and that the game's story is being true to the source material in being bad? You've really lost me there. I had a blast with Fury Road and find your taste highly suspect.

Join debate club or something to hone your persuasive argument skills.

I don't think anybody said it was terrible? Just that it was mediocre and by the book open world cliche's.

And fury road does have a story, just a really boring one shot main character.

woah, your trying to say the horse controls is MGSV are better than witcher 3? The horse controls are horrible in phantom pain, i can get around with ease in witcher 3. And they have released a alternate control scheme for the witcher 3. Man the horse in MGSV glitches all over rocks and cliffs and only has 2 speeds, ultra slow and ultra fast shit is terrible.

"This game would be super awesome if they fixed all the things that are wrong with it!" Nailed it.

I make fun, but I'm also legitimately looking forward to playing this sometime down the road (ugh... sorry, didn't mean to do that). But you don't exactly make a great case for THIS game, but rather a case for "if there's a sequel, they'll fucking nail it" which I agree with.

Also, Fury Road has a great story, duder. Simple and minimalist do not equate to dumb and confusing.

I've been enjoying the game. Only thing about the controls that can be frustrating is hold X to complete almost every task that isn't fighting or driving. I really enjoy the batman style combat, the car stuff is cool, and the world is fun to explore. The story has not grabbed me at all, but I'm a sucker for completing everything in a open world like this, so I'm having fun just going to every point on the map and doing what needs to be done. I know there are issues with the game, but nothing that hinders my enjoyment. Just turn on a podcast and roam the wasteland!

2 big Open World games came out this week, and I chose Mad Max. I was sold on it from watching the quick look and I'm loving it so far. I think I prefer my Open World games to be a little simpler (i.e. less mechanically dense). Yanking guys out of cars is never going to get old.

Just listened to the Beastcast discussion of the game and I think they are asking for something which actually wouldn't make for a great video game. I get where they are coming from with the world feeling a little 'too populated' in that there are a lot of settlements/activities in the world which maybe aren't true to the Mad Max fiction but let's face it, an open world game where there was nothing at all between the major cities wouldn't be a fun experience. As for the idea that the action sequences aren't as over the top as the film, again I feel that if the game was as crazy as the movie it would quickly feel weird in a 20+ hour experience for everything to be constantly insane.

I think this game is incredible, I can't get over the utterly baffling criticism. There's far too much detail and love put into it for that. They do such a great job of making a wasteland as interesting and varied as possible which ultimately does make a better game.

It being released same day as MGSV has not helped one bit. You may say MGSV is a better game overall but it is not a better open world game, not even close. I think people are drinking copious amounts of the Kool-Aid with that game.

Full disclosure I haven't played it, but I imagine a competent but rote open world game sandwiched between the Witcher 3 and MGSV isn't going to draw much heat. I suspect had Shadows of Mordor dropped in a similar time frame it wouldn't have penetrated as deeply as it did. In summary, this is merely a matter of bad timing, MGSV is crushing all before it.

I feel like the negative backlash by critics mostly comes from them above anyone else starting to get tired of the WB/Ubisoft Open World Formula.

From what i've played (very little) and seen (a bit more) so far it's a competent game that does not do anything spectaculary unique or great, except maybe the car combat. And honestly, i'm fine with that, a Mad Max Game was overdue even before Fury Road, and i honestly feel Avalanche got more right than wrong here (even though i totally would've preferred a game that is really REALLY just about car combat)

Last year, that was enough, as Shadow of Mordor has shown (a game that admittedly is good, but still highly overrated), so most of all Mad Max suffered from the delays, moreso since it has now come in a year with much more great games and close to another game that has an almost refreshingly straight and uncluttered approach to its Open World Maps.

I can understand that people who work with videogames and criticise them for a living won't find much love with Mad Max, but at the same time i feel like the game suffers more from bad timing than lack of quality (just as when Bioshock Infinite was heavily criticized for being a rather violent game in times where many games dealt with "shocking" violence [EDIT] and Batman Arkham Knight which i feel is a superior game to Arkham City yet cannot offer much "newness")

I picked up both Mad Max and MGS V on day of release and have enjoyed my time with Mad Max more. I think coming out with MGS V was the main thing that turned critics against it as I feel it's actually a better game (or at least Im having more enjoyment with it) than Either Shadow of mordor or Arkham Knight as it's being compared to. Personally I really dislike a lot of things about MGS V including a bug that makes the sound screw up & makes snake uncontrollable at the worst possible time for a few seconds before being able to regain control, the fact I feel like im going to the same camps time and time again & some weird situations with A.I. Im glad people are out there enjoying both games but i feel bad that some may be turned away by the mediocre to bad reviews of Mad Max when it is such a good game and as for MGS V getting 9's and 10's all over the place...that's a bit of a head scratcher for me.

Also to clarify some peoples concerns with the world in Mad Max, once you start moving through the story to other regions the scenery changes (although still within the confines to the sand covered world). You will start to leave the seabed and run into Gas stations, churches, bridges, junk yards etc. A small change but noticeable and enjoyable.

I've been loving my time with Mad Max. It's a B-Action movie with dumb combat, dumb driving, a dumb story and I dumbly love this dumb game. Thinking about playing more MGSV makes me feel stressed, while Max is just brutal, cathartic fun. I hope it's something people give a chance down the road, right now it lives in Kojima's shadow and it deserves a spotlight of its own. It feels like it's being dismissed by reviewers and gamers without a fair shot and that's a shame.

Fury Road can get away with barely having a story because of the amazing practical effects. This game however is kinda mediocre in almost every aspect. While Mordor got a pass because of Nemesis and nailing the Batman combat, Mad Max doesn't have any similar highlights. The melee combat is janky and the car combat alone is not good enough for me to rate this game any higher than mediocre.

Maybe this is just my kind of game but you can add me to the camp of people that are really enjoying it. The setting is cool, there's a ton of stuff to do/things to collect/upgrades to get, the combat is simple but satisfyingly brutal (especially once you start adding abilities), the car stuff is great, and it looks fantastic (at least on PC). It's obviously not perfect - the story is definitely on the thin side, and some people have said it's too "gamey" for its own good, but I don't need every game to tell an epic tale, nor do I want every game to be a "realistic" survival sim - sometimes I just wanna have fun playing a video game that isn't afraid to be a video game!