From nearly start to finish I enjoyed my time in the Wastelands with Max. Yes, the missions and tasks were repetitive and, yes, the combat was more of the same from Batman or Shadow of Mordor but the world was immersive enough, attractive enough (in its own wasteland way) and just plain fun enough to keep me returning.

Nearly every "repetitive" aspect managed to find a way to stay interesting. Melee combat felt heavy and brutal and slamming a guy's head into a wall or suplexing him never got old for me. There's a hundred or so locations where you can seek scrap metal or water but they varied from tents to old subway cars to cliffside villages to abandoned restaurants to deep caves. You're tasked with tearing down giant metal "scarecrows" but, to the last, I enjoyed flying past (or through) them, launching a harpoon and collapsing them behind my racing vehicle. You'll do a LOT of driving but the landscape is wonderfully created as you progress from dried ocean bottom to ravaged desert towns and upland desert to the mountains of waste and scrap surrounding Gastown.

Vehicular combat is a special joy and from early on you are armed with a harpoon that can tear off armor, tires or doors or pull a War Boy out of his car or a sniper out of his tower. Further car enhancements allow you to attach grinders to your wheels Ben-Hur style or launch explosive spears to quickly end a fight.

The game certainly isn't perfect. Boss fights are almost all copies of each other, clearing mine fields is tedious busy work and there is a major plot-required race that deviates from all the other driving you'll do in game. The plot is nothing special and this game is definitely more about the journey than the destination. But Mad Max and the Wastelands kept me coming back for more days on end managed to never feel "old".

From nearly start to finish I enjoyed my time in the Wastelands with Max. Yes, the missions and tasks were repetitive and, yes, the combat was more of the same from Batman or Shadow of Mordor but the world was immersive enough, attractive enough (in its own wasteland way) and just plain fun enough to keep me returning. Nearly every "repetitive" aspect managed to find a way to stay interesting. Melee combat felt heavy and brutal and slamming a guy's head into a wall or suplexing him never got old for me. There's a hundred or so locations where you can seek scrap metal or water but they varied from tents to old subway cars to cliffside villages to abandoned restaurants to deep caves. You're tasked with tearing down giant metal "scarecrows" but, to the last, I enjoyed flying past (or through) them, launching a harpoon and collapsing them behind my racing vehicle. You'll do a LOT of driving but the landscape is wonderfully created as you progress from dried ocean bottom to ravaged desert towns and upland desert to the mountains of waste and scrap surrounding Gastown. Vehicular combat is a special joy and from early on you are armed with a harpoon that can tear off armor, tires or doors or pull a War Boy out of his car or a sniper out of his tower. Further car enhancements allow you to attach grinders to your wheels Ben-Hur style or launch explosive spears to quickly end a fight. The game certainly isn't perfect. Boss fights are almost all copies of each other, clearing mine fields is tedious busy work and there is a major plot-required race that deviates from all the other driving you'll do in game. The plot is nothing special and this game is definitely more about the journey than the destination. But Mad Max and the Wastelands kept me coming back for more days on end managed to never feel "old".