Mad Max: Five things you should know

Not much was shown about the new Mad Max when it was announced at Sony’s E3 media briefing, but we had the opportunity to go behind closed doors with developer Avalanche Studios to see the game in action. Here are five important facts about Mad Max:

This is not a movie tie-in

The Mad Max does not tie into the upcoming Mad Max game, nor is it based on any of the past Mad Max movies. The new game features a brand new, original story that is set in the Mad Max universe.

An extreme focus on vehicular combat

A lot of care and attention has gone into vehicular combat in Mad Max. The game offers around 50 iconic Mad Max vehicles, with the ability to upgrade each vehicle with various parts, from engines, to tires to armour.

Performance and physics

Each time you equip your car with an upgrade, its physics are affected. Add armour and it will get heavier and slower. You can offset this with a more powerful engine and better tires. Tire and suspension physics have received a lot of attention, with vehicles moving realistically over the often rocky wastelands of Mad Max.

Chumbucket and Talon

Accompanying Max is his gibberish spouting sidekick Chumbucket. In combat situations, Chumbucket is more that useful, using his harpoon gun called Talon, yank enemies out of their cars or rip tires right off vehicles.

Looting, scavenging, and random encounters

Mad Max features a massive open-world and despite it being a mostly arid wasteland, there’s lots of loot and scavenging to be done from dead enemies to gain upgrades. The game world is full of camps and events associated witht them, but this dangerous world is also full of random encounters.

There’s a lot more to Mad Max, of course, such as its brutal melee combat, plus a lot that’s yet to be revealed. Mad Max is headed to PC and next-gen consoles in 2014.

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