I defy you to check out this video and tell me Mad Max isn’t going to be a contender for the title this year.
Yup. I went there.
So, I’m slightly ashamed to admit it, but I missed seeing Mad Max: Fury Road in theatres. I can also, safely, admit that I haven’t seen the original. Frankly, never caught my eye. Mel Gibson being incredibly terrible in, well, basically everything. The only time I got excited when I saw him on screen was at the end of Braveheart when he’s being drawn and quartered. I kind of hoped someone had actually tied him to the horse for real, and they had a set “accident” like Bruce or Brandon Lee. No such luck.
Sorry, not relevant to my posting at all. Though I do smile when I think about it.
Business at hand: I try really hard when I see new games that I am really excited about coming out to keep myself as pure as possible. Same with movies. So I try not to watch trailers or gameplay videos. But it’s also a new IP. That makes it a bit harder for me to not make a judgement call about the game’s quality. And, not having played any of the Just Cause games, I don’t know what to expect out of Avalanche Studios. So I’ve been checking out a bit here and there. Man – choice is the word of the year for Q4 2015 and 2016 in general.
I think that it’s amazing that devs are starting to keep their finger on the pulse of the industry. For a long time, new IPs – see something along the lines of Assassin’s Creed 1 – where the games, not able to predict how fans will react, or what they’ll find to be the best part of the game, take the player by the wrist and drag them through the game kicking and screaming through the game.
Instead, this year we’re getting games where completing the tasks, or matches, put in front of us in whichever way we see fit. Want to play noisy? Want to play Dirty? It’s 100% up to you to do what you think is best, most fun or best choice for a situation – do it.
Seriously though, how cool is that? It’s such a small freedom. But that freedom is paramount. I see it every time I watch a review, read Metacritic or any forum like playstationtrophies.org, the number one thing people complain about is that the game is on rails, or doesn’t allow the player to impact the world or make the choices to take the game off of the pre-destined linear path. I see games like Assassin’s Creed trying to branch out that way. The other (potentially amazing) line-up they’re putting out as proof in the pudding. That’s enough about Ubisoft for now, though.
I really do think that Mad Max is going to be the game to watch. It’s almost too bad that the game is coming out in the same year as Fallout 4. I only say that because the game that is taking that award is definitely Bethesda’s big gun. That certainly won’t detract from the quality of Mad Max, but it’s Fallout’s GOTY award to lose.
If you can handle it, check out some more of the gameplay videos posted on IGN. The commentary on some of them (as a general rule) can get pretty tedious, but there is some extremely cool footage to work through.
I think the saddest part of the game is it’s going to just be showing up on my doorstep in time for me to go on vacation. Thankfully, that is going to be so cool and immersive, that I probably won’t even remember that it’s sitting there waiting to be played.
For the time being, I think that video is going to be the last one I watch before the release date. I’ll just have to avoid the internet. That shouldn’t be too hard right? Right?
– The Ego
The Ego Games 