It's been over 30 years since Mad Max last showed us what the apocalypse looked like, but with Mad Max: Fury Road releasing today, it's a great time to look back on the games Mad Max's vision of the future helped inspire.
Rage
To say that Mad Max inspired Rage would be to say that original documents inspire their photocopies. The game, released in 2011, is as close to the dystopian Mad Max universe as we got last gen. id Software took the lead on the title and gave us an explorable desert world, traversable by foot or weaponised vehicle, fighting off bandits along the way and making for a very pretty and satisfying experience.
Borderlands
Borderlands checks off many items on the list of things you expect in a game inspired by Mad Max – drivable cars, a desert setting, unique and memorable characters, slightly insane bandits to shoot, and lots of stuff to loot. Gearbox managed to stuff their addictive shoot-loot title with reasonably funny dialogue and references to the source material, the most on the nose being Madd Moxxi and the Underdome; a riff on the devisive third film in the Mad Max trilogy.
Fallout
While Fallout may not have much in the way of vehicular sections, it more than clearly owes a lot to the Mad Max franchise for spearheading the kind of desolate post-apocalyptic wasteland that It uses to full effect. Fallout 3 is considered the best in the franchise (though I prefer New Vegas) and if you want to get into the habit of roaming wastelands before the official game comes out, it's great.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Is using a Mad Max game on a list like this cheating? Maybe, but that doesn't take away from Avalanche Studios' crack at video-gaming up the movie series. And so far it seems to be going in the right direction if the makers of Just Cause 3 are to be trusted. Though the game has a different Max, pushing it even further from the movie tie-in game camp, the wasteland and customisable vehicles all make sure that this game is as faithful to the Road Warrior as possible.
SKIES
While almost all post-apocalyptic games owe a little something to Mad Max, it's hard to pin down exactly which are direct descendants and which are cousins. I've picked SKIES because it seems to get across the lonely desolate feeling of being vehicle-less in a world gone straight to hell. Work together, or strike out on your own; your call. This MMORPG also seems to have a bit of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in it for you hardcore survival fans.
What games do you think are inspired by Mad Max? Leave it in the comments.
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