What is it with violent videogame trailers backed by slow, mournful music? I’m down with the blues and all, but the juxtaposition of weepy music and splattered blood is starting to feel a little contrived. Or maybe it’s just me.
Either way, here we have the very first Mad Max gameplay trailer and it looks very… post-apocalyptic. Which is reasonable, given that Mad Max (or more precisely, Mad Max 2) was set in the Australian wasteland, with lots of tattered leather, improvised weaponry and Frankenstein machines, but there’s something about this trailer that feels a bit “off” somehow.
Maybe it’s the seriously washed-out colors, or the enemies who wouldn’t look out of place in Borderlands, or just the fact that Max sure seems to be doing a lot of walking, but if I didn’t know this was a trailer for Mad Max (and without the brief flash of the interceptor) I’d probably assume that it was just another post-apoc RPG/driving game – a Rage sequel, maybe. Of course, that’s just me, and I readily admit my Mad Max bias: When Wez took out the interceptor in The Road Warrior, I cried like they’d shot Bambi’s mom all over again.
Then again, first glimpses rarely mean much, and while I’m a little disappointed that we’re not going to get something more along the lines of the original film, I remain hopeful for an engaging, enjoyable and appropriately automotive blast through the wasteland. Mad Max is slated to come out sometime in 2014 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.
