As someone who loves exploring every nook and cranny, I absolutely loved this game.
The 'Scrap Locations' were right up my alley: unique, varied side locations that might not offer huge material rewards, but are each distinct and clearly handcrafted to build the world through environmental storytelling. Even with asset reuse, I never felt like I was revisiting the copy-paste locations you find in, say, *Far Cry*-style open-world games.
Everything to do with the cars is a blast, and I found the combat—which rewards timing and positioning—to be deeply satisfying and challenging; even more so than in games with similar but more complex combat systems (like *Arkham*, etc.).
For me, the story was perfect—mainly because I couldn't care less about the epic melodramas featuring "The Chosen One™" that dominate modern gaming. You’re just a tormented man, alone in an indifferent wasteland. To quote *Mad Max*:
In this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and broken. Men like Max—the warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything and became a shell of a man. A burnt, desolate man. A man haunted by the demons of his past. A man who wandered the wasteland. And it was here, in this devastated place, that he learned to live again.
The story is simply that you live in this absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of a world and do what you can to scrape together the tiniest sparks of hope. An endless cycle of scavenging and violence. Gasoline, dust, and blood! You (the casual gamer) find yourself constantly taking part in grim horrors: bashing dozens of brainwashed child soldiers, running over unarmed people with your car, picking through the wreckage of shattered lives, crawling over piles of mutilated corpses, eating maggots from a dead body—and yet you feel grateful for these "horrible experiences" because they mean you’ve survived another day.
But...
The completion aspect is notoriously frustrating. It seems like everyone who has played it has a complaint. For me, it was that I could only reach 96% in "characters found" because Jeet (a standard character) wouldn't spawn due to a bug.
Even so, I highly recommend it as one of the best non-racing driving games out there; it features a spectacular open world and is probably the best post-apocalyptic game I’ve ever played.
