Mad Max (Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

MAD Max stories have always been about survival in a brutal, arid post-apocalyptic wasteland.

George Miller's vision of a hero who survives amid the chaos, clutching to his own sanity and moral compass, is what made the films so compelling.

For petrolheads, it is also about the tremendous high octane car chases and battles with outrageous bulked out vehicles designed for destruction.

On paper, that vivid world would be perfect for a video game which is why it is so surprising that the core elements of Mad Max are mostly missing here.

Unlike Tom Hardy's brilliant portrayal of the troubled character in Fury Road, the game version of Max is completely bland.

And for a series that is all about speed, the open-world game has a really slow start.

The basic premise is that Max loses his car and is left for dead after a run-in with the wonderfully named warlord Scabrous Scrotus.

After stumbling across a skilled hunchback mechanic called Chumbucket, the pair embark on a mission to create the ultimate car from scratch to get revenge.

This provides a great focus point for the gameplay and missions but the big car chases are few and far between.

In fact, much of the best bits are frustratingly played out in cutscenes.

It would also have been good if you got to drive around and battle in a souped-up car at the beginning of the game to give you a taste of what you were fighting to get back.

When you are on foot, the combat takes its cue from the Batman Arkham games. It is satisfyingly gritty but lacks none of the Dark Knight's finesse with the counter-attack move only seeming to work part of the time.

Aside from that you will usually find yourself taking down Far Cry-style strongholds – either with a keen eye for strategy or a penchant for explosives.

The games main strength is its visuals. For a desert landscape it is remarkably varied with much to discover and when you are caught in a sandstorm it looks stunning.

There are nice touches too like the hot air balloons used to reveal missions and waypoints and the harpoon gun on Max's car, the 'Magnum Opus'.

But Max's first game outing since the NES simply does not capture the spirit of the films.

RATING: 6/10

DAVID MORGAN