The problem with this game is, to my mind, a complete misunderstanding of the Mad Max license. It lacks those films’ visual inventiveness: it’s bland, dull, and looks likes more like bad military shooter than a George Miller film. The story here lacks any of the heart in the films: the characters are all either sociopaths or boring and are often both. There’s an absolutely bizarre 5th act love interest that doesn’t land. And I really don’t understand the decision to make a character as unpleasant and one note as Chumbucket, your primary companion character… Finally, instead of car chases, you spend most of your time in this game in enemy camps hunting for oil transfer tanks and scrumming with large groups of goons. Why is there this much hand-to-hand combat in a Mad Max game? Why does Max Rockatansky need to be able to fight fifteen dudes at once?! Would think twice about playing another Avalanche game!

Long game. Play clock was over 105 hours and I feel like I hit the level cap WAY before that (around 80 hours). That said, when it was cooking, it was COOKING. The quest storylines are almost always interesting. The shooting feels pretty good. The hacking was fun… for the first 60 hours… The real standout element is the environment itself though. Night City FEELS like a city in a way only a handful of other games accomplish (i.e. Yakuza). One of the most thrilling things you can do in the game is just walk around the block. Would risk cyberpsychosis for my chooms!