Since this technically isn’t a Mad Max game, I won’t go into a several paragraph long explanation on him (if you didn’t figure it out yet, I’m a huge fan of the movies), but since I didn’t get instructions with the game and there is no manifestation of the plot in the actual game, I have no idea what the actual plot is to this game. In The Road Warrior, Max’s goal was to survive while helping out a peaceful tribe. Since there isn’t any tribe in this game, the whole point is to survive while progressing through the desert wasteland. Sure, the plot’s shoddy at best, but this game doesn’t need a good plot to be great fun.

The game starts out with you behind the wheel of a beat up car while gang members on motorcycles shoot at you with crossbows and guns. Thankfully, the front of your car is armed with machine guns and you’re armed with a shotgun. Whenever a motorcycle or car comes up along side of you, a little window pops up on either side of the screen showing your shotgun. This is one of the best (and outright coolest) features in the game; it enables to you to pick off enemies while you’re still driving. Eventually, you’ll find more weapons and accessories for your car (surface-to-air missiles, nitros, super-chargers, and even a toy that hangs from your rear view mirror) while traveling through various towns.

Every once in a while, your turn signal will start to go off and if you pull over, the game turns into a side-scroller as you explore a seemingly deserted town. Here you get to find such necessities like gas, food, water, and new weapons while fighting off fat bald guys in wifebeaters, women armed with shotguns, and crazy military nuts armed with poisonous darts. The towns that you visit are all on your little map, and there is a password feature so you can progress at any pace you want to. Also, if you ever have the unfortunate experience of running out of fuel, you get to fight for gas on the streets while fighting the previously mentioned foes plus the motorcycle gang members.

The graphics and sound are nothing to write home about, but they get the job done. The music is actually pretty annoying, so I just turn it off at the options screen and just play with the sound effects on. The play control is good while you’re in the car (except when your nitros are on- then it gets kind of hard to steer because you’re going too fast), but it gets kind of stiff in the side-scrolling levels. You might find yourself getting beat up quite a lot as you learn how to maneuver through the side-scrolling levels because of the somewhat awkward control, but you’ll get used to it after awhile and it’ll become second nature.

All of these shortcomings can be forgiven in the end, though. Outlander is just a complete blast to play. From the excellent driving parts to the not-as-good side-scrolling stages, you’ll have a great time. Sure, it’s just mindless action, but the game, overall, is executed very well for a company that isn’t known for producing such good games (ever play Infiltrator or 720 for the NES?).

I’d recommend this game to just about anyone, since it’s a great action game, but Mad Max fans (the very few that still exist) in particular should hunt this one down. It’s somewhat rare from what I’ve heard, so I’d try to get a copy as soon as possible. It might not be much to look at, but this game is a guaranteed good time.