A bounty has been placed on a special assassin, one with high-quality gear. Despite the sheer number of treaties it'll break, our main villain protagonists, the Jackals, want this weapon for themselves, and they'll cross enemy territory to get it.
The video game is not really about the story. I found just about all dialogue, music and sound effects in this game uninteresting, and so it's no surprise I played the game on mute while I listened to something else. But I did play it, and it's fun.
Core gameplay revolves around motorcycle races, but these races have the added wrinkle of including combat, and repeating these races in a roguelite setting. You can use blunt or sharp weapons, bombs and guns, either being so good at racing so as not to need them or taking out the competition so you get a higher place. There's a delightfully manic energy to just shooting the other racers so you get a higher rating, something that feels at home in Mario Kart or Mad Max; in the latter case, I would consider this game a better Mad Max: Fury Road game than Mad Max the video game: it's certainly got a post-apocalypse-style setting where gangs rule the states, or at least this portion of them.
I do find the game a little too easy once all the upgrades are in. The game's not good about dolling out rewards at the same rate as you complete the levels, so by the time you have all the upgrades you'll have finished beating the main campaign mode with a third of the available characters.
Speaking of: almost all the characters tweak the gameplay in interesting ways but don't really alter it all that much, apart from Speedrunner from Speedrunners who has a drastically-different style of play, one that I hated. Just about everyone else had a fun or unique gimmick that I need to plan and react to accordingly with the skills I'd been learning by playing.
At this point, I have all of the achievements and I've unlocked every bike and character. I've beaten Campaign and Campaign+ mode, and I may keep playing to beat Campaign++ mode at least once. But at this point, my opinion of the game as a very solid racing game with combat mechanics, and it's easy to get sucked in. I would give it a hearty recommendation.
