The original Mad Max owes a lot of its inspiration to another Australian cult thriller, 1974’s underrated curio Stone. Released in 1979, director George Miller’s original Mad Max is a sparse, gritty revenge thriller that could not be less like the helmer’s later family-friendly output. Subsequent Mad Max sequels were set after the fictional universe's offscreen apocalypse took place, and as such included more far-fetched sci-fi elements than Miller’s raw original. 3j1i64

Convict Games' Stone tries to capture the spirit of stoner noir like Inherent Vice and The Big Lebowski and transplant it to video game form. This is a neat idea on paper, but Stone hits several roadblocks along the way in of meaningful and engaging gameplay mechanics. Its narrative, while nowhere near the quality of the aforementioned films, does hit several emotional high points, especially toward its surprising conclusion. But the perfunctory nature of its gameplay drains Stone of any and all excitement. Even as a self-proclaimed interactive story, it lacks the player involvement factor that make the best examples of the genre shine.

Summertime and all that easy living is now done, and unless you're one of those people who lives where the sun is always shining then the onset of Fall means four things: colder weather, earlier sunsets, heavier clothing and movies galore.