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Bethesda's Fallout 4 was one of the crown jewels of this week's E3 2015, kicking off the conference with a stellar press conference showing Sunday night and instantly becoming one of the most-anticipated games of the year. But for gamers craving post-apocalyptic mayhem, Fallout 4 isn't the only promising contender coming to consoles this fall. There's also a new game based on the film series that helped inspire Fallout in the first place: the one, the only Mad Max.

Developed by Avalanche Studios (who also have the similarly bonkers-looking Just Cause 3 on their docket), Mad Max is a balls-out automotive action game that lets players wreak havoc both on foot and behind the wheel. There's no way Mad Max can out-hype Fallout 4 head to head, but the new gameplay trailer above, which sees Fallout 4's music by the Ink Spots and counters with AC/DC, suggests Max will have plenty of fun for anyone who prefers their apocalypse a little more fast paced.

The Max at the heart of this new game isn't modeled on either original Max Mel Gibson or actor Tom Hardy, who played the role in this year's Fury Road. Still, there is at least one direct tie between Fury Road and Avalanche's game, and he's on full, grotesque display in this latest trailer. The primary villain of the game is the warlord known as Scabrous Scrotus, who is described as the "third, psychotic son" of Fury Road's main bad guy, Immortan Joe (played in the movie by Hugh Keays-Byrne). If gamers don't get the chance to end the Scrotus boss fight with a good, solid shot to the junk, that's just going to feel like a missed thematic opportunity.

In addition to setting up the antagonism between Max and Scrotus, the new trailer does a solid job showcasing the game's core elements. Mad Max will include guns, but this is the apocalypse, so ammo is sparse. For close-up combat Max features Arkham Knight-style freeflow hand-to-hand combat. Mad Max has always been about the cars, however, and this gameplay trailer doesn't disappoint when it comes to automotive combat. Fury Road definitely raised the bar for creative displays of car-on-car destruction, and from the looks of things, the new Max game will be delivering well in that arena. That alone should distance Mad Max from the inevitable Fallout 4 comparisons.

Making sure Max has the sweetest ride possible will be one of the most important parts of the game. The story kicks off after bandits steal Max's iconic Interceptor, leaving him high, dry, and without a ride. But to get his car back, Max is going to need to build a new one just as badass. Thankfully, Max soon recruits a deformed mechanic named Chumbucket, who will be Max's guide to scavenging the parts he needs to create the fiercest deathwagon on four wheels. In terms of gameplay, that means giving players a huge amount of customization options for Max's "Magnum Opus" vehicle, ranging from engine size to armor to weaponry.

Here are a few more screenshots, courtesy of VG24/7.

Avalanche picked a perfect release window for their Max Max game. Fury Road has so far taken in $334 million worldwide and is rocking a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, having put the name "Mad Max" back in the cultural conversation in a way it hasn't been in decades. Whether Max Max the game proves to be half as good as the movie remains to be seen, but so far it's looking good.

Mad Max will release September 1 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: VG24/7