GENRE
	Action
	DEVELOPER
	Platinum Games
	PUBLISHER
	Sega
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	No
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I’m tempura frying bad guys are the best I’ve ever had.

All Tears for Fears references aside, MadWorld is a dream come true for all the Wii gamers out there who were dissatisfied with the lack of hardcore support during the tail end of 2008. Mature themes, excessive violence, brutal combat mechanics, and highly stylized visual and audio design have made MadWorld one of Wii’s most anticipated games, and the final product delivers on these promises for the most part.

For those of you who were hoping for MadWorld to completely knock the competition, or at least what little there is on Wii, out of the park, you might be slightly disappointed. While MadWorld is definitely one of the best pure action experiences on Wii, there are a few significant flaws that need to be taken into account before you decide whether to buy or rent.

visuals

Fortunately, none of those problems are part of the presentation. If you look at the pedigree of MadWorld’s developers, you are going to see names that stretch back in time through the brief yet acclaimed life of Clover Studios and the zenith of Capcom’s internal studios, two companies that produced such stylish titles as Okami and Viewtiful Joe. Continuing in this tradition, MadWorld delivers Wii its most stylized game to date.

MadWorld is presented entirely in black and white, though gameplay has a grainy filter that gives the white an older, yellowish look similar to an aged news paper. The only splashes of color come when somebody gets introduced to one of the many sharp and hazardous objects found throughout the game world; and that color is, of course, red. This style is only intensified by the game’s generous enemy count and the bosses’ over-the-top introductory sequences and inevitable executions which really show off the delightfully sadistic creativity of the developers. Of course this stylized approach also carries over to the story scenes, which are presented with a mix of in-game cutscenes and comic book-like stills.

audio

Just like the visuals, MadWorld spares no style for the sound design. First of all, the battles supply a constant stream of gruesome sound effects as flesh meets chainsaw, fists meet face, and torsos meet jet turbine. All of these sounds play along to a surprisingly appropriate and all around decent rap soundtrack; and this is coming from someone who hates rap. And then, on top of everything else, there is the horribly raunchy and hilarious running commentary provided by Greg Proops and John Di Maggio, the latter of whom you may recognize as the voice of Bender in Futurama.

If one complaint had to be made about the sound design, it might be that everything is too good and trying to pay attention to everything at once can be quite hectic as the music and commentary occasionally drown each other out. It is highly recommended you go into the audio options and turn one or the other down so that the other may be more thoroughly enjoyed.

gameplay

MadWorld stars Jack, a merciless killing machine participating in Deathwatch, a sadistic television game show featuring the trapped inhabitants of a Manhattan–like island that has been cut off from the rest of the world by terrorist attacks on every way on and off the island. For the trapped citizens the game is relatively simple: kill or be killed, and if you prove good enough at the former, you can be sponsored by one of the many clandestine groups funding and betting on the games. Jack quickly proves his skills and thus receives a sponsor and a rank, allowing him to begin his climb up the charts to become the number one player. Thankfully, this is not the limit of the story; Jack has his own motives for partaking in the games and there are enough twists and surprises along the way to prevent the game from being completely mindless, but there are never so many that it bogs things down.

MadWorld’s structure is fairly straightforward and actually somewhat reminiscent of the early Tony Hawk titles, you are placed in a series of unique, themed areas and given the freedom to earn points as you please while also aiming for a few objectives. The main difference in MadWorld is that points are earned by killing enemies in the most brutal ways possible and the objectives are often mid level bosses, and sadistically fun minigames. As for killing the generic thugs that inhabit each area, you can always just punch them to death with the A button, or you can mix things up with a more powerful motion controlled uppercut, or if time is an issue you can just hack them apart by revving up your ever-present chainsaw with B button and swiping the Wii Remote side to side or up and down, or if an enemy is on the ground you can finish them off with either a throw or the chainsaw by pressing A or B respectively. Thankfully, the occasional motorcycle level is thrown in to add variety.

All of this would be well and good by itself, but there are a couple extra things that make combat much more enjoyable. As you progress through the game, new equipable weapons will be unlocked, such as a spear, dual blades, a golf club and many more; also, each has its own attack set and unique finishers. Few things are more enjoyable than teeing off with a squirming enemy’s head! And then there are the tools of destruction scattered throughout the environment; tires are great for confining enemies, signposts can easily be smashed through their heads, and then you can just grab them by holding the A button and smash them repeatedly against a spike or toss them into a mulcher.

Unfortunately, we have reached our first real negative. Despite the seeming abundance of different ways to kill people, the process can grow quite repetitive; only one or two weapons are available per level, and every level has a variant on the tire and signpost that plays out exactly the same. Furthermore, the spikes and mulching devices are the most common execution devices in each environment and the truly brilliant death traps, like the giant tempura fryer, only show up from time to time. Most of the time, it just feels like you keep on killing everybody in the same, repetitive way from level to level. The developers should have utilized the various themes more effectively to come up with more ways to slaughter your enemies.

The over-the-top nature of the bosses has already been mentioned, but actually fighting them can be a pain that comes in as our second major complaint. MadWorld, like many third person action games, has a lock on system, but it is not a very good one. Locking on requires you to hold onto the C button for a few seconds, and unfortunately it is not very responsive, even during the boss fights when there is only one enemy on screen and locking on is an absolute must for most bosses. Further complicating this issue is the fact that you lose your lock on after special quicktime events that require a series of specific movements and either deal major damage to the boss or Jack depending on your performance. Another problem that only really becomes apparent during boss fights is Jack’s relatively poor mobility; you can only dodge backwards by flicking the Nunchuck but there are times when you will want to dodge to the side and just have to hope and pray that Jack’s slow jog is fast enough. Also, Jack takes too long to recover from being hit and falling victim to a series of attacks from the boss feels downright cheap, simply because it takes too long to get up after being knocked down.

Now for the final complaint; MadWorld is a very short game. Assuming you don’t lose your lives too frequently, an event that requires you to restart a level from the beginning, you can finish the dozen or so missions in six hours, possibly less. You do unlock a few extra weapons that might make replaying worth the time, but the only significant new option is an absurdly vicious difficulty level that is best left to the most hardcore of the hardcore. The only other reason to replay MadWorld is to aim for higher scores, but the lack of online leader boards hurts the appeal.

multiplayer

MadWorld allows two players to compete in the aforementioned minigames via good, old fashioned split-screen multiplayer. The games themselves are fun diversions, each centered around one particularly gruesome way of killing enemies; for example, Man Darts has you hitting enemies into a giant dart board with a spiked baseball bat, though nailing that bull’s-eye can be quite the challenge. Overall, this multiplayer mode adds little to the game even if it is fun to share the mayhem for a few minutes now and again.

overall

MadWorld is not quite the godsend, super-mature hardcore title some gamers were hoping for; it has a few major flaws but still manages to out-rank most of the competition with ease. As a straight-up action title, MadWorld is definitely solid, but the superb audio and visual presentation are what ultimately take it to the level of being truly exceptional. In fact, if it weren’t for the short length and occasional creeping feeling of repetition, MadWorld would be an absolute must-own for any gamer old enough to get past the much deserved M rating from the ESRB. At the very least, MadWorld is thoroughly enjoyable in the most sadistic ways and its several shortcomings can be overcome by those who revel in its gruesome formula.

8.0/10