MadWorld (Nintendo Wii)
Rated “M” For “Mature”
In a strange and crazy world, things seem pretty black and white sometimes. When you add splashes of red, the world may become mad.
=====Story=====
The Death Watch games; a brutality fest where many compete for the thrill and glory of being the best. The streets are littered with weapons, competitors, and the blood of those who compete. Jack Cayman is in the middle of all this chaos and becomes the center of attention as he quickly moves up the ranks. But what is Jack’s reason for being there? Is he there for the fame? Is he there for the glory? Is he just trying to survive? Or are there ulterior motives in the mind of this chainsaw wielding death bringer?
=====Gameplay=====
Jack has a variety of weapons and environments in which he can use to eliminate his opposition. With so much around and so much to do, you would think the controls would be a bit much. Thankfully most of the actions and killings are done by simply performing Wiimote swings prompted to you on screen, which will emulate the action Jack does whether it's sawing off a head or impaling someone on a spike or deep frying your foe in a huge tempura pot. They range from simple one swing motions to multiple directional swings to further Jack’s creative killing. And creativity is the key as the more you make your foes suffer, the more you entertain your audience of Death Watch and the more points you receive. Point-grinding is what you basically do as you must attain a certain amount of points in order to face the high ranked boss of the level. A variety of Bloodbath Challenges arise to help increase your points by doing special situated killings like throwing enemies under the Death Press to get squashed or shoving a bottle of special soda into a victim's skull and having them shoot off onto a spiked board or even the very popular Man Darts.
=====Difficulty=====
With 2 modes of difficulty (Hard unlocked after beating Normal), you get plenty of chances to perform some pulsating punishment on pointless peons. Although the normal AI does seem to be less than intelligent at times, that does serve as a small blessing to let the blood juices flow, but that may make others feel that Jack has it easy. Later stages do crank up the intelligence and small mini-bosses are introduced throughout the stages making the red splashed around come from Jack instead.
There are a few motorcycle levels that are fairly simple. All you have to do is drive forward and swing your Wiimote or Nunchuk depending on which side your maniac drivers are on to kill them.
The bosses do take a little bit of strategizing as none share the same attack pattern and some are obviously larger than life. They hit hard and can take some time to take down, but you will be rewarded with great interactive killing scenes.
=====Content=====
Killing.
Lots of killing.
There is plenty for Jack to do in MadWorld. The obvious killing is abundant and the amount of killing you can possibly do is there to extend your play. An assortment of weapons and environmental hazards help you and can also be used to hurt you.
The style of the game is of an interactive comic book. The story is told through voice acting and comic panels, action words, and the art style is very obvious with the colors and the look. The black and white look really make the red stand out. The black and white can sometimes (not that often) make things harder to see as things can blend together with the limited color pallet.
=====Final Thoughts=====
MadWorld has a lot going for it. It’s an M rated game on a “family friendly” system and makes good use of the Wii’s motion controls. The style of the game is almost like nothing out there. There is an amazing voice cast [Steve Blum as Jack (also known for the English voice of Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop), Greg Proops as announcer Howard “Buckshot” Holmes (best known as a cast member on Whose Line Is It Anyway), and John Dimaggio announcing alongside Howard as Chris Creely (Bender from Futurama)] that says some of the most outrageous things with no muzzle thanks to the M rating. Unlockable weapons and multiplayer give reason for some extended play. The sometimes simple minded AI and very short game length are a few of the harsher downsides to MadWorld, but the main draw is the amount of creative carnage you can unleash that keeps Jack’s chainsaw running a few more hours as you continue to paint the town red and find out the true intention of the Death Watch games, Jack’s involvement, and what really makes this game a MadWorld.
Rated 4 out of 5
