MadWorld (Wii) Review
It kills me to sound like a broken record, but we are seeing a slew (pun intended) of mature titles hitting the Nintendo Wii, and it couldnt be better. Not only are we being provided with quality games that really appeal to more than your mother, grandmother or sister, were also receiving games that offer a much deeper experience that appeals to me and you, the average gamer proper. Many gamers will remember Viewtiful Joe and Okami, two games that were artistically brilliant with some unique and very different gameplay. From the guys who brought you these games, comes MadWorld, an ultra-violent, over the top action game that is definitely not suitable for your younger siblings, and really fun to play too.
While MadWorld is primarily a pretty mindless action game, it does come very well equipped with an intriguing narrative that will compel players to continue throughout their journey to understand their protagonists ulterior motives, and to work out what is going on in order to place these crazy events into some sort of context. The game takes place in Varrigan City, a fictional island that is constantly in fear of attack from a terrorist organisation known as The Organisers, whove severed the islands link to the outside world. If things werent bad enough already, theyve unleashed a virus upon the population that will kill the denizens of Varrigan City within 24 hours. However, the terrorists have offered a vaccine to anyone who kills someone else – something that obviously elicits some very bad behaviour within the population. Following on from this idea, DeathWatch is born, a gameshow that finds the top ranked fighter in Varrigan City and rewards them not only with the vaccine, but a very large cash prize. Enter Jack, a mysterious and masculine individual who has not entered DeathWatch for the glory, but for other reasons that we do not know.
Theres two things youll probably notice when you first boot up MadWorld. First of all, the game does not run in the full resolution of other Wii games, resulting in some borders appearing at the top and bottom of the screen. While it doesnt affect gameplay and can be fixed by some television sets, it is rather jarring at first. It is also easy to adjust to, and suits the theme of the game. The second, and more noticeable thing, is that the games graphics are rendered completely in black and white, with the only colours being varying shades of red (that is, the enemys blood). The graphics in MadWorld are, despite the lack of colour, bursting with detail and superbly animated – some of the best that the Wii has to offer. Enemies fill the screen with minimal slowdown, while environments are filled with many different objects that Jack can interact with. All in all, the game excels graphically and runs as smooth as ever.
MadWorlds gameplay is pretty standard for an action game. Each chapter is separated by a map and selection screen that details what the player must do to succeed. As a general rule, players have a free range approach to each level, but must score a set number of points in order to challenge the levels boss, who is usually an eccentric and/or psychotic character designed in similar vein to the famous 12 assassins from No More Heroes. Each mission slowly leads up to the battle, with certain score levels unlocking weapons and challenges that help speed up the process. And its some of these challenges that make up the appealing factor of MadWorld. To give an example, the Moneyshot challenge has Jack shaking up champagne bottles and shoving them down his enemys throat. When the bottles explode, the enemy goes flying but must hit specific areas on giant cardboard cut out women. The more women that Jack makes happy increases the score he gets and subsequently reduces the progress he has to make to battle the boss. Each of these challenges are ridiculously over the top in terms of violence, gore and premise, but thats what makes MadWorld so good, theres a lot of games where this kind of thing hasnt been done before (and although Ive seen it before, the fact that the game tags some of my kills as murdering makes me feel kind of bad for doing so.).
That being said, the controls for MadWorld are fairly intuitive. Jack is moved with the nunchuck’s analogue stick, with a shake of the nunchuck allowing Jack to perform an evasie manouevre. Most of the killing youll be carrying out is performed with the Wii Remote – different movements will produce different results. There is some depth to the system, but overall its rather hack n slash in premise. At the end of the beating, Jack can finish off enemies in two main ways, each of which involve holding a button to finish the kill. The first, and more physical based attack is performed with the A button, and allows Jack to throw, swing or bash his enemies into oblivion. The second, and much more interesting variant is by holding down the B button, which induces a much more messy and violent kill that is for some reason, much more satisfying. That being said, you can use the chainsaw in normal combat with the B button, but it wont be anywhere near as beneficial to racking up your points as using the objects in your environment instead.
One of the most unexpected things that MadWorld does well is the game’s soundtrack, voice acting and sound design. The soundtrack consists of several underground hip hop artists that, although not my specific taste in genre, really suit the action and themes of the game very well. There’s an entirely original track for each level, with some extras thrown in for boss battles and specific events. The tunes that you’ll be slaying to in MadWorld do a great job of making you feel hardcore and brutal – a quality that you can just tell MadWorld wants to get across. The voice acting is fairly well done too, with each character being voiced by some of the most seasoned of industry vets, including John DiMaggio, who some will know as everyone’s favourite space marine, Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War series. DiMaggio teams up with Greg Proops as the DeathWatch commentators, a pair of loud, obnoxious and fairly hilarious guys who don’t hold back with the expletives when commenting on the DeathWatch happenings. It’s fairly safe to say that MadWorld had a lot of effort put into the soundtrack and voice acting, and it does pay off pretty well.
Although MadWorld is a great game, players might find themselves a bit miffed by the lack of content that there is available once the game is completed (which, by the way, clocks in at around 6-7 hours depending on your skill level, but thats just an average). There is a hard mode and some new weapons unlocked upon completion, but outside of that there really isnt a whole lot to do once youve been through Varrigan City once. That being said, there are some nice multiplayer options available, in which two people can approach the bloodbath challenges together, but outside of that they do just feel like minigames.
MadWorld is one of those games that I recommend everyone should have a go at. The gameplay is fun and very fluid, the environments and graphical style really shine through for the Wii, and the violence is some of the most violent youll ever play. It truly does make you wonder how a game like this got through the OFLC whereas so many more timid games get banned. Regardless, MadWorld is a very big pleasure that we should be thankful we have been granted access too. If you can get your head around the short span of the game, and are a fan of action games, then MadWorld is a game for you. A must buy for the core audience, and worth a look for casuals wanting something a little more different to minigame compilations and exercise simulators.
