MadWorld

It’s A Mad World…

Part Running Man, part Sin City; part snuff film, part comic book noir. The guilty pleasures of vicariously watching violence and bloodshed. MadWorld is all of this, and none of it. It is a concoction so unholy the very grounds that soccer moms and conservative right-wings walk on was shaken. The brainchild of some malicious, vile monster that seeks to ruin the image of the Wii and turn it into the monstrosity that plagues homes world wide. MadWorld is a sinister trip into the abysmal underbelly of gratuitousness, vulgarity, sex, and drugs - and that is why we love it. Thrust into the hijacked Varrigan City - whose bridges and ports have been all but sealed off from the outside world - you take on the role of Jack, a rogue Marine infiltrating the war zone with a personal agenda. A deadly virus was released hours ago, threatening the lives of all those who called Varrigan home. The promise of a cure was offered to anyone who willingly killed another person. So began the Deathwatch Games.

Born from the remnants of the former subsidiary of Capcom known as Clover Studios, Platinum Games - consisting of a variety of minds responsible for such classics as Okami, Viewitful Joe, and the Resident Evil series - have put forth one of their most remarkable, stunning, thrilling, and engrossing tales yet. And Wii owners are all the better for it.

A Rosebush By Any Other Name Would Not Hurt As Much…

Perhaps second to the game’s stunning visual presentation is the advertisement of complete and total freedom of choice when killing someone. And this is entirely the case. The world is your playground, and everything in it is waiting to be used. See a wall of spikes off to the side? Why not first pick up a sign post and jam in through the enemy’s head. While you’re at it, pick them up and drop them into a trash can. Then feel free to make them holy. Or perhaps fire is more your style? Why, there’s a conveniently placed jet engine burning white-hot flames just for your vicarious-pleasure. Go on, roast some marshmallows. It’s alright.

If the natural environment isn’t your cup of tea, Jack is more than equipped to take care of business himself. Furious punches and kicks from the A button will stun enemies into a state of dizziness, prompting you to then perform a special move to finish them off. When the enemy becomes dazed, you’ll see a flashing icon on the screen; pressing the B button will cause Jack to use one of dozens of moves to kill the enemy, which may require slight motion control from the remote and/or nunchuk. If you press A in the dazed state, Jack will grab the enemy by his feet, and a circular-motion icon will appear on screen prompting you to swing the remote in such a way that when you let go of the button, Jack will toss the enemy in the corresponding direction.

If you choose to be lazy and want to cut through a slew of enemies in a hurry, hold down the B button and let that chainsaw rip. Swinging the remote downward (with B still held) will cause Jack to swing vertically, and likewise swinging the remote left or right for horizontally. This will slice enemies in half appropriately to the direction you have swung. Take note that in some areas, certain enemies will not be killed if sliced horizontally. Holding down the A button near an enemy will pick them up, and giving the nunchuk a flick will cause Jack to give him a little head butt to keep him under control. There is no proper block feature in the game; rather, Platinum Games has opted to completely skip that step and simply include an evade feature. When not punching or chainsawing, a twitch of the nunchuk will make Jack do a backflip. This can be bothersome, however, since Jack will ONLY flip backwards - there is no side or forward evasive maneuver. All in all, the combat is solid and intuitive. The motion controls blend beautifully with the simple presses of the A and B buttons, and combat is very fluid.

Noir In Motion…

MadWorld is nothing short of a unique visual triumph. And coming from the minds behind Viewitful Joe and Okami, one would not expect anything less. The game is rendered entirely in black-and-white comic book noir with splashes of yellow to signify certain in-game rewards, and red - for the obvious bloodshed. Batches of red can also be seen covering various in-game methods of world-punishment - covering a dumpster, the wall of spikes, a spinning steel fan - as if a giant flag was being waved saying, “Hey, Jack! Toss the enemy into me!” Various cut scenes are in pre-rendered full motion, but a good majority of the major dialogue conversations are in that very style I’ve mentioned - comic book noir. Squared panels will slide on and off screen with still-motion facial expressions of the characters as the expertly-delivered dialogue plays out.

The game’s overall presentation is spectacular; however, there is but one fault in all of this. MadWorld runs at the lowest possible 480i resolution. The lack of a progressive scan option may hurt those with larger high-definition TVs, resulting in an obviously more pixilated picture, but the visual beauty of the game itself will allow you to easily forgive this oversight.

Brought To You By Shock TV…

The game as a whole is presented in two distinct “modes,” shall we say - and one could argue that there is even a third mode. Firstly, and most importantly, this game is classified as a beat-em-up. The primary focus of MadWorld is to kill as many people as you can, in the most unique and violent ways, to rack up points. As your score increases, more rewards are unlocked in the level, and eventually, the boss battle becomes available. It’s this simple formula that may turn off potential MadWorld-players, but that is where the monotony is broken by the second mode. Within each level are very distinct, and for the most part, highly original mini-games set within the game world and often utilizing one of that particular level’s focal weapons. These mini games, known within MadWorld as “Bloodbath Challenges,“ are not mandatory, they are simply a one-time event per level and another means of increasing your score very quickly.

The types of challenges you’ll be presented with include the very family-friendly Man Golf, wherein you will use a golf club to tee off the heads of attackers and attempt to get them through floating targets in the distance, and Man Darts, in similar fashion, using human projectiles and swinging at them with a bat in an effort to hit a grand slam and nail them into the giant dart board. The variety of these Bloodbath Challenges serve as a means of breaking up the repetition within each level. When Jack has reached a sufficient score, you’ll be given a brief scene alerting you that the boss battle is now open. Each boss offers a very different experience than the rest; simple button mashing is likely to get you killed, which may lead to many a hair-pulling. MadWorld runs on a traditional life-based system; Jack innately starts out with 2 lives every level. Collecting special items called “Jack Balloons” (and they are literally balloons) will grant you an extra life, while eating pills dropped from enemies restores partial health and the Happy Onion restores full health. If you die during a boss battle on your last life, you must start the entire level over again. A minor frustration, but one that can easily be overlooked considering no level should generally last more than 10-15 minutes.

As if the furious combat, intense mini-games, and thrilling boss battles weren‘t enough, the geniuses at Platinum Games have included a trump card - a means by which all injustices of the in-game world are settled through witty dialogue and hilarious bantering: the Deathwatch Announcers. They are with you from beginning to end, making what could be a depressing and bleak game one of the most entertaining and memorable experiences you will have this console generation. Voiced by the hilarious Greg Proops (of “Whose Line Is It Anyway” notoriety) and the ever-popular John DiMaggio (made famous for his roles as Marcus Fenix in Gears of War and Bender of “Futurama”) the duo whip up some of the best bantering to grace television sets since Abbot and Costello.

From the tiniest actions performed by Jack in game to the grandest killing blows, the announcers are ready and waiting to unleash a flurry of cynical, sarcastic comments with no regard for personal decency or feelings. Kreese Kreely (DiMaggio), a former Deathwatch challenger, speaks the voice of strategy and insider knowledge about the games, while Howard “Buckshot” Holmes (Proops) is simply the gratuitous, raunchy one. The two will often regard one of Jack’s actions in game and then trail off into random yet entertaining dialogue about Buckshot’s wife and their sex life. One particular, unrelated anecdote follows when Jack consumes a health pill; Buckshot comments that he likes to wash his pills down with a little scotch, and Kreese replies, “I like to wash down my scotch with a little scotch.” The two then begin repeating “I love scotch” one after the other for a few seconds. These are the moments that make you want to cease the bloodshed, if only for a moment, sit back and just listen to the two go at it. The one fault with this is that far too often the dialogue will be repeated; if you were to go and pick up another health pill a few minutes later, the announcers would say the same exact thing. This is fine for the first hour or so of the game, but after a while can get tedious. The only reason it remains somewhat enjoyable is the fact that it’s still so hilarious despite how many times it’s said.

The game is not terribly long and should take the average player 5-6 hours to complete. It consists of 6 districts within Varrigan City with 2 to 3 sections for each district, and a boss battle within each section. The game’s standard difficulty level is “Normal,” although this can be compared to another game’s “Easy.” Enemies will often stand there waiting for your brutal onslaught, which may or may not be enjoyable depending on the player. The real challenge, however, comes from “Hard” mode: if Normal equals Easy, then Hard equals OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? In addition, several unlockable weapons become available after beating the game including a katana, a dual-bladed chainsaw, and more. There is a simple local co-op featured, though the only mode of play is the various Bloodbath Challenges with one other person. Perhaps this is for the better, because Deathwatch would not seem at all the same if Jack had a buddy with him wreaking havoc across the desolate, terrorist- overrun city.

Jack, Jack, He’s A Psychomaniac…

MadWorld boasts an eclectic soundtrack of mostly-unknown artists who worked specifically for the game. Consisting entirely of rap/hip-hop tunes, the music in MadWorld is unique, to say the least - but it is also perfectly fitting of the game’s intense atmosphere and hectic gameplay. Each area of the game has its own theme, as do every featured boss battle, culminating in 20 original, catchy tunes. The voice acting in MadWorld is second-to-none. Superb casting all around, from Jack to the various secondary-characters all throughout, and the especially brilliant work from John DiMaggio and Greg Proops as the announcers. You may find yourself tuning out the game’s music and sound effects simply to hear the announcers in all their glory; although, this leads me to mention the only fault in the game’s otherwise-superb sound mixing.

During the heat of reckless combat, the sounds of bone crushing/chainsaw revving, the blaring background music, and the play-by-play commentary of the announcers meshes together in a jumbled, incoherent mess. Far too often the three distinct sounds of the game will collide with each other resulting in a very loud, likely very annoying experience - at least until one or two of the noises subside. A simple lowering of the sound effects, music, or announcers can help remedy the situation - thereby causing the louder sound to drown out the rest - but ultimately, when you have brilliant music and brilliant voice acting, it becomes a difficult decision to lower either of them.

And The Verdict Is…

MadWorld is in every way a thrilling, original adventure. Not only because it takes its place on the throne among the Wii’s mature crowd, but because it utilizes unconventional methods of storytelling, gameplay, and visual presentation to create one of the most enjoyable experiences on the console thus far. It boils down to this: MadWorld is primitive, juvenile, vulgar, and violent - everything a starved Wii-owning sociopath could ask for.

Pros: Breathtaking noir-inspired visuals; cathartic and exhilarating combat; flawless voice acting and music all around; many twists within a seemingly-conventional story

Cons: Short length at only 5-6 hours; poor camera controls can get frustrating in tight situations; limited co-op could have included at least wifi for the Bloodbath Challenges; medley of sound effects, music, and voices does not mesh well.

The Final Verdict: 9/10
Simply put, if you own a Wii and you’re itching for a remarkable, albeit short, experience you’re not likely to forget for years to come, play MadWorld. There is absolutely nothing else quite like it on any platform - ever.