Back in May 2008, Platinum Games announced a four game deal with Sega and one of those games is MadWorld. This super over the top violent game of Sega is one of the few games that tackle the hardcore genre on the Nintendo Wii Platform. Nintendo Wii has always had this reputation for the casual gamers market for a while and now MadWorld is here to break their casual reputation in an Ultra-Violent way.

The story is actually pretty interesting. Three days before these events, there was this city called Varriyan city Center which was targeted by a group of terrorist called “The Organizers” They release a virus into the city that would kill them in 24 hours. The Organizers has notified everyone that if you kill another person then you would receive a cure for this virus. The city then turns into a stage show called DeathWatch. You play as a bad ass with a retractable chainsaw in one hand named Jack. Jack was a marine and a former three time DeathWatch champion, who immediately gets sponsored by Agent XII (Sponsor 13) to take on the DeathWatch games once again. Your first mission is Jack vs. Little Eddie, so let the DeathWatch games begin.

The graphics are like a graphic novel come to life. Usually, you don’t see third party games on the Wii Platform that look as good as MadWorld. MadWorld only uses three colors which are white, black and red. This is not a bad thing because the Wii is not capable of High Definition graphics like the PS3 and Xbox360. The director Shigenori Nishikawa, who directed Viewtiful Joe and Okami, designed MadWorld. The graphics are somewhat inspired by Sin City and it is very unique and stylish to look at while being displayed in 480p. I truly believe MadWorld truly looks outstanding on the Wii. Madworld’s graphics stands out from every other game on the market to date. I’ve never seen this kind of unique art style in any other game to date.

Platinum Games made this game easy to pick up and play. The game starts you off with a tutorial on how to use your combos. You use your chain saw by pressing B and you punch/grab with A. Next you learn the finishers which are pretty over the top moves. An example of a finisher in MadWorld would be standing on top of someone and chain sawing them in half completely. What I love about MadWorld’s controls is that they make sense, when you want to spin an enemy around and throw an enemy recklessly, just grab him with A and twirl the Wii Mote. You can also pick up an almost limitless amount of items in MadWorld such as tires, traffic signs, chairs, trash cans and many more. One couple of bad things about the controls is that the lock on is not the greatest and the camera angles at times can be confusing. During the story of MadWorld there are 6 weapons you will gain not counting the one you will get to use during a specific scene. Just to list my two favorite out of the six, the Torch and the Spike Bat. MadWorld also has a point system and depending on what kind of combos you do you will get bonus points. One example would be when you grab a trashcan put it over the enemy’s head, grab him and throw him into the dumpster where his body gets cut in half. You basically go through the game racking up points and going from one challenge to another, sounds a little plain, but it is awesome bloody fun. The enemy A.I is decent, and they use strategy when they attack you. The boss battles are epic and each boss looks incredible. Also, there is a tremendous difference in the difficulty modes. Taking a hit from an enemy will take away a larger portion of energy, you have only one life, and the A.I of the enemies is insanely better.

The sound of the game is superb. Everything from the sound of the chain saw revving, beating up enemies or hearing the pain of an enemy is a great experience. The voice acting is very well done and Jack actually sounds like a bad ass. The commentators in MadWorld are actual comedic celebrities. The commentators are stand up comedian Howard “Buckshot” Holmes (Greg Proops) and former stand up comedian Kreese Kreeley (John DiMaggio) who’s commentary is hilarious and outrageous. The music in MadWorld actually immerses you into the game more with 20 hip hop soundtracks in the game that supports the theme of MadWorld.

The replay value in this game comes through the awesomeness of the game play, art style and offline multiplayer. The game play is ultra-violent, putting a tire over an enemy and throwing them in front of a train is very fun and I can see myself playing this game after a bad day at work. The art style of the game is so unique that I believe people will come back to this game just to adore the beautiful art work that was in MadWorld. There are also three unlockables once you beat the game. The offline multiplayer will keep you and your friends entertained for a great amount of time doing various challenges while trying to beat the clock and rack up points against each other.

The Wrap Up

In the end, Madworld is insanely fun, gory and stylish. If you have a Wii I would definitely  recommend this title. Even if you’re a casual fan of Nintendo, you should still give this game a spin. Not only does this game look good, but the game plays just as well.

Pros

Great story

Great gameplay

Stylish Graphics

Ultra-violent

Funny Commentators

Cons

Camera angles / Lock-on can get a little confusing

Short game (5-6 1/2 hours)