One giant BLOODGASM!
Madworld… a game shrouded by controversies, I wanted to buy this game at release but then I decided to wait till it got cheaper… I'm glad I did. I bought this game for $9.99 and it is one of the best $9.99 I've ever spent. As you might have known this game is a 3D Beat Em Up, a very stylized one at that. It's Black and White and Red all over with a bit of Green and Yellow thrown in the mix. I'll start with the story.
Story 8/10
The story in this game is really and I do mean really good. You're Jack, a Marine Sent into a Island that was isolated from the real world by terrorist so that they could set up a game. But not any ordinary game it's Death Watch… It's modern day gladiator warfare. You essentially have to fight and kill everyone that you see. Pretty simple but the story just gets deeper and deeper with a ton of plot twist. Honestly it's one of the best stories I've seen in a while for a video game. Sad thing is the game is really short and I managed to finish this game it in about 7 hours.
Gameplay 9/10
Oh God is this game fun! When I saw the wii this is what I expected, the game utilizes the wii's controller capabilities to it's fullest. If you've played No More Heroes you have a slight idea how this game plays. For the most part you shake the wii mote in certain directions to do certain attacks, you waggle the nunchuck to do a backflip which is also your only means of avoiding attacks. You press A and B to do certain attacks while you waggle and what not. Overall the controls take about 10 minutes to get used to but once that's done they are very intuitive! One of the best parts of the gameplay is these little scenes called power struggles while doing this you have to respond to the on screen commands and move the wii mote in the direction indicated. They are reminiscent to those interactive cutscenes from RE4. The game rewards you for coming up with different ways to brutally murder enemies and it has tons of ways that you can do this, you will be relying mostly on environmental kills so have a blast with this game! The only bad thing is that it's a tad bit repetitive… but honestly what Beat em up isnt'? The game itself is divided by sections and in each section they are 2 stages and in each stage is a Boss Battle and the third stage is usually one big boss battle, the game only saves when you complete a level, they are also some motor cycle segments that are really fun and the bosses are top notch. In short if you enjoyed No More Heroes you will really love this game.
Graphics 10/10
Oh God is this game beautiful! It's stylized black and white (with red all over) and honestly this game is the best graphics and art direction I've seen on the wii. Things are crisp and clear very little jaggies and the game has a relatively smooth framerate , it only dips when they are a lot of things going on in the screen. Overall this is very impressive for the Wii.
Sound and Music 10/10
One word…. FREAKING AWESOME! The music is predominantly Hip Hop but it fits the game so perfectly well and this is coming from someone who just doesn't like Hip Hop whatsoever, but it suits this game very well not to mention that the music was created for this game so all of it is original. The sound effects are also really good from the squish of the opponent's bodies to the rawring chainsaw on your arm… Oh god does the sound rock in this game. Not to mention the best part of the game… the announcers! These guys will comment upon whatever you do and God are they hilarious! They will have you in stitches from their commentaries. Overall this game has amazing sound effects and soundtrack.
Replay value 6/10
There isn't much to do in this game once it's completed; it's linear and composed of stages but once you completed it they allow a New Game+ with unlocked Katana and Dual Chainsaw as new weapons and a harder difficulty level. Overall there is enough to play again if you really love this game.
Buy or Rent/borrow?
Honestly if you can find it for $20 go buy it it's awesome! It's only seven hours long so that's not so bad for $20 bucks, if you know a friend that has it then by all means borrow it but try to buy it because it's that good.
Overall the game is a 9/10. It's short but it's soooo much fun that it's an amazing game.
