MadWorld

I stand at the top of a castle, a trio of werewolves bearing down on me. As the first charges, I dodge the attack with a backflip and rev up my chainsaw, running the blade lengthwise up the creature's body. The werewolf splits in half and vibrant blood stains the walls and floor. As the remaining enemies rush forward, I wrench a lightpost from the ground and shove it through the first wolf's head, then sling his floundering body onto a large spike protruding from the ground. I grab the final enemy, smash a pumpkin onto his head, and beat him senseless. As he falls to the ground I shove my chainsaw into his gut, viscera splattering my body, and wrench my arm upwards through his skull. My shoes squelch with each step, the blood of my fallen enemies coating their soles.

I just described a level two combo in Madworld, or as the game fondly calls them, "Hardcore Violence" combos. There are five combo levels in the game, each attained by committing more and more violent acts. The world of Varrigan City is, without a doubt, a mad one.

As Jeff and Ryan pointed out in their Madworld Quicklook, it's difficult to tell if this game is meant to be a commentary on the oversaturation of violence in media, or if it is simply an extension of that oversaturation. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: Madworld is the most violent game I have ever played. If the above description of combat made you squemish, turn away now, as it gets much worse before Madworld's seven hour campaign comes to a close. Candlesticks, firecrackers, soda bottles, swordfish, and much, much more are shoved through heads. People are tossed through meat grinders and impaled on tree branches. The list of gruesome deaths goes on and on, and the violence is so over the top it's kind of funny in a sick way. The humorous nature of the executions is complemented by immature but hilarious commentary from Greg Proops and John DiMaggio. If you, like me, salivate a little at the thought of this, Madworld will warrant at least one playthrough. 

While the death animations are quite varied, the controls used to execute them are thankfully simple to pick up. Basic attacks are wisely executed using the A button instead of waggle, while secondary attacks such as chainsaw swipes are performed via motion controls. Like in Dead Rising, environmental interaction plays a huge role in Madworld as most of your weapons are ripped straight from the level architecture. Once in hand, contextual actions can be performed using more waggle control. The minimal but effective use of motion control ensures that Madworld never becomes physically or mentally tiring to play, even for stick-armed, easily bored gamers such as myself. My one gripe with the controls is that the lock-on system doesn't seem to prioritize enemies, sometimes choosing to lock on to a mere peon when a boss character was right behind it. Despite this complaint, Platinum Games has done a great job working with the Wii's strengths while minimizing its weaknesses, and this intelligent game design extends far beyond the control scheme.

Madworld's graphics have garnered just as much attention as the explicit violence, and rightfully so. The black and white stylings of Varrigan City were initially conceived as a way to work around the Wii's graphical weaknesses, but the team ran with it and made it look great. They obviously wanted to create a game that was instantly recognizable, and Madworld achieves this feat. The only colors in the entire game are red and yellow: the yellow pictures indicate an instruction, such as "swing the remote downwards to impale an enemy," while the buckets of red are a cool stylistic effect.

The audio in Madworld is a bit of a mixed bag. While the game show styled commentary is often funny, it sometimes repeats enough to become grating. The rap music that plays in the background is a nice touch, but it could have been better. As it is, the music, sound effects, and commentary often blend together to create an unitelligable mess of noise. I eventually turned the music down so that I could easier hear the commentary.

Although it may sound like Madworld is an over the top rollercoaster ride from start to finish, this is not exactly the case. I found the first four levels to be quite boring and lacking in personality. In fact, I was ready to declare the game a bore when the fifth level surprised me with its unique theme and sudden injection of wacky humor. In the interest of not spoiling anything, I'll just say that Madworld eventually ascends to the heights of last year's cult hit No More Heroes in terms of story and character, but it may take a little longer than you expect. And speaking of story, Madworld sports a surprisingly decent one for such a blatantly over-the-top game.

With great graphics, an awesome premise, and solid gameplay, Madworld is an easy purchase for hardcore Wii gamers who don't mind getting their hands a little bloody. The story is short but sweet, and it definately warrants a replay on the insanely difficult Hard mode. For many Wii gamers, though, Madworld is more than just a great action game. It is the first triple-A game to arrive on the Wii in almost a year, and its unique graphics and insane violence set it apart from anything on any system. For the sake of hardcore Wii gamers everywhere, you should give Madworld a chance if you think you might like it. Who knows, maybe if Madworld sells well enough, Ninendo will finally realize that there is still a market for mature action games on their little white marvel.