It's become common knowledge that the Nintendo Wii is the home of family friendly videogaming, Nintendo's decision to aim for a younger and non-gamer audience as been a right one, for it's made the Wii one of the most successful consoles ever. It's without doubt that the little white box as it's share of forgettable titles for such gamers as myself, but even I cannot deny that there is a true charm to be found if the right ingredients are all in place. For the most part, MadWorld is indeed such a title where the right ingredients aren't just in place, but have been cooked with the perfect amount of salt and pepper. 

MadWorld is the creation of Platinum Games, infact it's the first title released by the developers since forming in 2006. It's a game that offers something we don't get to see all to often on the Nintendo Wii nowadays. Blood, gore, violence and massive amounts of swearing. Which are all good things in my book, but even such qualities need to be used with care and MadWorld is guilty of overusing these extreme acts all to often until they eventually feel somewhat hollow towards the end of a playthrough. In MadWorld you play as Jack Cayman, who obtains the funding of a sponsor to take part in the bloody sport of DeathWatch. DeathWatch is created after parts of Varrigan city are attacked by groups of terrorists who release a deadly virus that can kill the population in less then 24 hours, the terrorist group who call themselves 'The Organizers' tell the population that if they kill fellow members of the population that they shall be given a vaccine to save their lives. At first the actual tale MadWorld tells can feel a little dull but there's actually a surprising amount of intrigue to be found as the story develops. 

As Jack, it's your job to fight through different stages and of course bosses in an attempt to win the overall event, but not everything seems as it should be and Jack as his own personal reasons for entering the competition. It actually ends offering quite a detailed and interesting story which helps keep the player pushing forward as throwing thugs into spikes for a thousand times over can start to feel a little repetitive, so the extra interest found in the tale is a high point in the overall experience the game delivers. The actual 'sport' if you will, takes place in varied locations from zombie invested graveyards to deadly subway stations that continually see spiked covered trains race through it's tracks. There is a nice variation in the overall artistic styling of each location, though the actual methods of killing never truly change in any great way, you can go from throwing a thug onto the spikes of a bus to swinging them onto the spike of a blood soaked hook in a dungeon for example. But your still doing the exact same motions and MadWorld can end up feeling a little to repetitive for it's own good.

Repetition ends up being MadWorld's biggest downfall, partly due to the simple overuse of specific game mechanics and content. While repetitive Wii Motion control movements are to be totally expected, the use of dialogue from MadWorld's honestly humorous announcers can start to grind on your nerves after a good four or five hours into play. It seems as if the developers only chose to use two lines of dialogue for each action Jack can take part in, for example if you pick up pills to regenerate health. You will hear the two same pieces of dialogue again and again until you can't help but get the impression that the developers were hopeing that all this blood and violence would make the gamer forget about all the shortfalls of this enjoyable Wii exclusive. It should though be noted that I was never tempted to turn off the two announcers as they both add some flesh to the overall experience and they are indeed quite funny from time to time. Very few games have been able to make me laugh out loud but a number of the sentences Greg Proops and John DiMaggio say are honestly very funny.

One thing that is openly clearly from just starting up MadWorld is that it's one great looking game, Platinum Games have done a great job of creating an artistic style that forgets the limitations of the Wii console and would look perfectly good on any of the home consoles. It's black and white style as a true impact on the visuals and each location feels unique and interesting, objects are clearly visible against the black and white background and the locations themselves hold true substance that is delightful to play around in. The use of color is also well chosen, obviously the deep red of blood splattered floors, walls and thugs is a match made in heaven while the helpful bright yellow clearly shows items of key importance. It's a visual style that doesn't just look good, but is perfectly accessible and doesn't overflow the screen. Character models also deserve some credit, especially the bosses who all look unique and creative. Even if the actual boss battles all to often feel the same. Despite MadWorld's violence and gore, the actual impact of the violence shown throughout the game isn't as impacting as one would hope, and this is partly why I suspect Nintendo were more then happy to release the game on their family friendly console. 

While the game is filled with many outrageous methods of death and mutilations, I never felt truly shocked at what I saw on screen. It never had such the effect as say the Saw movies would have on a film audience, why this is I'm not totally sure but I couldn't help but feel as if the games artistic style made the violent acts seem less outstanding as the game wanted you to think they were. Though such acts were still fun to perform and there is fun to be had with the Wii Motion controls, even if there less then perfect in actual gameplay. For the most part MadWorld handles well, as a gamer who loves his traditional controllers it still didn't convince me that the motion controls are anything but a gimmick but there still fun to use. Jack as his trusty wrist chainsaw which is activated by holding down the B trigger button and slashes up and across create either vertical or horizontal chainsaw attacks which are great for taking out groups of thugs. Jack's common attack will cause a thug to get stunned and allow him to perform a varied amount of finishers that are actived by the specific button, for example you can finish off a stunned thug with a chainsaw animation by simply pressing the B trigger button. It's a control setup that suits combat well and provides simple but still violent spells of fun.  

While the Wii's Motion Control plays a key part in a gamers enjoyment of MadWorld, it does suffer from a poor camera control setup and you will often find yourself stuck in a corner of a location as you try to adjust the camera. At times this issue doesn't seem to bad but I defiantly came across moments when the lack of a free player controlled camera spoilt my enjoyment of the over the top violence. This eventually becomes a bigger issue partly due to the fact that MadWorld is built for the player to be as twisted and sick as possible, for the player must obtained points from kills to reach certain objectives at each location until he finally gets the chance to meet the big bad boss and complete the level. Being creative in kills is important, while it can seem all to easy for you to go around murdering with your good old trusty chainsaw. To get the big points you need to be creative in your methods of death, for example rather then just throwing a poor zombie into a spiked covered grinder. Why not stick a candle stand or two into his throat or throw an explosive barrel over him for those extra key points. Once a certain amount of points as been reached, you'll get a fancy new weapon for use from your sponsor or you get to take part in one of the many DeathWatch challenges. 

MadWorld features a solid seven to eight hour single player campaign which can feel a little easy on your first playthrough, though an higher differculty is unlocked which does offer a much bigger challenge. There is also a small multiplayer mode to be found though it's only local, this mode basically allows you to play some of the DeathWatch challenges with a friend. The mode is perfectly serviceable but won't give you much reason to return to MadWorld once you've completed it a few times through, this makes MadWorld feel somewhat short although the single player campaign defiantly is worth multiple playthroughs as you look to see and kill everything you can in the most violent way possible. In the sound department it's truly differcult to lay any serious criticism towards MadWorld for it's one great sounding game, from the splash of thugs hitting walls to the hip-hip styled soundtrack. It all feels well thought out and fits the premise of the game perfectly, massive credit should go to the voicework which is fantastic. Infact it's so good you'd be forgiven for forgetting that MadWorld is a Japanese developed game. Both Greg Proops and John DiMaggio are superb as the announcers while Steven Blum as Jack Caymen was both brilliant and disturbing to me, but it's all fantastically well done even if the announcers do eventually suffer from heavy spells of repetition.

Overall MadWorld is a fine exclusive for the Nintendo Wii, while it didn't always offer the satisfaction of videogame violence and gore I was hopeing. It does provide Wii owners with another unique title to call their own and sits almost perfectly next to No More Heroes. But eventual repetition in both gameplay and content can leave the gamer feeling a little short changed though a surprisingly interesting storyline plays an important part in giving the player a reason to push on through it's seven to eight hours of play. It's hard to get bored of it's fantastic visuals and it's easily one of the best sounding Wii titles currently available with a great soundtrack and brilliant voicework. On occasion, common Wii-related issues can spoil the enjoyment of the game and the poor camera control setup might just leave you a little red in the face. Despite these issues, MadWorld is still worth a rental at the very least. It's violent, gorey and often brilliant and lets be honest, those are three qualities we don't get to see much of on Nintendo's little white box.

SCORE: 4 out of 5