MadWorld's style-over-substance approach falls flat
Style. That’s a word you’ll see pretty often in regards to Platinum Games’ MadWorld. It’s not an unfair assessment, given the game’s cel-shaded comic book aesthetic. Not surprising either, since Platinum Games was founded by several key members of the now defunct Clover Studio, the guys responsible for Okami and the Viewtiful Joe series. But those titles also brought substance and innovation to the table. So the question becomes, does Platinum Games continue that Clover tradition with MadWorld?
The first thing many people will notice about MadWorld is its art style. As mentioned, the game uses black and white cel-shading - save for the copious amounts of bright-red blood – to create a distinct look that will draw comparisons to Frank Miller’s Sin City. You’ll also notice comic-style paneling within cutscenes, as well as visualization of many sound effects (such as “VROOOOM” appearing on screen when you rev up your chainsaw), adding to the overall comic book feel of the game.
MadWorld draws quite a bit of inspiration from movies like The Running Man, Battle Royale, and maybe a hint of Escape from New York. The game takes place in Varrigan City, an island metropolis that has been taken over by “The Organization”, a group of terrorists-slash-television producers who’ve unleashed a virus on the city’s residents, offering vaccines to anyone who participates in their reality game show, DeathWatch. You play the part of Jack, an ex-marine and all-around badass sporting a retractable chainsaw on his mechanical right arm. As Jack, you must fight your way through endless amounts of thugs, ninjas, zombies, and aliens to become the champion of DeathWatch.
Of course, MadWorld’s narrative exists solely to give Jack a reason to murder dudes, and murder dudes you most certainly will. In fact, when Jack has a thug in his clutches and approaches, let’s say a wall of spikes, the word “murder” will flash on screen along with a quick time event that will cause Jack to slam the thug repeatedly into said spikes. Rather than the more traditional brawler approach, MadWorld’s progression is entirely score based. Jack is simply dropped into an area an unleashed on the enemies. You’re rewarded for getting creative with your violence, so while you’re welcome to toss thugs into those spikes at your leisure, you’re better off warming them up with a few punches and a lamp post through the skull before you send them to their demise. As you rack up points, you’ll unlock weapons and new death traps, as well as the Bloodbath Challenges, unique mini-games within each level where you can amass tons of points by using special traps, such as a speeding train, to maul those hapless thugs. Eventually, you’ll gain enough points to unlock the boss fight for a particular level. Most of these boss fights have you going on the defensive until you’re able to cue up a quick time event that will inflict a decent chunk of damage if successfully executed. Whether or not this is a bad thing is completely determined by your feelings on QTEs, although I generally don’t mind them, and have come to expect them in action games on the Wii. When you’ve finally taken the health of a boss down, you’re presented with one final QTE that ends with the boss being dispatched in ridiculous fashion. And really, that is what defines MadWorld. The game doesn’t try to be gritty or take itself seriously. It’s like Itchy and Scratchy on steroids. Hell, at one point you’ll find yourself quite literally catapulting enemies into the moon, only to follow that by playing a round of “Man Golf” in that level’s Bloodbath Challenge.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of MadWorld is the soundtrack to which you’ll be committing these acts of violence. Going in, I was pretty excited to hear the sports-style commentary of the on-screen action is provided by Greg Proops and John DiMaggio. Proops is a comedian, probably best-known for his work on the improve television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, while many readers will recognize DiMaggio as the voice of Futurama’s Bender, as well as Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. The two of them provide some fairly hilarious banter throughout each round, which unfortunately doesn’t remain hilarious for very long since you’ll likely hear everything they have to say within the first five minutes of each level – and with levels sometimes taking upwards of 20 minutes to complete, you’ll probably be hearing a ton of repeated dialogue. MadWorld also features some generic and forgettable rap during the course of the action, with many lyrics specific to certain levels and enemies seen in the game.
Sadly, MadWorld is the epitome of style over substance. Sure the visuals and dark humor help it stand out from the pack at first, especially on the Wii, but after wading through the deep pools of bright-red blood, you’ll find the core game of MadWorld isn’t much more than a fairly shallow brawler.
