With all of this style and atmosphere to spare, MadWorld delivers in its gameplay, as well, a sort of cross between the fisticuffs of Streets of Rage and the game show aspects of Smash TV. But the main draw in MadWorld is its ever-present focus on experimentation with your kills. In the world of Death Watch, every conceivable item can be used as a weapon, from street signs to tires, and more inventive kills rack up more points. See, unlike commentator Greg Proops’s previous show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the points in MadWorld actually do matter: you need to get a set amount before such things as Bloodbath Challenges (more on those in a second) and boss fights. In other words, a quick decapitation with Jack’s chainsaw won’t work point-wise. A tire shoved onto the torso, a signpost through the head, a couple of headbutts for good measure and impaling the corpse four or five times on a wall of spikes, for instance, is the way to go.
Each level is rife with different implements of torture. The Asian-themed level gives you a vat of oil to fry your enemies in and serve them to unsuspecting people as tempura, while Area 66 (the Area 51 level) has teleporters and a galactic garbage chute. The game’s different worlds, such as the aforementioned Asian Town and Area 66, the zombie-infested Mad Castle and the aptly-named Casino Land are varied and vibrant despite the black-and-white, with plenty of thematically-appropriate things to do, and enemies to kill. There are even a couple of sections in the game where Jack rides on his motorcycle, providing quite a nice change of pace, and it’s even easier to kill baddies with a swing or two of the Wii Remote on either side, leading to some even more grisly fatalities.
In between the sandbox segments of the gameplay are so-called Bloodbath Challenges. Led by Death Watch ringleader The Black Baron (stop starin’) and his PVC-clad consort, Mathilda, these minigames provide a fun spin on the action, like Mario Party by way of Saw. In Man Darts, you hit baddies with a spiked bat on a massive dartboard. In Hanabi, you shove ninjas into fireworks barrels and let them explode. And in Man Golf, you whack off zombies’ heads. Moreover, the Bloodbath Challenges also reinforce the impression that this game is not even remotely meant to be taken seriously. Platinum is keen to show off their creative side with these.
Platinum’s games have been known for their killer boss fights, and MadWorld certainly set the stage for this. The most rewarding ones include the Shogun, whose armor comes off as you keep attacking him; Jude the Dude, the self-described “Brokest Back In The West,” who also rides on rollerskates and stabs you with his massive spurs; a cybernetically-enhanced Neo-Nazi by the name of Frederick Von Twirlenkiller; and Elise, who takes the sexy vampire/succubus stereotype up to eleven in ways not even Darkstalkers’ infamous Morrigan Aensland can live up to.
The controls in MadWorld are as precise as you can get on the Wii, and play an integral part in making your kills that much more satisfying. You move Jack with the control stick on the Nunchuk, and presses of the A, B and Z buttons let you throw punches, use a weapon and grab people, respectively. While the C button can be used to lock on to enemies, it’s generally not a very helpful feature outside of boss fights, as it’s quite cumbersome to kill just one enemy when you can kill several. These are put into action by swings of the Wii Remote, making it incredibly easy to pull off complex strings of combos and flail your arms around during the boss battles’ well-implemented quick time events.
MadWorld does have a few imperfections. The most glaring one, its painfully short length of about six hours, has been all but vindicated by the sub-$10 price point it has attained as of late. And, once you’re done with the main game, you can tackle the hardcore Hard and near-impossible Katana difficulties, which adds even more to the replay value. Aside from the aforementioned unevenness of the lock-on system, the camera occasionally has problems, as well. Especially during boss battles, it tends to focus a little too much on Jack, and, when the camera angle changes after a combo or Jack is caught in between two boss mobs, you’ll wish for another camera control. It’s definitely not bad as other Wii games go, but it could have been fine-tuned. However, as with Platinum’s subsequent titles as of late, the aspect of fun wins out.
MadWorld‘s sense of comedy and experimentation, striking graphical style and killer soundtrack give it quite the edge. With the exception of the sometimes-problematic camera and enemy lock-on, the controls are a brilliant case for motion control in gaming. It may be the most violent game ever made, and is quite eager to make that claim known, but MadWorld definitely has the substance to back it up. Whether you’re a fan of Platinum’s other titles or if The Wonderful 101 has converted you to this creative studio’s output, you should definitely give this inventive brawler a try if you can stomach the violence.
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MadWorld is available for purchase on Amazon:
Review copy purchased by author
