MadWorld is definitely up there with No More Heroes as being a prime example of how the Wii was more than capable of having non family friendly games. The fact this game goes relatively overlooked especially since the developer, Platinum Games eventually hit it big with Bayonetta is honestly pretty sad.
The game stars Jack Cayman, a veteran contestant of DeathWatch, a kill or be killed fueled gladiatorial game show. His goal is to conquer the various other ranked players of the game and steadily climb the leaderboard to become number 1, all the while splitting intel with Agent 13, who sponsors Jack in progressing through the game and Amala, a government spy helping Jack in solving a mystery involving a deadly virus spread across the island forcing the citizens to kill in order to receive a cure.
As for the game itself, good lord, is it satisfying as hell to play?! The game has Jack running through various open ended levels with multiple ways to kill enemies. Jack is equipped with attacks of his own such as his signature chainsaw equipped arm but your real best weapon is more often than not, the levels themselves. They are filled with various hazards and weapons like spike covered walls (or rose bushes as the game chooses to call them), moving trains, catapults, and buzzsaws. Throwing enemies into these hazards along with combining that with shoving things like tires and signposts into them will raise your point count and steadily unlock various new ways to kill leading up to the boss. The more creative your kills are, the more points you receive. Eventually you'll take part in the Bloodbath Challenge, a segment hosted by the comically over stereotypical pimp, The Black Baron. These consist of things like batting enemies into an oversized dartboard or tossing them into firework launchers and watching them explode upon taking off. Basically every single way you can kill in this game is not only hilarious but satisfying to pull off.
Presentation wise, the game definitely stands out. The Sin City comic book art style definitely makes for a very unique looking game with the only thing in color being ironically, the blood. The character designs are also very cool, with plenty of them being obvious nods to other video game or movie characters. Such as Jack being a clear nod to Hellboy, RinRin resembling Chun Li, and The Masters resembling Obi Wan and Luke (or Qui Gon and Obi Wan or Anakin and Obi wan. One of those 3 anyway). The music is a great blend of hip hop and rock and roll with the boss themes standing out the most and the voice acting is especially good with every character being so well casted. Steve Blum as expected brings a very badass performance to Jack but the show is especially stolen by Who's Line Is It Anyway's Greg Proops and Adventure Time and Futurama's John DiMaggio who play Howard and Kreese, the announcers of DeathWatch. Every single line they say is hilarious, often poking fun at certain kills, when you grab a pickup, and of course breaking the fourth wall.
Overall, MadWorld is a very uniquely fun game. It's not perfect obviously since the camera could be a little better and the story being a tad all over the place (although with gameplay like this, I'm sure story will be the last thing on the player's mind). But regardless, it's a fun 3D style beat 'em up and one of the best in that category. If you haven't played it yet, now is a perfect time to start.
The game stars Jack Cayman, a veteran contestant of DeathWatch, a kill or be killed fueled gladiatorial game show. His goal is to conquer the various other ranked players of the game and steadily climb the leaderboard to become number 1, all the while splitting intel with Agent 13, who sponsors Jack in progressing through the game and Amala, a government spy helping Jack in solving a mystery involving a deadly virus spread across the island forcing the citizens to kill in order to receive a cure.
As for the game itself, good lord, is it satisfying as hell to play?! The game has Jack running through various open ended levels with multiple ways to kill enemies. Jack is equipped with attacks of his own such as his signature chainsaw equipped arm but your real best weapon is more often than not, the levels themselves. They are filled with various hazards and weapons like spike covered walls (or rose bushes as the game chooses to call them), moving trains, catapults, and buzzsaws. Throwing enemies into these hazards along with combining that with shoving things like tires and signposts into them will raise your point count and steadily unlock various new ways to kill leading up to the boss. The more creative your kills are, the more points you receive. Eventually you'll take part in the Bloodbath Challenge, a segment hosted by the comically over stereotypical pimp, The Black Baron. These consist of things like batting enemies into an oversized dartboard or tossing them into firework launchers and watching them explode upon taking off. Basically every single way you can kill in this game is not only hilarious but satisfying to pull off.
Presentation wise, the game definitely stands out. The Sin City comic book art style definitely makes for a very unique looking game with the only thing in color being ironically, the blood. The character designs are also very cool, with plenty of them being obvious nods to other video game or movie characters. Such as Jack being a clear nod to Hellboy, RinRin resembling Chun Li, and The Masters resembling Obi Wan and Luke (or Qui Gon and Obi Wan or Anakin and Obi wan. One of those 3 anyway). The music is a great blend of hip hop and rock and roll with the boss themes standing out the most and the voice acting is especially good with every character being so well casted. Steve Blum as expected brings a very badass performance to Jack but the show is especially stolen by Who's Line Is It Anyway's Greg Proops and Adventure Time and Futurama's John DiMaggio who play Howard and Kreese, the announcers of DeathWatch. Every single line they say is hilarious, often poking fun at certain kills, when you grab a pickup, and of course breaking the fourth wall.
Overall, MadWorld is a very uniquely fun game. It's not perfect obviously since the camera could be a little better and the story being a tad all over the place (although with gameplay like this, I'm sure story will be the last thing on the player's mind). But regardless, it's a fun 3D style beat 'em up and one of the best in that category. If you haven't played it yet, now is a perfect time to start.
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