MadWorld

"A newspaper? No! A sunburned penguin? No! MadWorld? Yes!"

My first tagline was "What's black and white and red all over?" Later, I heard that someone already used this tagline. And you know, I'm known to occasionally copy taglines to be ironic and funny, but this one was purely accidental. So apologies to the original owner of that tagline. Okay, you can start reading my review now, if you want.

PRESENTATION:
MadWorld has a ridiculous storyline that involves the island of Varrigan City suffering from a crazy, free-for-all war where everyone fights everyone in order to make it to the top. They fight not only for fame and fortune, but also for survival—and it's all for the pleasure of our viewers at home. The third day in, a strange man named Jack walks on in and decides he wants to join the fray. But judging from his composure, it seems he's there for another reason as well… now what could possibly be going on here?

MadWorld is unique in the presentation of its story, but when you think about it, there's not a lot going on here. Basically, someone thought of an idea of “let's make the bloodiest game ever,” and thought of some excuse for a story. Throw in some expected “behind the scenes string-pullers” and you have MadWorld's somewhat bland story. But in a way, this doesn't matter too much, because the game's overall presentation is so original… hell, most of the time you won't even be paying attention to the lame, story-progression cutscenes—and you may even skip through them because they really bring down the pace of the game. If you play MadWorld for its story, then you're going to be seriously disappointed.
PRESENTATION: 7/10

GRAPHICS:
What can you say about MadWorld's graphics that hasn't already been said? It's got an incredibly detailed black-and-white presentation, with lots and lots of red splattering here and there (there's some yellow, too). It certainly catches the eye, and when you see it in motion it never really gets old. But you can't help but wonder… would it have been prettier in color? Would it have been? I honestly don't know. But they worked with this limited color palette beautifully, there's no doubt about that. Creative character designs, awesome environments, and very little slowdown means not a whole lot to complain about.
GRAPHICS: 9/10

SOUNDS:
MadWorld boasts one of the most unique and inspired original soundtracks I've heard in a videogame in recent years. These dozen or so hip-hop tracks definitely help get you in the mood to start killing. There's really not a bad track on here, so you're always pumped up.

The voice acting, on the other hand, is slightly under-par. Aside from the Black Baron (who was hilarious, along with his sultry sidekick), nobody's voice is very exceptional, but it's obvious the creators worked hard to make them so. None of them are bad, however. But let me get one of the worst parts of the game out there: the announcers here are more annoying than funny. They try so damn hard to be funny, and hey, sometimes they kinda are. But more than anything, they grate on your nerves. This isn't helped by the fact that they repeat the same damn dialogues over and over AND OVER again. By the end, I hated those damn announcers.

For the sound effects, MadWorld hits a home run. Jack's chainsaw sounds fantastic, and I love the incorporation of the Wii-remote's speaker when he uses it. Blood spattering is also great, from all the different sources it may come from. Not a bad sound effect in the game.
SOUNDS: 8/10

GAMEPLAY:
MadWorld brings us hardcore Wii owners gameplay that finally appeals to us. It's possibly the most violent game ever (though its level of violence is reduced because of its graphics), and the various methods of killing you can use are both refreshing and exhilarating.

Countless enemies are always coming from every angle, so how can Jack get rid of them? He can throw punches like a madman, sure, but how ‘bout that chainsaw attached to his arm? Pretty cool, eh? But then again, why use a simple chainsaw when you can bind an enemy in a flat tire, stick a few signposts through his brain, slam a barrel over his head, throw him around a couple times, and finally let him meet his doom by an oncoming train? Yeah, and there's more where that came from.

And the cool thing is, the more violent you get with these dudes, the more points you get. And the more points you get, the more stuff appears in the level—from Bloodbath Challenges, to new weapons, to happy onions, to new environmental hazards for Jack's killing pleasure. What's this nonsense about Bloodbaths and onions, you ask? BB Challenges are basically mini-games in the levels that involve hilarities, blood, and fun. But while they are indeed fun, by the end, the game starts recycling old ones. Come on, MadWorld, you're cleverer than that. Give us something new! As for the onions, they're Jack's favorite food, so eat them if you're hungry.

There are also the Deathwatch Challenges, which involve accomplishing a certain task before you finish a level. With all the mayhem going on around you in these levels, it's possible to completely forget about the DW Challenges, but they're worth the time. There are also two bike levels, which I thought were the weakest levels in the game. Not only were they repetitive and long, but they lacked the variety that the rest of the game offers. Then we have the boss battles, ALL of which are incredibly fun. Whether you're fighting a giant robot, a couple cheeseball ninjas or an oversized baby, you will NEVER tire of the boss fights in MadWorld. Filled with challenging strategies and QTE “power struggles,” the bosses will undoubtedly be the most popular part of this game.

Speaking of QTE's, MadWorld utilizes the Wii controller very nicely. When you think about it, MadWorld couldn't have been done better on any other system, especially because so much of the gameplay requires your constant concentration and implementation of the Wii-controller. Shake the remote to slam an unfortunate soul into a wall of spikes, flick it to throw an exploding oil drum into a horde of donut-eating enemies, and more. Lots of fun.

Sadly though, there are way too many control problems. There is no camera control, so we're often stuck in some crazy angle with no idea as to what's going on while a bunch of enemies keep pounding away at us. Thankfully this is a rare occasion, but it still happens. The ability to lock-on might as well have not even been put into the game, because you have to HOLD DOWN the C-button to lock onto AND off of an enemy, resulting in lots of Jack-pain because you can't lock onto the enemy you want. The worst control problem, though? Grabbing. See, I wouldn't be this mad about it if it wasn't such an important part of the game, but when most of your time requires you to grab enemies and various objects around you, some polishing would have been nice. Countless times will you find yourself grabbing something or someone you don't want to grab, or hell, not grabbing anything at all. Definitely the most frustrating part of the game.

The gameplay mechanics that MadWorld suffers from cannot be fully reimbursed by the mechanics that make it better. The best part of the overall gameplay is in its basic idea of having you find all sorts of different and fun ways to violently kill your enemies. And of course we have those awesome boss battles. But in the end there is certainly a lack of refinement spread all across the whole game.
GAMEPLAY: 6/10

LASTING APPEAL:
The biggest disappointment in MadWorld is with its length. My first time through clocked in at BARELY five hours. Five hours! A $50 game that lasts you five hours? That's ridiculous! Beating it grants you a couple new weapons and a hard mode, but are those enough to make you want to keep this game forever? No way. Multiplayer is very weak as well, since it only involves playing the minigames with one other person. Since this game is such an acquired taste, finding someone to play with won't be easy for a lot of people. This game is undoubtedly a rental. You'll have a blast for 15 hours at the MOST, but once you're through, you're through.
LASTING APPEAL: 4/10

OVERALL:
I was super-excited about this game when I first heard about it. In terms of innovation and originality, I was not disappointed. I also love the fact at how artistic and daring MadWorld is. But there are a number of problems, notably in its length and its grabbing mechanic, which really bring the experience down. A lot of us went into MadWorld thinking it would be a new classic. Unfortunately, all it ends up being is fun and temporary.
OVERALL: 6.3/10

Thanks for reading =)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/09, Updated 03/30/09

Game Release: MadWorld (US, 03/10/09)