Not quite what we were hoping for, but still unique and occasionally fun.
After getting about forty-five minutes into MadWorld I started to feel as if this wasn't the game I was expecting, or hoping, it would be. The surface stuff was there, the look of the game was fantastic, the whole Black/White/Red Frank Miller-esque world was exactly what I wanted, and it was easily one of the best looking Wii titles I had seen in quite sometime, but man, the combat was boring, and started to feel like more of a chore than anything else. It was a shame at that point too, because the game was trying so hard to make me enjoy it, and I wasn't entirely sure why it wouldn't click for me.
It really wasn't until I hit the second or third boss fight that it finally did, and then I started to allow myself to explore the different levels and try to really make use of the unique executions, and slowly but surely the game finally settled with me, and I started to have some fun. It wasn't a perfect experience, and I definitely wasn't as blown away by the title as I was hoping/expecting to be, but I left the game feeling like I had finally managed to squeeze some fun out of it.
To be fair, my problems with the game weren't entirely its fault. I had gone into this with the knowledge of who Platinum Games was (the developers), and the types of games that it's founders had put together before (Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe), so automatically I had assumed I was in store for another action title in that same vein. MadWorld definitely qualifies as an action title, sure, and the whole hyper-violence aspect of it is pretty much in tune with other Kamiya titles, but the pacing of this game is pretty far removed from any other former Capcom title I could remember, even from something like God Hand, and it took me a bit of time to start to find some appreciation for that.
The idea behind MadWorld is pretty much taken from other media, think of something like Running Man or Battle Royale, where the main hero has to participate in a big open game world that's the remnants of this city island location, where the other participants are a band of marauders and murderers, and the only goal is to come out on top within the time limit. To make sure everyone is on board, a deadly toxin is released, and the only way to get the vaccine is to successfully murder another person, basically getting that hard first kill out of the way. If you don't play, you die, one way or another.
The lead character here is Jack, a burly biker looking beast, with a metal arm equipped with an Ash like chainsaw accessory that you can extend by holding down the B button and slash around by waving the remote. Obviously the chainsaw could be considered slightly overpowered, so there's a meter in place for its use that charges up over time. Your only other attack is your fists, which you can pummel enemies into submission with, and once they've taken a sufficient beating, you're prompted to finish them off, usually in some type of graphically humorous fashion.
The violence plays a big part in MadWorld's appeal; it's way over the top, and not particularly gory as much as it is bloody. You don't see detailed body parts flying around, you're not pulling out intestines and strangling people, instead it's just blood spurt after blood spurt, like something out of a kung fu film, or the more recent Kill Bill flicks. It works really well for the game though; the lack of detail in the kills is a pretty good contrast to the world around you, which is actually super detailed. There's a lot of line work, lots of little touches to the buildings and alleys that you run around in, and overall the game world design is fantastic. Like I mentioned earlier, it looks like something pulled out of Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels, which I imagine is intentional, and really all the characters even look like they could belong in that universe to a degree.
It's a shame that the gameplay can't match the variety and style of visuals though, and if MadWorld falls flat at any particular section, it's during the bits in between the boss fights, when you're trying to rack up enough points to unlock the mini-game style events and bosses. There are about 5 levels in the game, or sections of the island, and within these there are usually 2-4 areas. Each section has a certain number of point requirements that need to be met, and for each milestone you hit you'll unlock either items, a twisted mini-game or two, and finally the boss fight for that particular area.
To rack up points, you need to come up with inventive ways to kill the basic enemies that populate the stages. You can opt to just punch and chainsaw your way through the groups, but it's a slow way to rack up a million plus score, which is what you'll typically need to gain. Instead, the game is designed to have you make use of environmental hazards within the levels, but the unfortunate part is that these hazards are repeated far too often. First, you have street signs or other posts, which can be picked up by holding down A, and then impaled through the body of an enemy, keeping them perpetually stunned. Then there are the tires and barrels that you toss on an enemy to keep them in a bind, or alternatively you can pick up enemies and toss them into barrels. Sometimes you'll run into barrels full of fire, sometimes not. Finally, there's the wall spike, usually in the form of something called a Rose Bush, but there are other levels that have spikes jutting from different objects.
The problem with these kills, at least for me, is that they mostly involve the same type of animation and kills, even if the objects look different. For instance, with the spikes, you'll either find the rose bush on a wall, or maybe on a bus, but when you do the kill motion, it's always the same, regardless of where the spike is actually placed. Even when the spike is part of a structure, like a dragon statue, it's the same effect and the same mechanic, just in a different place. Once you start to realize this, the kills get a little old and tired, and you start to feel like you're going through the motions. This is my biggest complaint really, in that racking up a score and killing the basic enemies is pretty boring, and unfortunately that makes up a big part of the gameplay.
Thankfully the boss encounters are far more interesting, and while they might rely a bit much on the idea of using QTE's for certain "events" within the fight, they actually require you to move around, dodge, and think about how you're going to attack, along with studying patterns to figure out when you can get an opening. This is where the game shines, and a lot of the fights have some type of odd mechanic to them, like the sumo fight, that just adds a little more fun to things. They're worth going through the boring parts to see at least, and they really made the game enjoyable for me.
Also, to help break up the gameplay, when you rack up enough points a character called Black Baron will appear with a mini-game challenge, usually some type of mass kill device will be used, and these are pretty cool to check out as well. One has you shaking up bottles of soda/beer and then shoving them down an enemy's throat, and as the fizz expands out the enemy is rocketed into the air, with the goal being to impale them on a series of spikes on large billboards around the stage. Another is a simple game of darts, where you're equipped with a spiked bat and you have to swing the remote around to knock your enemies onto the dartboard, scoring points for wherever they land. Along with the boss fights, these sections are really great, and worth checking out the game for.
So while MadWorld definitely has its faults, the good stuff seems to outweigh the bad for me, but I was really hoping for a slightly better experience here. If the mundane enemies that populate the world brought a little more challenge to the table, and if the basic environmental kills consisted of more than just impaling or beating someone to death, then I would have had much more interest in the title than just the boss fights and Bloodbath events. Still, for Wii owners, and really console players in general, there are not a lot of games out there like MadWorld, and it's certainly worth checking out. Just go in with your expectations curbed a bit, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
