Madworld

It’s big, it’s stupid, it’s violent and it doesn’t give a damn who knows it.

MadWorld is grotesquely gory and incredibly stylish. The game puts you in control of a fourty-something ex-marine called Jack Cayman as he cuts a bloody swathe through a twisted, monotone hellhole called Varrigan City all in the name of rescuing the mayor’s daughter. The entire city has been taken over by a terrorist group called The Organizers who have turned the place into a giant game show called Death Watch, filled with zombies, aliens, vampires, brutal gangs and massive chainsaw wielding maniacs wearing Minotaur masks, all eager to win by laying waste to everything that moves.

For the hardcore gamers out there who have been waiting for a game to come along, that would finally force you to take the Wii seriously, I say… this is it. Although the game is somewhat short you won’t be disappointed if you knock the difficulty up and provide yourself with a real challenge, with brutal enemies waiting eagerly to knock you down a peg, as well as some incredibly memorable boss fights that put the Wii’s unique (although somewhat irritating) control scheme to good use. MadWorld also looks and sounds fantastic with its black and white graphics that do well to emphasises the harsh, gory atmosphere of the game and to squeeze every last bit of power out of the Wii, and there’s some fantastic audio commentary from Greg Proops and John DiMaggio that bring a somewhat childish but extremely funny sense of humour to the game akin to something out of a south park episode.

MadWorld is exactly the sort of game that hardcore Wii fans have been crying out for, it’s violent, it’s daft and it’s deeply, deeply satisfying to play. If you’re a fan of the harsh, unadulterated grittiness of the old GTA games or the stylish sense of humour of No More Heroes, you’ll definitely love this.