Have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of terrorists completely took over a modern day city, cut it off from the rest of the world completely, and infected everyone inside with a deadly virus? Did you ever then think about what would happen if that city became the grounds for a brutal game where contestants are awarded points for each person they kill, based on how bloody and crazy the death is? Seems like a pretty ridiculous scenario, but that's what the people at Platinum Games have thought up, and its the setting for one of the most brutal and ridiculous games I've ever played: MadWorld.
Meet Jack, the mysterious new contestant in the terrorists' blood game called "Death Watch". The game features cameras all over the city, and people who tally up points for each player based on the number and sheer brutality of kills you can get. That's MadWorld: kill tons of people in crazy ways to get points. I have to say, for such a short game, MadWorld has a pretty sweet yet simple concept behind it, and a compelling story that drives you through Varrigan City.
Of course, this is an action game, so many things have to come together besides a story. The game controls well, for sure. It uses the Wii remote for things that could just have normal button commands instead, but apparently thats just what people do when making games for the Wii. The real meat of the gameplay is the variety of ways that you can obliterate your enemies. Be it a sign post through the neck, dunking them head first into a flaming barrel, throwing them in front of a high speed train, or cutting them up with one of the various weapons you can find, you'll never run out of ways to rid yourself of those pesky thugs.
Once you have satisfied the overly vulgar commentators (one of which is voiced by John DiMaggio and the other by some guy from Whose Line it is Anyway) you get to fight a boss, wich is usually over the top times 10. You do this across the city, and.... it's over. Well crap, there's no really good multiplayer or anything, and the single player took less than 4 hours. Yep, this game is lacking in one department only, and that is content unfortunately. So there you have it, this game has style, story, action, blood, carnage, and John DiMaggio; basically everything you want, it just plain doesn't last nearly long enough.
I'd like to add, I think Mr. DiMaggio described this game perfectly in an interview. (He's referring to the commentators in the quote I think)
John: "Well, it was quite over the top. These guys are real
scumbags. Crude, disgusting, sexist, racist, the whole nine f--ing
yards. People, if you want to play this game and really enjoy it,
expect your eyes to burn a little on Sundays, or when you're driving by
places of worship."
