Quantcast

MadWorld


MadWorld - hands-on

Our hands-on time leaves us covered in blood and we love it

MadWorld is different. It's one of the very rare super-violent, M-rated Wii games, meaning it’s not made for children or the elderly. And it's an original property on a system known for dumbed-down ports and repackagings. We recently spent some time with a near-final version and we're feeling confident it will stand out from the pack, and not just because it will be the only one dripping with blood.

The best place to start is with the combat. Jack, the main character, has to kill goons for the story to progress - a story publisher Sega was pretty secretive about - but he seems to really enjoy the task in front of him. With his fists and the trusty chainsaw mounted on his right arm, he beats many a goon to death as horribly and entertainingly as possible. Though we had heard of the over-the-top violence in the title before, actually seeing Jack repeatedly stab a man in the eye socket with a stop sign was incredibly awesome.

Though it works like most brawlers, running around with the analog stick on the Nunchuk and punching with the A button, the real fun starts with the motion controls. The chain-saw’s great; you rev it up with the trigger on the Remote as you hear the motor in the speaker. Once you've got it going, get ready for waggle like never before as you swing the blade around, goring and maiming all in your path.

Another entertaining use of motion controls involves all the throws you can do to the henchmen hanging around. Just hold down A and you've got them, you can even head-butt them by shaking the Nunchuk. Then swing the Remote like you're throwing a fast-ball in Wii Sports and watch this soon-to-be-corpse get crushed, impaled or otherwise murderized by the dangerous junk all over the environment, like a meat grinder, hooks on the walls and spinning blades. The game’s black, white, and red color palette really helped us see where to throw guys for the best results: the places covered in red.


 
15 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
fionnoh  - 9 months 24 days ago 
"even throwing people into a bus covered in two-foot spikes gets tiresome eventually."
what!?

i can't wait for this.
Jbo87  - 9 months 24 days ago 
So browns and greys are boring as hell in games but black and white is new and exciting?

Also colour me cynical (what a pun) but surely the whole black and white thing will make it really difficult to distiguish between which parts of the level are interactive and which parts aren't?

Either way I don't really care too much as this game is on the Wii so I can guarantee I won't play it. I do how ever get the impression that this is possibly getting more hype than it deserves simply because its a Wii game thats not aimed at your little sister.
FancyRat  - 9 months 24 days ago 
DiMaggio has a damn sexy voice. There's no way he's really in this, though, is there?

As for Jbo87 thar, I like the brown/grey comparison and I'm all for cynicism, but the sad truth is that we quote-unquote gamers who bought a Wii are desperate for something that isn't made for grandmothers and housewives. Mario and Metroid can only hold up so long against a tidal wave of minigame collections.

P.S. My captcha is "Capt. Poopte"!
Jbo87  - 9 months 24 days ago 
FancyRat, you may represent the most distressing thing to come out of the Wii's gamer betrayal. Although I despise the Wii with every fibre of my body I do appreciate that Nintendo were once the daddy in the game industry. So when you see someone like yourself who was suckered in to buying that casual cube of crap (alliteration) it's actually rather upsetting.
NelosAngelos  - 9 months 24 days ago 
Finally, something I'm looking forward to coming out on the Wii. Hopefully the reviews will be good because I need something to play besides smash bros.
AyJay  - 9 months 24 days ago 
looks good but my mum probably wont let me get it :(
homie_cheese_slice  - 9 months 23 days ago 
I for one am sick of people bashing on the wii, just for the fact that the vast majority of games are for the casual crowd; while the wii may not have many hardcore games, the few it does have are SPECTACULAR.

Also it seems to me that all the hardcore games on the 360 and ps3 are shooters, while those are fun, I would take a few original hardcore games over the a bunch of the same games with slightly different settings.
misfit119  - 9 months 23 days ago 
One of the "spectacular games" on the Wii is a shooter so I'd hold off criticizing the other consoles. Other than that it's mostly ports (Twilight Princess, Okami and RE4 come to mind).

As for the other consoles having all shooters only that's a bold faced joke. While Mirror's Edge is no Mario it's still a great platformer that isn't on the Wii. Then there's LittleBig Planet, Prince of Persia, Fable 2, Dead Space and Valkyria Chronicles. And if you think that Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 are just plain old shooters you've obviously not played them.
homie_cheese_slice  - 9 months 23 days ago 
@misfit
okay, that was an over generalization. But its no different than saying every game on the wii is basically a toy. but there's also great games like no more heroes, and de blob.

Don't get me wrong, shooters are great, i'm just rather tired of call of duty and "end of humanity" fps's. Oh and i own both fallout 3 and left 4 dead.

What shooter were you talking about?
Grenade  - 9 months 23 days ago 
Can't wait to get my palms bloody.
heartskuppy  - 9 months 22 days ago 
[i]"So browns and greys are boring as hell in games but black and white is new and exciting?"[/i]

you can't be serious. so-called realistic browns and greys verses hyper-stylisied black and white? i don't know about you, but i know which one i'd prefer. i envy wii owners for this game. (well.. almost)
heartskuppy  - 9 months 22 days ago 
whoops.. no bbcode.
wille33  - 9 months 21 days ago 
"...and the trusty chainsaw mounted on his right arm." Why is it that every game now has a chainsaw in it, well atleast the type of game that would require one (except GTA IV unfortunately.) "Gears of War has a chainsaw!?! It sold millions of copies!?! Oh snap, new production note: must have CHAINSAW!!!" The industry has ruined what Epic pretty much created, now it just tiring to see chainsaws in everything.
Romination  - 9 months 9 days ago 
...
do you people wake up and tell yourself 'i'm going to go bash the wii because it's the cool thing to do'? Chainsaws existed before Gears. It was called Doom. They had a chainsaw.
brown and grey is different from black, red and white because it's not calling itself realistic while being...not realistic. Why insult the hardcore gamer who bought a Wii simply because it turned out different? No one saw that coming. I bought mine because the launch was pretty strong, and previews looked like it would stay so. I defend the system because I know it SHOULD be better.
i think i'm done, so flame me now.
Necromance  - 9 months 7 days ago 
Why are people that hate the Wii reading Wii previews?
Your time would be better spent reading your own system's stuff. It's very doubtful you'll ever change Nintendo fan's minds, only Nintendo can do that (some would say they have.)

Anyway, the game looks better in motion than in pictures. The movement makes it much easier to tell what's going on. I hope they pull this off.
This video player requires Flash 9 Player or later. Please download the latest Flash Player.
The Knowledge
MadWorld
MadWorld

Genre: Action
Release date: Mar 10, 2009
Published by: Sega
Developed by: Platinum Games Inc
Multiplayer Modes:
Offline
1 player SOLO
8 GREAT
Read the review
Latest Articles About This Game
Our hands-on time leaves us covered in blood and we love it
Wii Preview  -  Jan 16, 2009
Someone’s been taking lessons from Evil Dead’s Ash
Wii Preview  -  Sep 23, 2008
What’s black and white and red all over? This ultra-violent carve ’em up
Wii Preview  -  Jul 7, 2008
Creators of Resident Evil, Okami, Devil May Cry promise gore, spaceships, and angel-hunting witches
Wii Preview  -  May 15, 2008