Monthly Archives: February 2010

Reviews, Wii

MadWorld – Review

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So I bought MadWorld off of Amazon for cheap and thought it was a steal. I’d always been interested in the game but not enough to pay full price for it, sorry Platinum Games and Sega.

MadWorld is a game unlike any other due to its art style. The game’s look is very reminiscent of Frank Miller’s Sin City and the game overall is influenced by comics. Having not read anything about the game, my guess is the decision for this art style was to cope for the Wii’s graphical power among wanting it to stick out and I really dig it, except that most everything blends together and it can be distracting at times trying to figure out where one thing ends and another begins. Of course that’s not a problem when blood starts spewing over everything, which it does often. This is without a doubt the goriest game I’ve ever played but it didn’t have a negative effect on me like a more realistic game would’ve.

What’s the reason for all this gore? Well, a game show is being staged and it’s being run by people who bet on

This is what happens when you cross Jack.

contestants. The contestants must survive on an isolated island that has had a virus spread across it. They can’t only survive though; they need to kill the others in outrageous fashion to score points, which is how you progress. You play as Jack Cayman, a mysterious man who is on the island. You get sponsored early on and it’s apparent that Jack has other motives for being here. Jack stabs people with road signs, throws them in spike laden dumpsters and an assortment of other gruesome acts, many including his prosthetic chainsaw arm. Early on I found the story to be the least of my concerns but as the game moved on, it’s what began to draw me in as it got more complex.

Structurally the game doesn’t change much. Each level is a confined map that opens up more and more as you get more points. Throughout the levels are all sorts of objects to inflict death with and halfway through each level, a “Bloodbath Challenge” opens up which tasks you with killing people in a single creative way for a limited amount of time. These break up the pace and most of them are very fun, and they’re all playable in a multiplayer mode. At the end of a level you fight a boss which, like the levels, adheres to a singular structure. You attack the boss some and get the opportunity to do a cinematic, motion-based super attack and then repeat. There are two motorcycle missions but these got old before they were finished. The levels get boring with a repetitive nature to them, but like I said the Bloodbath Challenges provide a nice break in between them and the boss battles are quite fun.

The soundtrack was enjoyable although the developers seemed split on a singular direction to take it audibly. Solemn music fills the menus and cutscenes which is a stark contrast to the obscene rap/rock soundtrack that takes place during levels. Although thinking about it now both types fit the setting well; the dual settings of an island with a bleak outlook to the over the top death game show. Easily one of my favorite parts of the game were the commentators, providing quips about the on-screen action, often in vulgar and funny ways and the voice acting in general I liked.

MadWorld was a cool game. The art style was striking, the story became more interesting as the game progressed and the voice work and soundtrack were well done and added to the over the top setting. There were many interesting and fun gameplay moments, specifically the Bloodbath Challenges and boss fights, but the repetitive nature of the game grew old fast.

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Beginnings

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Before I dive into blogging I think an introductory post would be ideal, just so you, the reader, can get a handle on where I’m coming from when I talk about games. I thought this would be cool to do as a post rather than just stick it in the about section.

My first gaming experience was Christmas 1995. My parents bought me a Super Nintendo that came bundled with Killer Instinct. I was only six at the time and having never played a video game before, I just mashed buttons. I remember my mom being distressed about how bloody it was and wanting to sell it, even up until middle school; I also remember my uncle coming over and playing against me. I played a lot of games on the SNES and remember going to Blockbuster all the time and renting games, even searching years afterwards trying to buy the games I used to play. When I think of playing the SNES back then, these are the games I remember: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Family Feud, Goof Troop, Killer Instinct, Kirby Super Star, Ms. Pac-Man, NBA HangTime, Space Invaders, Super Star Wars, Tetris 2 and Top Gear.

My next system was the Game Boy Pocket which I received for my birthday in 1996 of 1997. All I had for it was Black Bass Lure Fishing and I really loved the game, it probably fueled my interest in fishing. It was my only game… until Pokemon Red and Blue came out. They were all the rage at school; the games, the cards, the TV show; I had to get a copy. Around this time I also bought a Game Boy Color, which I think I bought them both in the same trip, so this must’ve been late 1998 or early 1999. Pokemon games were really the only video games I cared about at the time and it was really all I had a Game Boy for. All the Pokemon I played shaped my interest and love for RPGs and I am still a Pokemaniac, though not as much as I used to be. Of course when Gold and Silver came out I had to get one of those as well. Even now I only own seven Game Boy Color games and four of them are Pokemon games.

Moving onwards, my next system was a Nintendo 64. My parents got this for me during Christmas 1998 or 1999. I got Mario Kart 64 and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron with it as well. My sister and I played lots of Mario Kart 64 and I played lots of Rogue Squadron. During this time I still rented a lot of games from Blockbuster and I remember renting a few but I don’t remember them well. I remember my first experience with GoldenEye 007 at a cousin’s house and playing N64 games at another cousin’s house. I played soccer all the time at this point and that was my focus along with Pokemon games, but towards the end of the N64 I started to get more into games. The games I really remember playing during this period are: 1080 Snowboarding, GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart 64, Micro Machines 64 Turbo, Paper Mario, Pokemon Stadium and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

I’m going to say the next system I got was the GameCube. My parents got it for me for Christmas 2001 along with Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. I loved Rogue Leader and was amazed by the graphics but didn’t know what a memory card was so I had to buy one a week or two later. The next game I got was Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and it’s one of my favorites on the system. Early on during this period was when I stopped renting games, I did rent a few for the GameCube but that was it. I also bought a Game Boy Advance in 2002 for Golden Sun and is just strengthened my burgeoning interest in video games. During this console cycle is when I became “hardcore” into games. I started reading gaming magazines often and browsing the internet. I’d have to say the GameCube is one of my favorite systems mostly because it’s the system I started to care about games on.

I won’t delve any deeper as this is already pretty long and it just gets more convoluted from here on out. I will mention I started to get into retro games around the GameCube era as I purchased an NES and Intellivision from garage sales as well as bought a PS2 and many other retro systems; this is really the period when I started to become a collector and an avid gamer.