So I bought Mad World a few days ago and I just completed it, and now I feel like reviewing it.
For those not in the know, Mad World is a third person action game/brawler/whatever for the Wii and maybe the bloodiest goddamn game ever. You play as Jack, a really tough motherfucker with a chainsaw attached to his right hand, which he uses to kill people with. Not help them.
Terrorists take an entire island hostage, infect them with a virus and force them all to fight in the game of Deathwatch for the vaccine. Deathwatch works like this: people kill other people. You, Jack, enter this game with your own agenda and quickly catch the eye of the audience and game control because you're so awesome. That's pretty much the setting. The story is pretty engaging, more so than I expected, but that's not why you buy games like this, is it?
The gameplay set up changes very little during the entire game. There are five areas, seperated by theme, each divided into three seperate stages. Normally, the first two stages are made up of brawls, where you kill a bunch of people in the most brutal ways possible to get points, and unlock things in that stage. After X points, you can pick up a new weapon for temporary use; after Y points, an environmental hazard is activated (such as giant guillotines) for your killing pleasure; and after Z points, the boss battle is available.
To get points, you kill shit. I think it was on IGN that I heard "the more pain and suffering you cause on an enemy before you kill them, the more points you get." This perfectly true. Cutting someone in half with your chainsaw doesn't get you nearly enough points as ramming a sign post or two in his head (max 5) and then impaling him on a hook would. Where other games allow you to be as brutal as you want, Mad World actually puniches you for not being brutal enough by taking stupidly long to unlock boss battles. So be brutal and be creative. Each level has their own unique ways to kill enemies with, only to never be seen again, so use them.
The first two stages work like that, but the third stage in an area dismisses the brawling part together and puts you straight into a boss battle. Speaking of boss battles, they're either hit or miss. A fight with a giant Frankenstein's monster - called Frank - is far more memorable than fighting an Asian woman with fans.
Sometimes the game also mixes up the formula with meh bike stages, but it stays largely the same throughout.
As far as controls go, it all works really well, with the exception of nunchuck gesture dodging. It registers just fine, but gestures with anything but my dominant hand just feel weird. Maybe it's just my problem, though. But aside from that, the controls are excellent. You punch with A, whip out your chainsaw by holding B, and then attack with your chainsaw by swiping horizontally or vertically with the Wii remote. If it sounds like a waggle fest, like Zelda was, it isn't. You will end up using the environment more than you do your chainsaw, so you will rarely end up mindlessly waggling to get through a pack of enemies. Chainsaw attacks are one-hit-kills on common enemies anyway, so much waggling will never be required.
If you don't know Mad World, you won't know about its unique style either. It's completely black and white, except for the ridiculous amount of blood, and yellow comic-y text that appears to mimic sound effects (though the actual sound effects are also there). I was skeptical of this style at first, but nothing the internet offers, screenshot or video, really compares to you having it up and running at home. It looks really good.
To top off the excellent presentation, Mad World has a unique hip-hop soundtrack, which, despite most of you probably not liking hip-hop, works great. It's not 50 Cent talking about bitches, it's songs
about Mad World,
for Mad World. And last but not least, there are also two commentators... uh... commentating on your every move with raunchy... comments... They are Greg Proops and John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama) and I absolutely love them.
There are some minor points I have to mention, though I certainly wasn't bothered too much by them. Anyway:
1) It's short. Like 7-10 hours. But it's that kind of arcade-style game that you can just jump into right again, so it's not that big of a deal. And for those obsessed with beating your own scores, you can replay each level as much as you want to do just that.
2) It's kinda easy. Some of the boss battles are way too easy and anti-climactic, like in Zelda games. The good news is that there is a hard mode -which will tears your balls off- the bad news is that you have to play through the game once to unlock it.
3) Bike levels. They take away the best part of the game: your freedom to kill how you want to kill. You just drive forward, swiping at people in cars next to you, or you grab them and throw them on the road to be run over. There's only two of them, though.
4) Extra weapons are only temporary. I love chopping people up with the daggers or impaling five guys on the spear at once. It really sucks when they disappear mid combo :c This is just my issue though, as permanent extra weapons would make you too powerful. Still sucks.
5) Frame-drops. Every once in a while, you have that moment where a game stops and the console makes a noise, as if a cutscene is about to play. Only there is no cutscene. You have that in Mad World sometimes (like 5 times in the entire game). I don't really give a fuck, as it doesn't bother me, but for those of you who absolutely can't stand it, be warned.
6) Bosses have little personality. Something No More Heroes did very right was create a little character for every boss. Each fight was preceeded and succeeded by a cutscene where the boss has a little dialogue with Travis. These were the high points of NMH. You played towards them, and they were always fun to watch. Each boss was different, and you just wanted to keep playing to see the next one. Mad World does not have this.
These things are so minor that they dont take away from the experience that much. They should be fixed, sure, but MW is still excellent.
It all comes together to make an ultra violent, ultra-stylized, funny game with tight controls, an engaging story and a great soundtrack. You will want this in your collection. If you have a Wii, look for the cover and buy this game now. Vote with your dollar and get me that sequel >:V
