Mad World Review (Wii): I Find it Kind of Funny...

The Wii as a console left a legacy of wishy washy bloatware titles full of mini-game collections and movie tie-in games that weren't worth the plastic they were printed on; leaving a bad taste in many of the Nintendo loyal who had invested their money and time in waiting for the killer game to own the console for. In saying this though, there were a few games that genuinely deserved a chance to get their head above the water and be recognised as decent and enjoyable.

Mad World is one of these attention deprived sleep successes (not in sales), in that it's a cheap and enjoyable roller-coaster ride of obscenity; be it gore, crude jokes and partial nudity, Platinum Games have created the anti-thesis of a Wii game.

Mario on his off day

This isn't to say that it isn't perfect for the Wii however. Although the market is clearly miniscule for an 18 rated game on a family console, it still should have sold better than it did, mainly for its unique style and mechanics that were designed for the wand and nunchuck, as opposed to the vanilla range of Mario titles that have turned a company once known for their innovation into ranchers that are merely prodding a cash cow.

Mad World is an ultra violent, proto-arena based beat-em-up game set in a black and white cel shaded world where Jefferson Island (New York) has been sprayed with a deadly virus and the only way to get a vaccine is to take part in the "Death Games". The resulting situation is where neighbour kills neighbour and gangs from around "contestants" (the best psychopathic killers) who are given ranks; the higher the rank, the more the contestants are paid.

Enter "Jack" - the playable character, a man who has been sent onto the island for mysterious reasons to become the #1 contestant. With one iron arm and an extendible chainsaw mounted on it, he punches, throws, stabs, tears and saws his enemies apart one by one in open arenas, where each kill scores points. When your points are at a certain level, events unlock that allow you to kill more creatively and ultimately follow onto to a boss battle with the next 'contestant', so that you can progress to the next arena, then the next, then the next, rinse and repeat.

This repetitive nature of the game is essentially the biggest issue with it - you are killing people and fighting the boss so that you can kill more people and fight another boss. This is essentially what all video games boil down to, however most go to more effort to hide this fact or at least sweeten it up with some variety in enemy types or added abilities. Not to say that Mad World doesn't try though; some levels have unique foes that have special abilities such as a 'one touch death' attack and weapons are bestowed onto the player to try and vary how Jack feels when controlled.

On the subject of controls, the Wii was a great choice when Platinum Games were thinking of making this game - waving around the wand and the nunchuck feels like a perfect compliment to the madness happening on screen and Jack seems to react well to the commands given to him, apart from in some of the mandatory quick time events. Sadly, the game does come down to waggling the controls around wildly in bigger fights, however the fun from the combat comes from using the environment to kill enemies in often hilarious and satisfying ways. But after you have mastered the arena and mapped it out mentally, it becomes a stale routine of picking up and throwing enemies into meat grinders and saw blades just to get enough points to finish the levels.

The visual design of Mad World as mentioned is a slightly jaggy black and white cel-shaded world, only interrupted by bright red splatters when enemies are attacked and killed. The enemy appearance varies wildly, but sadly is not very good at hiding their very similar attack patterns and abilities. The bosses however are very well created; all extremely different and all better off for it. They follow the theme of the level and are memorable for their overly stylised appearances and adherence to overemphasised cultural stereotypes, only adding to the wild and wacky comic book appeal of Jack's adventures in New York.

What's black and white and red all over?

Where Mad World truly shines is the application of the sound design - something Platinum Games is very well known for; in this case they definitely deserve a round of applause. You'll literally never hear a soundtrack like it; people spitting out words at high speeds to a techno-rock-rap track which literally never gives you a respite. It compliments the gameplay to no end, urging you to continue so that you can see how the track will evolve at the different events and the boss battle; leaving you humming the last level's track in the loading screen for the next.

This is exactly the brilliance of Mad World - I would liken it to a tube of Pringles; you take the first bite and enjoy it so eat more of them, then between bites think how good they taste, until you get about half way and realise that they are all the same. But just like Pringles, you think "eh... I'll just finish them anyway." A video game in every sense of the word, Mad World is a fun Theme Park of action that deserves a play if you can pick it up cheaply.

6/10