MadWorld preview

When it comes to more mature games it could be argued that the Wii is somehow lacking in the area. The recently announced game MadWorld by an also newly founded company Platinum games plans to change that. While this game seems to be purely about violence when looking closer it’s more about getting combos and racking up points with style.

As the last game to be shown at the Guns and Gore event it was a title that everyone was really hyped about. After a quick introduction by one of the European members of SEGA, it was time to get some hands on with game. In terms of visuals the game is coming along really well and movement was fluid without any slowdowns. The choice of a black/white colour scheme is meant to be striking and symbolic of a world where anyone is either good/evil. According to SEGA staff member it also makes actions stand out more as that vivid red blood flows out from enemies wounds.

The game flow is made up of going through an area, followed by an optional mini game and the boss. At some moments we were also told that the player can ride a motocycle to run over enemies.To keep it interesting progress is only obtained after earning a certain score in a zone. It was recommended that players experiment with the different attacks. This so that when used to these attacks they can be chained together to combos and higher scores. Each areas has its own weapons to interact with when killing enemies. In the areas avaiable to play for example throwing an enemy into a garbage disposal would literally cut him in half.

The moves are many and each has its own unique animation which is very entertaining. The constant weapon throughout the game would be the main character Jack’s chainsaw. With the press of the B button he will start it up and swing it by moving Wii remote in desired direction. As mentioned enemies can be grabbed and thrown in many traps. The same can be said to objects such as the post that Jack can stick right through someone’s skull. While it may seem extremely violent everything seen in the game has a certain cartoon feel to it. When playing and seeing someone getting pulped on the side of a train it can be helped to laugh, in the same way when watching Itchy and Scratchy.

The mini games for the game are also very fun and feel like part of the story as it feels like some sort of tournment. The first mini game called Turbinator sees Jack throwing enemies into an an airplane turbine. It is a welcome change from the relentless killing to rack up scores and very handy to rack up some points. The music soundtrack for this game is baed around rap style tracks. The two tracks that were heard had a lot of the same lyrics being repeated but went well with the game’s fast paced nature.

The game is coming along really well both visualy and in terms of its gameplay.However, not much was mentioned about any extras such as high scores to keep players interested after finishing story mode. However, with a release of March 2009 there is still time for more to be revealed about the game.

Poster promoting game at the event

Images courtesy of SEGA’s flickr page

Tags: blood, games, gory, jack, madworld, platinum, sega, violence