MadWorld

I’ve played most of the big “hardcore” releases for the Wii. All the major Nintendo franchises, No More Heroes, and I’ve now finished up MadWorld, a game I was super excited for. Being a whore for all things visually interesting and all things made by Clover Studios, though I’ve yet to try God Hand, made MadWorld seem like a perfect fit.

MadWorld did manage to deliver visually, but throughout most of the game I found it just called to attention the inaccuracies and sometimes over-accuracies of using a Wiimote for precise control. MadWorld is a hack and slash game and like all good ones it tries to add some strategy in, especially for the boss fights. This is fine with a controller because quick accurate movements like dodging can be done with a thumbstick and button press. With motion controls however, a dodge is done by swinging the nunchuck. Dodging in a certain direction is done contextually based on what the enemy is doing with no extra input required from the player. The difference between a vertical slash and a horizontal one isn’t always as clear as it should be depending on the angle you’re holding the Wiimote and sometimes just adjusting where you rest your left arm can have catastrophic results.

All of these gripes seem to be hardware issues. Of the “hardcore” Wii games I’ve played, this is the first to really heavily rely on motion controls and it is quite clear now why other developers, including Nintendo, have avoided them. MadWorld makes up for it by making the game overly easy, but this isn’t exactly a great solution. Damage sustained is generally minimal, health items are fairly abundant and death does not reset the damage inflicted on opponents. These make the lack of controller fidelity manageable, but take away from the satisfaction felt after nailing a boss fight in a game like Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden.

Sadly, the game also had its fair share of software problems, mainly the camera. I have yet to see a camera take control and reorient exactly how I would like it too and MadWorld is no exception. Every time the camera tries to do its own thing I had to fight it to get a view of what I actually needed to see. This was especially noticeable while running away from a fight, which is pretty much the worst time to be wrestling for a good view of the escape route. The gameplay also starts to get a little repetitive, but they put such a ridiculous amount of ways to kill in, that its almost your fault if you find yourself doing the same things... almost.

Like I said earlier, they did nail the graphical style of the game. I was continually amazed by how excellent everything looked with only black and white to give them depth and texture. Another unexpected plus was the game is hilarious. There are two announcers narrating the show that are very reminiscent of the two guys on MXC, only actually funny. The violence is also more over the top than I could have ever imagined, the game rewards you with a higher score for being as brutal as possible and you need those points to unlock the boss fights so violence is definitely encouraged. The games sense of humor is hardly for everyone, but if you were at all interested for its other merits than the humor should be to your liking.

MadWorld is a good time for the six or seven hours it will take you to complete, but I found little reason to play once the credits rolled. It’s a decent game that didn’t quite live up to the potential I think many people saw in it. My biggest problem has to be the inaccuracies brought on by the motion controls, which is sad because it seems like every good game I’ve played on the Wii would have been more enjoyable if I could have only used a GameCube contoller, barring Metroid of course. I’d still definitely give it a shot, it was a worthy first attempt for a studio I expect wonderful things from in the future.