The stylized visuals are perfect for this message: less graphic novel and more bubblegum comic book, the black and white aesthetic is certainly uncompromising, and leaves no room for pretensions of realism or gravitas. Though in the midst of a large brawl things can sometimes become disorientating, the frequent swathes of bright red blood and yellow exclamations help liven the palette. The pretext for these exercises in brutality is that lead character Jack (who recalls an even more immoral Hellboy) is in a game show called Death Watch, his increasingly inventive way with weapons slowly winning over more viewers and sponsors (there’s also something about a virus – the cut scenes are superbly directed, the narrative surprisingly meaty). Both Smash TV and Manhunt covered similar issues of voyeurism and playing to a crowd, albeit with nowhere near the outrageous disregard for subtlety.

Despite the surface appearance suggesting otherwise, MadWorld is actually, in its structure and mechanics, a lot closer to the compilation party games that have come to define Wii. The driving force behind everything is the quest for a high score: it’s your means of progress, of competition between players and your reward for an inventive use of the various mini-games, contraptions and secret rooms scattered across each self-contained arena. Neatly underpinning this all is the thirty minute time-limit for each stage. Though the game is short and not especially challenging on the first playthrough, its long-term appeal lies in scouring each level for the best score opportunities, as well as trying to clear the game on the unforgiving hard mode. MadWorld may be repetitive on a base level, but there’s enough variety and emphasis on player experimentation to see the game prevail.

The controls are another large factor in MadWorld’s success. Any errors in input (more often than not intended side swipes tend to come out as uppercuts) are compensated by generosity – you’re never required to be precise in the manner of, say, Trauma Centre – and a visual, visceral payoff. There’s a completely regressive pleasure in puling the Nunchuk and remote apart to rip someone’s head in two, or in swinging the remote back and forth to hammer an enemy into the side of a train. One of the reasons Manhunt 2 got into such censorial trouble for similar actions was because of its adherence to a more realist, consciously sensational agenda. MadWorld takes the more ridiculous, honest approach; PlatinumGames’ insistence on tapping into the fascination with high score tables hardwired into every gamer’s psyche ensures that underneath a game as visually brutal as God of War lies an experience as compulsive as Geometry Wars.

MadWorld may well be a highly nuanced comment on the role violence plays within our entertainment, as well as a gleeful two fingers to the Wii’s so-called casual audience. Right now we’re too engrossed in working out how best to combine a candlestick, meat grinder and exploding barrel on that zombie over there to care.

Pages: 1 2

Have you downloaded the latest issue from GamerZines yet? Check it out here!