 |
| Jack faces off against one of the game's stronger enemies. |
Jefferson Island has been taken over by Death Watch, a group that hosts violent gladiatorial games and broadcasts them to the rest of the world for fun and profit, cutting off the island and turning it into one deadly arena for the latest Death Watch game. Jack is the newest contestant for the Death Watch games. Armed with a chainsaw on his arm, Jack seeks to become the Death Watch champion and claim the large cash prize while pursuing his own mysterious goals.
The player controls Jack as he makes his way through different levels on Jefferson Island. In each level Jack has to kill a never ending army of thugs to score points. The more creatively an enemy is killed the more points the player gets. When the player collects enough points a boss fight becomes available. When Jack beats the boss the level is cleared and the player can move on to the next level.
Jack has a few basic attacks. He can punch people a bunch of times, uppercut them, or slice them in two with his chainsaw. But those are not really important. The real way to attack enemies is to use the various weapons that are strewn about the levels to kill the enemies in a more creative manner. Most levels have similar types of weapons, like signposts that can be jammed through the thug’s heads, barrels that can be slammed on top of thugs, or walls of spikes that they can be impaled on. But many levels have weapons that are unique to them, like one level has a tank full of piranhas, and another one has a giant grill to cook people on.
The player gets more points if they string multiple attacks together, like smashing a barrel on someone’s head and then throwing them off of a cliff. And the player receives less points if they do the same type of attack over and over again.
The main draw of MadWorld is the sheer number of ways Jack can kill someone. All the levels are relatively non-linear, and the enemies are endless and not very hard to defeat. There are usually at least a dozen ways to kill a person per level. It is really up to the player’s imagination how to make the game fun. Of course, to enjoy the game one must have an appreciation for messy over the top violence.
It is not too challenging. The regular enemies are only a little difficult near the end of the game, and that is only when there are a lot of them. There is also a time limit, but it is so long that there might as well not be one.
The bosses can be annoying, mostly because most of them have a cheap block and really powerful attacks. It would have been nice if Jack had a similar blocking ability to even it out.
Use of Wiimote is very well implemented. The player just has to swing the remote to the side or up for a side-wipe or uppercut, or hold the B button down and swing it down for a chainsaw attack. Flicking the nunchuk makes Jack dodge. All nice simple movements that take advantage of the Wii’s capabilities without a lot of flailing around.
The art design is interesting. The game is all in black and white and looks like a comic book. It also has visual sound effects and some of the cutscenes are done in panels like a comic book as well. The only color is the red blood that is splattered everywhere, which eventually disappears. The black and white look does make it hard to see objects and people sometimes, since from a distance it can all look like a mass of wriggling black and white.
The story is confusing and preachy, with a timeline that does not make much since. Whoever wrote the story really hates rich people.
It is funny. Jack and other characters get a few funny lines out. The funniest jokes come from the two announcers that constantly comment on Jack’s progress. It is a real shame that a lot of what they say cannot be heard over the soundtrack and all the screaming. Also they tend to repeat themselves a lot.
There is not too much replay value. Even with all the different weapons available they can still get old eventually. The same goes for the levels, which lose their initial appeal once they have been explored. If only more of the weapons were not unique to their respective levels.
MadWorld is a very fun, violent, and funny game that uses the Nintendo Wii very well. Anyone who enjoys mindless violence should play it.
No comments:
Post a Comment