jesta
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Inspired by Sin City's Frank Miller
The stark, black, white and blood title has gamers playing through a third-person maze of carnage, trying to rack up points for an off-screen audience through over-the-top dismemberment.
As players battle opponents, they must master the use of various weapons and items found within their environment, such as chainsaws and street signs, while entertaining sports commentary adds to the third-person gameplay. With its irreverent humour and over-the-top violence, MADWORLD will deliver a unique core gaming experience currently missing on the Wii system.
But here's the thing -- though it's filled with blood and violence, MadWorld is presented in such a stylized fashion that it never results in squeamishness. Later in the demo, our hero held an enemy up against a giant spinning saw blade, shredding the baddie to bits and spewing blood all over. He also entered a minigame that consisted of hitting enemies against a giant dartboard with a baseball bat, the red blood splotches indicating accuracy. This is not the game you let Grandma try after she's gotten her fill of Wii Sports.
Good to Go: The Sin City vibe is fantastic, with detailed black-and-white visuals and written action cues to further lend to the game's graphic-novel style. The upbeat music, too, perfectly sets the tone of the game -- you just want dive in and cause some bloody mayhem. Though we didn't get to play it, the combat seemed really tight -- though, here's hoping it'll control better than God Hand (Clover's previous brawler).
Warning Sign: Though Inaba says there will be more weapons later in the game, it remains to be seen just how inventive the Platinum crew can be in terms of keeping the gameplay fresh throughout. We've seen spikes, saw blades, and dumpsters, but it'll be interesting to see what other environmental elements these guys come up with. Also, because of the game's "blood as a sport" theme, an announcer often provides commentary -- let's hope that doesn't get old.
Warm Afterglow: In a week of seeing many of the industry's biggest wares ahead of E3, MadWorld easily stands out as one of the most impressive. Surrounded by rehashes and titles offering predictable gameplay improvements, the game feels extremely fresh and cool. It also feels entirely void of marketing's influence -- black and white with tons of blood flies in the face of the industry's usual instincts, and it's great to see something so bold as this. This early demo cemented two things in my mind: 1) Clover's art-house spirit definitely lives on in Platinum, and 2) I cannot wait to play this freaking game.
Official Trailer
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