MadWorld

[Shino]

I don't see what's the problem in releasing 18+/Mature games in Europe, unlike the US, we don't have a single major retailer in the continent that bans such games.

[Dante]

The Telegraph Preview

 

By the end of 2008 nearly everyone had become a gamer; whether battling the Locust Horde in Gears Of War 2, tearing around the track on Mario Kart, or simply reading through a library of classic novels on the Nintendo DS. Video games have finally gone mainstream.

 

The console which can take the lion's share of the credit (or blame, depending on your perspective) for this is the Nintendo Wii. Not only does the console offer one of the most intuitive and plain joyful interfaces, it comes armed with a library of family friendly titles to ensure hours of fun for everyone.

 

The only criticism that has been leveled at the Wii - and it's one that's growing in volume – is that it doesn't offer as much for the adult hardcore gamer. Perhaps in response to this criticism, the first few months of 2009 see the release of three Wii titles that seem decidedly bloody.

 

Two of the three are horror comedies chock-full of zombies and black humour; House of the Dead: Overkill and Dead Rising: Chop 'til you drop. The third is MadWorld.

 

Created by Platinum Games and published by Sega, MadWorld is a different beast altogether. While the two zombie-filled titles focus on bullets, brains and George A Romero inspired humour, first impressions of MadWorld mark it out as a visceral, vicious bloodfest. That's not to say it doesn't contain its own brand of comedy but its sense of humour isn't so much tongue in cheek as it is tongue through cheek and then fastened to the earlobe with a staple gun.

Set in a bizarre future in which terrorists have managed to not only capture a city but set up their own television company in the interim, players take on the role of Jack, a contestant in an ultra-violent game-show in which the aim is to eviscerate as many opponents as gruesomely as possible. However, the game's director Shigenori Nishikawa, says that a crucial element of the design was to maintain the balance between visceral violence and a sense of fun.

 

“It's very challenging because many of the themes and actions we're incorporating into the game have never been done before with this balance,” he says.

 

“If the violence outweighs the comedy, it all becomes very sinister. If the comedy outweighs the violence, that's also bad – because then that doesn't work either.”

 

The Telegraph was allowed a grand total of five minutes of hands-on time with MadWorld. In that short interval, however, I can report it boasts a smooth, intuitive control system, a slick soundtrack filled with crunching sound-effects, ghoulishly enthusiastic commentators and thundering hip hop music, and more violence than you can shake a Wii-mote at. In my short playing time I dispatched numerous opponents in various grisly fashions; I stabbed several through the face with street signs, electrocuted one on an open electrical socket and sliced up several groups with a chainsaw.

 

“There's a lot of variety in the ways you can kill someone off,” says Nishikawa. “As you go through the different stages the variety of weapons and variety of kills will expand.”

 

MadWorld’s stark graphics go a long way towards tempering the violence. The environments and characters are rendered in a crisp black and white, with the occasional splash of arterial red which gushes from opponents. MadWorld's graphics immediately bring to mind the film and comic book Sin City, but the game's director Shigenori Nishikawa says Frank Miller's work wasn't a direct inspiration.

 

“We decided long before we'd seen Sin City that we wanted a game in a stark black and white visual style,” he says. “It just happens to be that Sin City is of that style. We love that type of artwork, but it's not necessarily an influence.”

 

He adds; “The team's initial aim was to create a game that was unique and new on the Wii and from there they decided on the colours of black and white. Then, because the content they were creating was violent, they decided to incorporate red as a signifier of the violence.”

 

“The splash of red makes the violence clearer, as the black and white would deemphasize it.” Nishikawa says, “The colour schemes both amplify and negate the violence.”

 

The game's grisly content is further softened by its cartoonish nature – some of the actions possible are akin to the unreality of Saturday morning cartoons.

 

“I was thinking a lot about the cartoon, Tom & Jerry when I started working on it,” says Nishikawa. “I feel the type of violence you see in Tom & Jerry is very close to the type of violence you see in MadWorld.”

 

The gaming community may agree with Nishikawa - although Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons would probably be a more accurate reference point. But less hardcore players, especially those only exposed to the family friendly content published for the Wii, may find his sentiments disingenuous.

 

Indeed MadWorld has already stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy well ahead of its release. It has already been banned in Germany, attacked in the British Press and targeted by concerned citizens' groups.

 

“We understand the concerns that the media and certain groups may have about violence,” says Nishikawa, “But this game is not only about the violence. It's about the over the top content, the laugh-out-loud humour beyond the violence.”

 

“When we were making this game, we found it funny. We laughed out loud. We had a really good time.”

 

It’s true that MadWorld has a macabre appeal to it; there’s a lot of guilty fun to be has slicing your way through armies of opponents. The game not only offers a great deal of variety, but there is also a tactical element to it; killing combos that would see off most enemies aren’t enough in boss battles.

 

Despite Nishikawa's view that MadWorld deftly balances comedy and violence, the game is more than likely bound to resurrect the age old debate on video game violence.

 

"I feel it's very important to reiterate at every opportunity that this game is not sinister," says MadWorld's producer, Atsushi Inaba.

 

“I also feel that it's important that the media and the developers communicate this to adult gamers out there in the world; this is a game for adults. Above all, this is a game. What happens in it – happens in it is a game. It all takes place in a video game environment.”

 

MadWorld is scheduled for release in the UK at the end of March. It has been granted an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification, and the game has not had to be cut or edited in any way to pass the censors.

 

The news has surprised some, who expected Mad World to be embroiled in months of controversy and undergo numerous revisions before it would be granted a release. In 2006, the BBFC was engaged in a long-running dispute with Rockstar Games over whether Manhunt 2, a game it criticised for its "unrelenting focus" on brutal and visceral killing, should be certified for release. Numerous appeals followed, with the ban eventually overturned after months of legal wrangling.

 

Many had expected the panel to subject Mad World to a similar fate, but it seems its cartoonish violence and knowing humour has been judged to sufficiently lighten the subject matter.

 

The news is heartening from a gaming perspective as it would have been a massive shame if MadWorld hadn't been released. It is a stylish and well made title and Sega is to be applauded for bringing more hardcore content to the Nintendo Wii.

Ironically enough, MadWorld's combination of adult-themed content and easy gameplay imbue it with massive cross-over appeal. At its heart, MadWorld is an old-school arcade-style game which can be played for hours or in short bursts.

 

In other words, MadWorld is probably the most hardcore casual title ever created.

 

new screens

[The-chosen-one]

this game looks really fun to play, a must have

 

when i come home from work and if you are stressed you just play this game and chop some heads off LOL

[Choze]

Not so sure about this. Looks uninteresting gameplay wise.

[darksnowman]

So Mad World derives more from Tom & Jerry than it does from Sin City, eh...?

[Hero-of-Time]

I love Tom and Jerry so in theory I should love MadWorld.

[darksnowman]

I love Tom and Jerry so in theory I should love MadWorld.

 

Yep, same here.

 

Thing is I'm not really dying to get my hands on Mad World as of yet. For me, it takes a minute to work out whats going on in the screenshots- its like a big black and white mish mash and makes me think it might be difficult to get used to while playing it. Like for working out your way around environments and that. I'll be looking for the GT video review so I can both see it in motion and hear it talked about at the same time before I can properly make up my mind.

 

(i.e. I'm maybe too casual!)

[dazzybee]

I think in practice it will be very clear!

[Ganepark32]

I'm surprised no one has picked up on this yet. When the game was rated by the Australian gaming board, it was given the status as multiplatform. Now for the Aussie gaming board to make mistakes is quite unusual so perhaps this is getting a release on other consoles? Hope not anyway.

[jammy2211]

All games on the Aussie rating board are multiplat, even MArio Kart and Mario Strikers lol.

[Ganepark32]

Really? Didn't know that although didn't really expect it seeing as they aren't known to make many mistakes with their listings. Oh well, at least I'm hoping it was a mistake.

[Shino]

Really? Didn't know that although didn't really expect it seeing as they aren't known to make many mistakes with their listings. Oh well, at least I'm hoping it was a mistake.

 

Sega has confirmed it was yet another mistake from the Aussie rating board.

[Ganepark32]

hmmm... must have missed that announcement. That's better.

[D_prOdigy]

I know that a main concern was always that there would be no incentive to play after about 20 minutes. However, going off recent previews, the appeal clearly comes from the dozens of ways you can dispatch enemies on every stage, so in that respect, there'll be a shit-load of replay value. This will be a day one for me.

 

On a side note, that preview was pretty well-written. I knew the Telegraph had their own games section, but I wasn't quite sure whether it was any good. I may have to take more notice.

[jammy2211]

I know that a main concern was always that there would be no incentive to play after about 20 minutes. However, going off recent previews, the appeal clearly comes from the dozens of ways you can dispatch enemies on every stage, so in that respect, there'll be a shit-load of replay value. This will be a day one for me.

 

On a side note, that preview was pretty well-written. I knew the Telegraph had their own games section, but I wasn't quite sure whether it was any good. I may have to take more notice.

 

Those previews make me laugh. one literally said "We only played it for 5 minutes, but it won't get repetitive after playing it for an hour!".

 

Not slating into Mad World or anything but that's just a laughable contradiction. You can't tell from 5 minutes how long until it gets boring.

 

But yeah, aside from laughing at stupid journalists, it's getting alot of media hype and it's all been very posititve. Not long until the final verdict now, is there much coming out to compete with it? :/.

[D_prOdigy]

Those previews make me laugh. one literally said "We only played it for 5 minutes, but it won't get repetitive after playing it for an hour!".

 

Not slating into Mad World or anything but that's just a laughable contradiction. You can't tell from 5 minutes how long until it gets boring.

 

You can go from what you've played, gather the facts about what you know about the game (no doubt, many questions were asked to the rep), and augment it to form a logical conclusion though.

[Tellyn]

And to add to that, SEGA also send out preview builds which can be played for as long as you want.

[jammy2211]

You can go from what you've played, gather the facts about what you know about the game (no doubt, many questions were asked to the rep), and augment it to form a logical conclusion though.

 

But you don't know how long it will take until it gets boring, until you've played it that long. You can 'guess' it might not get boring but you don't know. I just don't think the media is in a position to make these promises of longetivity after short plays.

 

And I don't think SEGA have sent out any preview builds as my site hasn't received any yet and we normally get most of SEGA's preview stuff. Might be different in the States though.

[D_prOdigy]

But you don't know how long it will take until it gets boring, until you've played it that long. You can 'guess' it might not get boring but you don't know. I just don't think the media is in a position to make these promises of longetivity after short plays.

 

And I don't think SEGA have sent out any preview builds as my site hasn't received any yet and we normally get most of SEGA's preview stuff. Might be different in the States though.

 

Of course, maybe you're right. It's just that enough people seem to form negative opinions quickly enough after playing a game for five minutes, I assumed it wasn't too controversial to form a positive one.

[jammy2211]

Of course, maybe you're right. It's just that enough people seem to form negative opinions quickly enough after playing a game for five minutes, I assumed it wasn't too controversial to form a positive one.

 

In the press it's generally 'accepted' to be as positive as possible with a preview, normally falling back on the old if you don't like this, it should be fixed by release. It's hard to find a negative preview, and in my experience the ones the devs care most about are the ones which state possible niggles or problems.

 

But yeah, I've never thought this game would be a repetitive motion-waggler or anything. Quite looking forward to it .

[Shino]

But yeah, I've never thought this game would be a repetitive motion-waggler or anything. Quite looking forward to it .

 

Yeah, we can see that.

[jammy2211]

Yeah, we can see that.

 

Well obviously, I literally said it in what you quoted.

[Dante]

In a recent interview according to MCV, Alan Pritchard from Sega Europe North and the Director of sales department John Clark spoke about the part of market that is incarnated by the Wii. They think that a wide space is open for matures games beacause most companies have turned to casual gaming.

 

“There have been some good hardcore Wii titles,Resident Evil 4 has done reasonable numbers; Red Steel has also performed really well. But since then, many publishers have migrated towards the more mass-market family titles, so perhaps there hasn't been the array or depth of hardcore titles on Wii. So there is definitely opportunity here.”

 

 

'We'd like to maintain the success we've had on Nintendo formats. One way of achieving that is with new IP like The Conduit and MadWorld, and traditional Sega titles will continue to drive broader market success.'

A new that will for sure make all Wii gamers happy.

[nekunando]

I kinda always wondered about stuff like that..! What I mean is you could look at the Gamecube and ask yourself why there was a lack of a certain genre or the same with the Wii. In the days of the GC I just couldn't understand why no company would release a game in that area as there would be no competition and there would surely be some sort of market for it!

 

Obviously there is more to it than that, but to suggest the market for it isn't there when there are no other games to derive this from just never washed with me..

 

Anyway, MadWorld looks pretty cool I haven't really watched any videos as I would rather the game was left as a surprise.. but even then, I can't see me purchasing this on day one! This month has saw my lowest desire to buy a new game in a good few years (which is a blessing, thankfully, as I have way too much to get through as it is.. Okami is still sealed!) MadWorld can wait until I can give it proper attention, though that could be a year or more away.. by which time I would hope to get it for a fraction of the price!

[Dante]

New MadWorld Trailer