Giveaway / Win an autographed game cover for MadWorld |
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| BY Matthew Razak Apr. 17th, 2009 | More on: |
MadWorld has been out for a few weeks now, but with our busy schedules and being really, really important we haven’t gotten a review up yet. We do however have the cover sleeve for the game autographed by Astsushi Inabara and Shigenori Nishikawa. Those two are the guys behind the game as you can clearly see here from our interesting interview of interest.
The problem here is that a cover for a game you don’t own is kind of pointless, though still nice, we suppose. However, we don’t want someone who hasn’t played the game getting this, so in the spirit of that, and since we haven’t reviewed it ourselves, we’re giving it for a review. With the recent news that a decent but modest 66,000 copies of the game had sold in the game’s first month we’re also hoping to drive that number up a bit. You know, doing our small part to reward developers that take risks on the Wii. So if you don’t have the game yet go out and buy it, then review the game below in our comments. It can be one sentence, it can be an full fledged review, just make it good. The winner will receive the signed cover slip in his mail. Good writing!
And no, we have no idea what a happy onion is.
Giveaway has ended, the winner contacted.
April 18th, 2009
at 8:14 am
I will try to finish this tomorrow so I can post a review of it! :D
April 19th, 2009
at 2:05 am
I absolutely loved MadWorld. I liked the fast pace of the story and that levels were designed such that I could either quickly attain the necessary score or spend some time exploring, finding power-ups or new traps. I want to see MadWorld sell well particularly because I want a sequel…much remains to be done.
Thank you Platinum and Sega for a genuinely engaging and fun experience.
And thank you TVGB for using your space to promote said experience…and trying to start a grassroots consumer spending movement.
April 19th, 2009
at 9:08 am
While I love SEGA (of yesteryear) and the Wii is in desperate need of more engaging mature titles, I don’t believe this game fits the bill. I’m quite impressionable, but where was the advertising or rave reviews to drive sales. I’m tempted to go out today and pick it up… but would my $50 be better spent else where. Maybe a $35 price point would do the trick or possibly some sort of promotional reward from GameStop… (still waiting for a true Nights sequel, as I dare ask for a decent Sonic).
April 19th, 2009
at 10:04 am
I bought Madworld yesterday, thinking I would help the Wii out a bit by buying a gamefor it, which I haven’t done in ages. I almost got it out of pity. Poor mature Wii game, not selling as well as it should. Now, Madworld pities me as it flickers across my screen in black, white and red, sticking a chainsaw up my anus and exiting its wonderful journey through my body at the base of my neck.
While the controls can be annoying at times, they work pretty well. I did get a bit excited at one point and almost snapped the Nunchuck cable, but I can’t really blame the game for that.
Not having played through the whole game limits my perspective a bit, but if it continues on the path I’ve seen so far, it would get a decent 8/10. However, that score doesn’t mean much seeing as I haven’t finished the game.
I’ll say this though, black and white has never looked (or felt) better. And now I’m off to throw some guy into a jet engine.
April 19th, 2009
at 10:30 am
Happy Onion is their inside saying. I have a source close to them that answered this question for me before. It’s pretty much just a phrase they say to start the day off in the office right. Guess you’d have to be there haha.
This game is awesome though! Bought it and already beat it… the story mode anyways. It’s almost like the movie “The Running Man” with Arnold S. If you’ve ever seen it, and liked it, you’d like this game. Graphics are very artsy and look good for what they are trying to accomplish. Controls work and there aren’t any stupid gimmicky things going on. Great voice work too. Pretty gory as well and definitely not for the soft stomached. Stuff like shoving a guys head into a toilet the flushing it… very gory haha.
April 19th, 2009
at 10:31 am
By the way 8.5/10 rating from me, finished as well.
April 19th, 2009
at 10:55 am
Should do something like this for Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3.
Infinitely deserves some form of sales promotion like this.
April 19th, 2009
at 11:07 am
I beat it today. Very excellent. I didn’t clock more than 3:05 hours (don’t think restarts etc counts so it probably took 6+ hours) but it was a joy ride anyway :) A happy onion is a healing item in the game.
April 19th, 2009
at 1:15 pm
Actually… I was one (of apparently few people) who preordered Madworld. I am so sad to see so few copies of this great game being sold. In fAct the weekend i beat it i wrote a review and posted it on the N4G community site. I figure I will share it. Part of me will take any chance I can get to recieve that sweet autographed cover. I hope that’s alreight by you guys.
Here is my review below. btw…I’d love a job too… here’s to Madworld’s awesomeness.
Madworld is an great game of near endless world experimentation in a rebirth of the beat-em-up genre. Levels are vast and filled to the brim with stuff to do to your hapless enemies. Though there are basically only 5 or 6 basic environmental maneuvers each level reinvents them and changes how they work keeping the basic formula feeling fresh level to level. On top of that bonus rounds throw in even more variety in a frantic and enjoyable run to kill as many of the masked contestants as you can with a minimal time limit.
The take chances artistic style 100% makes the experience beautiful to behold. Blood perfectly contrasts with the total lack of color making each and every kill more beautiful then the last. It may not be HD but it works and works well.
Controls are very fun and interesting. Sometimes the fast action controls are hard to hit dead on and alot of the controls can be described as waggle perhaps. Though waggle feels much much different when it results in ripping out a guys heart or chain sawing some hapless fool in half. I do have some issue with picking up items. Sometimes it feels like you just can’t pick up exactly what you want unless you perfectly align yourself with the object.
It should be said that this game is no walk in the park it offers real challenge for even the most seasoned gamer. Boss battles take alot of thinking and timing and while individual grunts are not too hard it gets difficult in later levels where they have a habit of chasing you down and ganging up on you. Also they throw in big dudes as almost ever present mini bosses to slow you down and to take down your lives.
On the topic of your lives they are not too plentiful and once you die you redo the whole arena level. Not too much of an issue but I was personally astonished at how underused this kind of game mechanic is these days.
Sound and audio are both great and slightly annoying at the same time. The kicking hiphop soundtrack feels a little lame when you listen to the lyrics. Not to mention with single levels lasting 20 minutes at times can become repetitive. The same can be said for the deathwatch announcers. The comments seem to be keyed to certain actions and many are actions done over and over again. It should be noted… expect swearing from these commentators alot of it.
As humor goes this is the definition of blue humor. Greg Proops(whose line is it anyway) and John Dimaggio(he played Bender on futurama) make a great team to describe the events going on in the game. I loved every bit of it laughing so hard I had to stop playing at times. However, after you hit time 8 of the joke it gets a wee bit old. However the music and the commentators can be turned down or turned off individually so if it bothers ya too much you can always mute it.
Story is one of those things I didn’t think about when picking it up but the story has a great arc and comes to a wonderfully great conclusion. It adds more to the package and really brings this game up a few notches. The style of comics shows through and it feels like a well written motion comic at times. Also whoever the guy is who voiced spike in cowboy bebop is the voice of jack and for me made me feel right at home immediately in the over the top story. Expect some interesting commentary on games and in society as a whole.
Overall this is still a fantastic game and despite some tricky motion maneuvers, slightly repetitive music and banter it is a really fantastic wii title. Story is solid, gameplay is endless and it generally beams quality. In and out it is a great and worthy title for any gamer looking to “dust off their wii”(kinda hate that phrase). Every gamer who believes in their wii needs to pick this up purely so we can have more titles of this caliber. I doubt you’ll be disappointed once you get it home, boot it up and start killing like some over the top psycho killer.
April 19th, 2009
at 11:53 pm
I am someone that usually buys used and saves his pennies. However in this case I wanted to support the Wii and the mature gaming developers and decided to part with $50 hard earned dollars on Madworld. I am glad I did. The visuals, sound, action and controls are spot on. This game is a hack-n-slashers delight and is everything we have been pleading for on the Wii. Yes its short, but it has tons of replay value, and is a great action game when you only have 20 minutes to play.
Buy this game, support your system, support the developers and play one of the best Wii games available bar none.
April 22nd, 2009
at 4:23 pm
My thoughts on the game are a bit …odd. My opinion is that it’s an absolutely beautiful game that I wish I could play. I sadly don’t own a Wii, though I did end up buying the game through Amazon because I just wanted to support SEGA and Platinum Games. I also bought it because I know that if I ever manage to get a Wii; MadWorld is game that I won’t want to play, but I’ll need to play it. Those are my thoughts and while I’m sure they won’t be valid for this little giveaway, I figured I’d give them anyway. Side Note: I really hope this game has a constant stream of sales so it can encourage more risks like this for not only the Wii, but for the video game industry in general. …sorry for the “kinda” rant right there.
April 22nd, 2009
at 4:31 pm
Madworld is a fun stylish game for the hardcore audience and newcomers.. It is a classic beat ‘em up formula with fun and fantastic over the top finishing moves.. The graphics are very stylish. I liked the story and that levels were designed very well for progression. I want to see MadWorld sell well because I want a sequel and we need more new games like this..
I give Madworld a 4/5 only due to game being really short
April 22nd, 2009
at 6:46 pm
MadWorld is a bottle of distilled fun. Outside of being wonderfully violent the gameplay is just smooth like butter. The game may not be perfect but it’s all aces and so far I can’t think of anything I would like to change. I haven’t had such a purely fun experience since Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
April 23rd, 2009
at 12:54 am
Madworld is one of those rare gems that reminds me of the brilliance of Sega games on the Dreamcast. Like Dreamcast games before it, the graphical style is bold and ambitious, and the gameplay is exciting and kitschy without sacrificing whatever odd ingredient makes it feel like a “gamer’s game.” It’s a video game in its purest form; complete unabashed visceral fun.
April 23rd, 2009
at 10:41 am
Madworld is a game that puts the Wii systems capabilities to the max, and makes it one of the most fun experiences the Wii system can offer.
With it’s wonderful display of color… well black white and red… lot’s of red, it is unbelievable that this system is capable of even handling this kind of a game. The style used for the game makes it seem it is straight out of a comic book, with detailed imagery and beautiful scenery. The game amazes you as you go on more and more.
This is one of the games that appeals more to the older audience, and…. does it just nicely. SEGA did well kicking the stereotype that it is only a “kids system,” and boy, I am loving every ****** minute of it. :P
Trying to beat your scores and compare with friends is tons of fun, and the games replay value, man… it is just superb. Killing in all these different kinds of methods just makes you crave for more MADness! The multiple, and highly amusing ways of killing off your enemies is just so entertaining that you can’t stop, it’s just too darn fun, and unrealistically comical, you just love it.
Like one way of killing a guy is to pick him up, throw him in a small dumpster and it slams on him, cutting him in half.
Brutal?, yes. Cool and funny? … definitely.
If I could describe a game in one word that defines extraordinary, defines excellent, and defines awesome, that word would be…
Madworld.
April 24th, 2009
at 9:00 pm
First of all, if you need an excuse to buy MadWorld, this game was produced by Atsushi Inaba, who’s had a hand in the creating all of the following: Samurai Shodown, Devil May Cry, Pheonix Wright, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and Godhand. That’s a good slice of important videogame history right there. If we want to see more games of this caliber we need to do everything we can to support his efforts. If we want Platinum Games to have the resources to make Hideki Kamiya’s Bayonetta the game we all hope it will be, we need to buy MadWorld.
Here’s a shameless picture showing off what an Inaba nut I am:
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3891/razakrules.jpg
Since a lot of people have already covered what the game is about, I wanted to detail how I felt while playing it.
Holding a goon’s head up to a train and having it flap around and splatter did feel incredibly satisfying. Better yet was impaling pinwheels in their head, causing blood to spatter everywhere before I sliced them with a spear and fried their remains in hot oil. But why? I’m not some kind of crazed fascist. I march in antiwar protests. I’ve never been in a physical fight in the real world, and have purposely avoided them, and broken up the fights of complete strangers in real life.
Is there some kind of catharsis at work? Am I purging the demons of my daily frustrations? Is this healthy? It’s odd that the game made me ruminate on these issues, when on the surface it seems to be designed around indulging every passing whim for careless violence.
In holding up a mirror to what Western audiences demand of their games, casual and brutal carnage without consequence, it might have repulsed us. Perhaps the game hasn’t sold well yet for more subtle reasons. There are plenty of adults who own Wiis and I’m betting with the amount of people who have gone to see violent comic book adaptations in theaters over recent years, there’s certainly some overlap. Why has Madworld been rejected so far by these same audiences? Is it because the game forces us to admit that this is what we’ve become, that there’s a core sadistic streak in our quest for entertainment? In giving us exactly what we want, by forcing us to more actively participate in the violence we consume, Platinum Games may have slyly made us feel bad about our entertainment without withholding the pleasures it offers. It’s the exact definition of a guilty pleasure. Something immensely fun and exciting with a razor edged hint of introspection and confrontation.
It’s an interesting strategy and I urge players to reach the story’s denouement before evaluating if it’s successful in delivering its message. If you’ve ever seen the film Blue Velvet, you can never forget the moment when Dennis Hopper’s creepy Frank looks to the camera and says, as if to the audience, “You’re like me.” MadWorld offers up the occasional meta-commentary like this. It’s a poisoned dipped love letter to gamers who care about the medium but find themselves simultaneously repulsed and enthralled by the dark heart pulsing blood through our global pastime. And just like Frank in Blue Velvet says, once “you receive a love letter from me, and you’re f**ked forever!”