Seeing Sega’s MadWorld

MadWorld is set in a violent game show where contestants are rewarded for “creatively” killing the competition. During the demo I didn’t see much creativity. The same street sign through the face deathblow seemed effective enough for Jack to move through the level unscathed. More points were rewarded when Jack skewered other Death Watch players with multiple signs. Points can be used to purchase better weapons, but the environment itself is a death trap. Jack can brutally shove other players into a wall of spikes or toss them into a dumpster and watch the lid split the body into two.

While Jack is a violent guy, his enemies aren’t as fearsome. The run-of-the-mill Death Watch contestant stands around waiting for a killing blow. After Jack slices an opponent into pieces commentators make humorous remarks, a la Smash TV, to add to the over the top presentation of PlatinumGames’ project.

The controls seem simple to pick up. The analog stick moves Jack and shaking the nunchuck makes him do a backflip. You kill the other players with visceral motions like guiding the remote as if it was a chainsaw. Swinging the nunchuck and remote when Jack has two knives equipped chops bodies into pieces. Madworld is violent and at this time too violent for Japan. As I mentioned previously, Sega only plans to release Madworld in North America and Europe. I asked if Sega would give Madworld a No More Heroes style cover up for Japan which they declined to comment on.

In a subway station Jack threw another Death Watch player in the path of a subway train before stepping into an elevator on his way to a boss. A towering, muscular creature was waiting for Jack carrying a huge ball and chain. Unlike the other Death Watch contenders the boss has a life bar, which means it’s going to take more than a road sign to the eye to kill him. Jack ran up to the boss with his chainsaw when the demo changed to white noise. The boss was just a teaser leading up to MadWorld's March release date.

Images courtesy of Sega.