The Newest Installment of Satire

If you have seen the film “The Running Man” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you essentially know what MadWorld is about. Of course, the story is different and in essence MadWorld is actually more similar to the movie “Natural Born Killers.” So, with that in mind, MadWorld makes for a pretty entertaining game, but it isn’t amazing.
On the surface, the game glamorizes violence much like “Killers.” You are given points for killing people, and the more gruesome you can make the death the more points you receive. For example, cutting a guy in half with your chainsaw gives you a nice amount of points, but if you shove a tire around him, put a sign post through his head and then throw him in front of a train you’ll be swimming in points like Scrooge McDuck in his pool of gold coins. And the reason for accruing points is just to proceed to the level’s boss and kill him. Then you go on to the next level and perpetuate the vicious cycle.
The women, although there are only a few in the game, are shapely, voluptuous and, well, nothing more than fetish objects. There’s even a vampire woman who is so well endowed she’d put Ivy from the Soul Caliber series to shame. Oh, and there’s some racism, too. One of the two black characters in the game is a pimp fully equipped with a cane, fur coat and a grill. But as bad as that might be the major stereotyping deals with Asian ethnicities. There are a handful of Asian themed levels where you have to save geishas and the enemies range from ninjas, samurais and even a sumo wrestler boss. To be fair, though, the ninjas may not have been Asian. I never got too good of a look at them. I mean, they’re ninjas.
However, to stop analyzing the game here would be a mistake. “Killers” was a satire of how obsessed the public and media are with violence and used numerous brutalities to send the message. MadWorld is attempting to do a similar thing. Like “Killers,” MadWorld criticizes people’s obsession with reality TV shows and violence by creating a show centered on killing other contestants. Also, the extreme stereotypes are exaggerated to such a degree that it comes off as a parody of racist beliefs. When in the game’s China Town, one of the secondary characters (a black female who is probably the only morally acceptable character in the game) actually comments on how the entire place is just a cliché Western view of Eastern culture. Lastly, MadWorld solidifies its true position by killing off the people who created the sadistic game show. This serves as a similar metaphor offered to us at the end of “Killers” when Mickey and Mallory kill the journalist who was responsible for sensationalizing their murders.
MadWorld has already received some criticism in Britain for its violence, and a point should be made clear. This game is not like ManHunt in the way that it is a “murder simulator.” A murder simulator’s job is to give a realistic depiction of murder. Manhunt does this by having the player kill people in believable ways, such as suffocating a person with a plastic bag and etc. MadWorld, however, is ultimately unrealistic. Hitting somebody 50 feet with a spiked baseball bat, grabbing an enemy by the leg with one hand and repeatedly smashing him into the ground like Bam Bam from the Flinstones, and causing a gallon of blood loss just by punching a person is exaggerated to the point of Looney Tunes cartoons. The only difference being that MadWorld offers oceans worth of blood. So, the violence shouldn’t be considered realistic by any means and hence the game is not a true murder simulator. So, while its violence does deserve a mature rating, this should not be a video game that parents rally against in droves.
But there is more to video games than the literary analysis of them. The game play needs some work. The targeting system is fickle, only working when it feels like it. When I am in an alley surrounded by baddies and I can’t hit any of them with my chainsaw even though I am pressing the targeting button, then there is clearly a problem. And the maimed targeting system in turn causes weird camera angles. In the gaming world of 2009 I believe there is no reason for a 3D action/adventure game to not allow the player to control the camera, but MadWorld apparently disagrees. There were more than a couple of incidents where I wanted to jump across platforms, but because I couldn’t look down to prepare for my leap I would have to base the entire action on blind faith. This usually ended up with my falling into a sea of villains waiting to impale me with all sorts of sharp objects. With the exception of the targeting and camera, the game plays ok, but those two problems do cause frustration and take away some enjoyment, especially in the later levels. It’s fun to wave the Wii remote to slice somebody in half with your chainsaw, and the gesture-based quick time events work as well as any button controlled events. However, the game was so simplistic that near the halfway point of the game (and it is a short game) I started losing interest. It came down to the feeling that I wanted to beat it just so I could be done.
The real charm of this game is found in the graphics and sound. The stark black and white style with hints (or sometimes huge volumes) of red is much like the film “Sin City” and doesn’t cause as much confusion as I was expecting. Hands down the best part of the game, though, were the commentators. The commentators, voiced by Greg Proops and John Dimaggio of Whose Line is it Anyway and Futurama fame, respectively, would make small talk and quips based on what you were doing. They were funny, but what made them really stand out were the voice actors who were playing them. The commentators even stuck around for the credits and made MadWorld one of the few games with credits worth watching.
So, MadWorld was not the best game I ever played. It was interesting in theory, but in execution it left me wanting a lot more. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, especially for $50, but it is worth a rent. If you don’t have much else going on, I’m certain you’d be able to knock it out over a weekend. Trailer!