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Madworld

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Game Reviewed: MadWorld
Publisher:  Sega
Developer: Platinum Games
Reviewer:  Shaun Graves
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Category: Action
ERSB Rating: M

 

Reviewers Note: Due to the very obscene nature of this game, I only played about half-way through as it was all I could personally handle.

Game Description:

A terrorist group, known as The Organizers, is bent on creating the most violent and bloodiest reality TV show in existence, known as DeathWatch.  They attacked the fictional island-based Varrigan City, severing all transportation and communication lines and leaving its citizens completely trapped.  The Organizers deliver a deadly virus to the trapped inhabitants that will kill them within 24 hours.  Their only hope of survival is a vaccine that can be only obtained by slaying any other citizen.  The countdown begins and the cameras are rolling, what will the citizens do?  Only time will tell.

Players assume control of Jack Cayman.  A former ex-marine and three-time former champion of previous DeathWatch games, he is armed with deadly combat skills and a menacing chainsaw attached to his right arm that will literally help him slash through the competition.

Madworld is without a doubt, one of the most violent and language riddled games of all time.  The game is played from the third-person perspective and features stylized black and white graphics that is reminiscent of Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City.  The only other color this game features is red.  A color that you will see tons of as the screen is soaked in blood because of the violent death animations.

What Parents Need to Know

Violence:

There is no question that this game is very violent.  Due to its stylized graphics, however, that look just like a comic book, it is hard to put it in the same class as the recently released Resident Evil 5, which features more realistic graphics.  Even though the graphics are comic book based it still features a ton of blood and very harsh death animations.  The developer really thought of every conceivable way to kill someone, from dismemberment, decapitation, to even completely cutting someone in two with Jack's chainsaw arm.  The game also features BloodBath Challenges.  These are very violent and over-the-top death mini-games such as "Man-Darts", where Jack has to take a spiked baseball bat and send enemies flying to be impaled on a huge spiked dartboard.  These are just some of the ways that players can kill people in the game.

Language:

This game features more bad language than any other game I have played and is the reason I only made it halfway through.  In fact, I cannot recall a movie that has more language than this.  The game features commentators who use every curse word under the sun.  Their commentary is very lewd and crude, leaving no subject untouched from sex to killing, all riddled with language that would make a sailor blush.  Due to the nature of the conversations and language I will not repeat any of it here, just know that every curse word is heard too many times to count and is very filthy.

Sexual Content:

The game features a girl that is dressed in basically a bikini with large spikes over her breast area.  This is the only visual sexual content I experienced in this game.  The sexual content of the commentators however is quite excessive and very perverse.

Spiritual Content:

This game can have a negative spiritual impact on a person as it really has no redeeming qualities at all.  It is very violent and filled with excessive language. Also, there are really no real positive attributes of the hero, Jack Cayman, either.  He is best summed up in the following quote, "I don't help people, I kill them." 

Reviewers Thoughts:

This game is very violent, bloody, and filled with excessive and perverse language.  This game has earned its mature rating in full. In my opinion,  probably more so than any other game before it.  Because of the nature of this game I would not recommend it for children or even teens. Madworld is rated M for good reason and I would ask that parents please respect the rating.