PROS: An amazing take on the beat 'em up genre; hundreds of ways to butcher enemies; awesome boss battles
CONS: Two-player mode feels cheap and tacked on; play-by-play commentary gets old; motorcycle levels are clunky
When Pat first booted up MadWorld, the ensuing screams of chainsaw mayhem brought editors and staff members a-running from every corner of the building. Every single person in the office crammed into the test cube to watch the bloody spectacle and holy hell were we impressed. Dark, brutal and hilarious in just the right way, MadWorld is a title that has rocketed to the top of every staff member's must buy list.
4.5 out of 5
A-
MadWorld is not a perfect game, and for some it might be a tad on the short side (five-to-six hours). But I had a blast on this roller coaster through a unique world. The immersive combat (aided by shockingly-fun Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls) would not have been as enjoyable if played on a traditional gamepad. Despite my early skepticism on the decision to bring this game exclusively to the Wii, I don't think the experience would be nearly as interesting on either HD console. The design constraints of Nintendo's system forced the developers at Platinum Games to be creative, and they followed through on their creativity by putting together a thoroughly enjoyable brawler with just the right amount of the ultra-violence.
IGN US Madworld review:
Closing Comments
I realize that not everybody will find MadWorld's unique visual and aural presentation appealing, but to me, the game is an instant collector's item and a Wii showpiece, not just for its amazing style, but for its label-busting content. Anybody who says Nintendo's console is just for kids will see things very differently after a few chainsaw- induced mutilations. More importantly, though, MadWorld does not place emphasis on style over gameplay, so there's plenty of fun, smart mechanics to back up the overwhelmingly slick look and sound of the title. You'll be floored by some of the scenarios that await you in the fast-moving beat-'em-up, surprised by the unexpectedly well-made storyline, and simultaneously grossed out and cracked up by all of the completely over-the-top gore. Even with some camera issues, some repetition, and a decidedly short single-player mode (if you play it on normal difficulty), SEGA and Platinum Games have still created Wii's first truly excellent game of the year.
I'm begging you, buy this game so that we'll see more like it.
9/10
IGN UK Madworld review:
Two things strike you very quickly about MadWorld. Firstly, it makes SEGA's recent The House of the Dead: Overkill look like a tea party in a nunnery. Secondly, it's one of the most visually arresting games ever devised.
What? That's un-possible! 
Think Hostel meets the Running Man, only cleverer and infinitely funnier. Much like Overkill, it's a game that shirks subtly for gratuity and ends up mailing most of its laughs back from somewhere far, far over the line of acceptability.
Surprisingly, it's not the violence that's likely to cause most offense in MadWorld though. That honour goes to Greg Proops and John DiMaggio's delirious turn as Death Watch's foul-mouthed commentators. It's an astonishing stream of no-holds-barred crudity that hurtles from bigotry to misogyny and back, by way of several thousand expletives – including one choice word that literally made us drop our controller in surprise. It's the kind of aural assault that's so relentlessly, knowingly offensive, you'd have to be fairly puritanical not to get totally swept up in its giddy revelry.
You see, it's all about points. You need a certain number to progress through a stage, unlocking mini-game-style Bloodbath Challenges, more outlandish weapons and boss encounters at various pre-designated milestones. MadWorld's rules are simple: pain, effectively, means points and – with a classic arcade multiplier system at its core - the more creative your masochism, the greater your reward. That would probably be justifiable grounds for grumbling politicians and horrified newspaper headlines if your arsenal wasn't quite so dizzily deranged. Success depends on informed experimentation and, as you progress, MadWorld's ultraviolent surface thrills melt to reveal its nuanced fighting system. Ultimately, it's about taking pride in your work - and the dizzying satisfaction as your most outlandish Rube Goldberg-style death machinations reach fruition. It's honestly and absolutely an obsessive compulsive's wet dream.
It's the classic Wii complaint – that there's too much reliance on the Remote's notoriously imprecise motion-sensors. There's an incredible amount of gesture input in MadWorld – from chainsaw swipes to nunchuck dodging – and, too often for our liking, arm movements either fail to register or produce unexpected results.
Seems to be at odds with the US Sites description?
Closing Comments
Control issues hamper fluidity but there’s no denying that, with some investment, MadWorld rewards in huge doses, delivering an incredibly visceral experience that's as stunningly unique and obscenely entertaining as it is just plain obscene.
8.9
IGN-Video-review-for-lazy-people
7/10
8/10
How far into the game are you? Have you gotten past the first level yet and made it to Asian Town? Generally most people do not really like the first level, and it gets old after 5 minutes. But once you get into the later levels things change. The story kicks in (which is surprisingly good), AI gets smarter and a little more threatening (once you reach the castle you'll start dying) and the environment has a greater variety of interactivity which makes killing more fun.
Platinum seemed to drop the ball on that first stage and I think its come back to haunt them. A lot of reviewers clearly did not play through the game and you can tell which ones did not. Most bad reviews only mention things from the first stage and its kind of obvious that they didn't make it into the later level where the real meat of the game is.
I just beat von Twillerkiller and I died a few times already (4-5). But in my defense I usually take damage trying to get to kill multiple people at once.
I have the Wii hooked up with component cables to a HDTV, which I suspect was the problem (the Wii graphics took a down-grade with the new TV).
Welcome to the club. All your wii games now look like shit, congrats!
Well, it couldn't have been, as it's only 3 hours long!
Just to be clear, the first two levels are kinda boring, its only once you hit Asia Town that things get interesting.
The story kicks into things suprisingly late in the game but does pay off in the end and gives you a motivation to keep going.
The levels need to be played repeatedly to get the most out of them. Because of the black and white, it can be hard identifying hotspots, environmental kills and such and you'll find that second and even third attempts at the same level yield new ways to cause mayhem.
Sometimes the game can feel like an endless slog, but that's because some levels are like arenas, not forward pushing progressive levels. If you want fun, you have to go find it and have fun by finding more creative ways to kill. If you camp in the same spot and just cheaply slaughter guys it is boring, no doubt.
After you complete the game you also get the use of a badass katana to slice and dice, sort of like Ninja Gaiden in a slower, more brutal sense.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I'd say you can start getting really creative in the 3rd level and onward. The 4th level is hard as hell though, so you're going to spend more time just trying to stay alive rather than getting creative.
The 5th level though. . . that is a masterpiece. It's not the hardest but there is a huge variety of ways to kill people and it's just a party. You'll want to replay that one over and over.
Well, the signposts and tires and stuff are standard object fare I would say.
Then you get weapons to mix things up, but mainly the ways you kill are different based on environment. There are a heck of a lot of different ways to kill. Hang people up on meat hooks, throw them in boiling oil, use massive fish to half eat their heads. Throw cast at spike traps, dump people into rocket launches etc.
Tons of stuff. Flushing people down toilets even.
You have to explore. Think about the game more like an old school beat em up where you play each level several times.
In Asia town things start looking up, its more of a progression through a level, which I prefer, but its a hiccup as usually its arena style battling.