Madworld

As you beat foes to a pulp, you can finish them off hand-to-hand using one of Jack's many finishing moves, including a hammer throw and neck breaker. These, as well as most of the other moves, all use the Wiimote and nunchuck's motion controls. By moving the controllers in the directions shown on screen, you can easily perform all of the vicious moves Jack is able to dole out, making the game even more enjoyable, as there's no need to memorize button combinations. Standard attacks consist of pressing the A button, while Jack's chainsaw is unleashed by holding down the B trigger.

The game is split into several levels, each taking place in various areas of the city, and presided over by a boss character. To complete the levels you need to rack up enough points to unlock the boss. As well as unlocking the final showdown, you also unlock various other elements, including new areas to kill in, weapons, extra lives, and the many and varied Bloodbath Challenge mini-games.

Once opened up, you can head to a specified area of the level to partake in a violent mini-game, presented by the Black Baron, a stereotypical pimp character who always meets his end, South Park-style in each introduction at the hands of his buxom assistant.

These challenges, which usually involve killing foes in inventive ways, take many forms, including human darts, human fireworks, a giant press and even an event that sees you shaking up soda bottles, shoving them into your opponents' mouths and then watching as the pressure build-up throws them through the air, to be impaled on a giant cut-out of a scantily clad lady's nether-regions. It's all fantastically cheap and vulgar stuff, but it works, and the presentation and comic styling offsets the masses of claret being thrown around (which shows as bright red against the game's primarily monotone visuals).

While you go about your glorious rampage, your actions are commented on by two TV announcers, voiced by comedian Gregg Proops, and John DiMaggio, better known as the voice of Bender from Futurama and, of course, Marcus Fenix from Gears Of War. This commentary is just as vulgar as the proceedings, but again, fits in well, and galvanizes the whole game show element.

It's not all straightforward combat, though, and there are a few deviations. In particular, you'll get the chance to hop onto a beefed-up chopper motorcycle and do battle Mad Max-style, with other combatants at high speeds.

Then there are the boss fights. These are all impressive, and require different approaches, as each boss uses a range of powerful attacks. To get the edge here, you need perfect timing, to make Jack counterattack his foe, which usually leads to a motion-based QTE of sorts, which sees Jack inflict massive damage. The final, coup de grace kill moves here are, as you'd expect, so over the top that it's just ridiculous, and while there's always a ton of blood flowing, this is all cartoon violence, and so isn't really shocking, just humorous.

That said, I can hear the barrage of complaint letters being sent to Sega and Nintendo right now, and no doubt any and every ‘ban violence in games' gathering will use MadWorld as it's next poster child. This is unfortunate, because as violent as the game is, it's clearly unrealistic, OTT fun, and in no way matches the kind of potentially disturbing acts of violence seen in games like Manhunt.

There's little in the way of problems to complain about here, at least nothing that takes too much away from the enjoyment. The game is on the short side, and most players will breeze through it quickly, but the action is so solid and enjoyable, that most will simply replay the game and get more out of it and to top their high scores.

The camera can be a little frustrating at times, especially as you grapple with the game's sluggish lock-on feature in the midst of a chaotic battle or boss fight. A little work on this would have worked wonders, and would solve the game's biggest problem of targeting.

It's often difficult to actually target a single enemy, especially when you're attempting to use an item on them, such as a signpost. Often you'll be flailing around after missing your target, and are left wide open to attack. This is a shame, especially given the game's otherwise, almost flawless presentation.

So many games of this kind are reduced to nothing more than basic, no-frills titles should you take away the gore and controversy, but thankfully, MadWorld is not such a game.

Yes, the violence is a big feature, but the gameplay underneath it all is still spot on, and thanks to the generally great controls, excellent presentation and interesting characters, MadWorld is just a great game, pure and simple. Add to that some multiplayer action, and you've got a long awaited reason for ‘real' gamers to blow the dust of their Wii.