Platinum Games: MadWorld eyes-on, first screens & trailer

by Christopher Grant { May 15th 2008 at 1:00PM }

click to enlarge

MadWorld currently has the distinction of being the only Platinum Games game that we've actually seen -- you can peep the debut trailer after the break and first-time director Shigenori Nishikawa (adorned with an incredible MadWorld shirt) demoed the game for us live at last night's Platinum Games event. First, he prefaced the gameplay with the following sentiment: "We didn't want to create a game that was depraved or perverse but rather featured comical, over-the-top violence so that anyone can enjoy it." So think less Manhunt 2 and more No More Heroes.

In fact, Nishikawa repeated this mantra throughout his demo, after every scene of grisly violence, he'd remark about how "lighthearted" the game was. And every single time, the skeptical audience laughed at (with?) his enthusiasm. We begin the demo by meeting Jack, the protagonist, set in a black-and-white world accentuated with flourishes of red blood. He begins tangling with enemies, throwing them into the spiked walls (sometimes over and over and over), tossing them into dumpsters only to have the lids sever their bodies at the torso, or shoving a street sign through their face, then dragging them around. Most notably perhaps is the chainsaw attached to Jack's arm ("everyone loves chainsaws," Nishikawa reminds us). With one swift flick of the Wiimote, you split enemies in half, right down the middle. After that: Man Darts. What?

Gallery: MadWorld

Pulling a lever at the end of the stage brings up an enormous bullseye, an accompanying "Man Darts" minigame and audio announcers. Enemies pour out the sides and you swing a bat at them, trying to place them (and their blood) onto the target. Again, we're reminded of the "comical" tone of the game.

He closes out by saying, "We thought Wii was missing this type of game in its lineup and think this will fit perfectly." And we're left wondering what sort of actual "game" MadWorld is (besides a violent one). It's an action game, to be sure, but what form will the levels take? How will you progress? How many moves do you have? After showing the trailer, he asked us, "Was it interesting?" It was definitely that.

MadWorld is scheduled for release in Q1 2009.

Tags: madworld, platinum-games, sega

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

samfish @ May 15th 2008 1:05PM

This game is going to kick SO much ass. ARGH! 2009 is so far away now!

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 2:11PM

I want to see more about it before I jump on the bandwagon. But so far, I'm digging it.

xFenixKnightx @ May 15th 2008 3:57PM

Samfish

New Sonic Unleashed info, looks and sounds amazing!
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/874/874202p1.html

Demaar @ May 15th 2008 9:10PM

Oh my God. No waiting involved for me, I'm right on the bandwagon this very moment :D

BananaBoat @ May 16th 2008 12:02AM

This is what I was looking for with Grand Theft Auto IV; Unapologetic ridiculously over the top violence. That's why I was sad when GTAIV delivered "realistic" (read: less fun) violence. This game (and Ninja Gaiden II) seem to be the remedy for what GTAIV was lacking in that department. I just hope this game has a flamethrower! =P

nastysquar3d @ May 15th 2008 1:07PM

I'm looking forward to this game.

Clover used to make great games, I hope the quality trickles down into this title.

D_Average @ May 15th 2008 2:28PM

I'm still working through Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 that I recently picked up, they're awesome! Can't wait for this one.

Eric Strunk @ May 15th 2008 1:07PM

i'd buy a Wii for this.

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread) @ May 15th 2008 4:00PM

your avatar is very disturbing for some reason.....

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 15th 2008 6:23PM

It's like interracial monkey sex.

Princess Skittles @ May 15th 2008 1:10PM

This and Mikami's game are going to humiliate all other third party developers making games on the Wii in a big, bad way.

Noshino @ May 15th 2008 1:15PM

uh...there is only 1 game coming to the Wii...the other 2 are going to DS, PS3, and 360...the fourth game, Mikami's, other than the fact that Mikami is working on it, there is no more information about it...

Princess Skittles @ May 15th 2008 1:30PM

Mikami is a noted Nintendo fan and he already stated his game has a small development team. It will more than likely be Wii, but TECHNICALLY it has not been stated. Apparently he also really, really dislikes Sony for what it's worth (hey maybe he could be a Joystiq commenter with those traits!)

samfish @ May 15th 2008 1:34PM

There's a good chance, given Mikami's hatred of all things Sony, that the 4th game will land on the Wii, though.
He said in an interview once something to the extent of that if he wants to make a game with a focus on gameplay, he'd go for the Wii. If he wanted to tell a story with realistic visuals, it'd be 360.
(I can't find the quote but I swear it's floating around in one of the Platinum Games threads on Neogaf somewhere...)

Mikami also says he team is smaller and lacking in numbers, which goes COULD suggest a Wii title.

So just pulling percentages from my buttox, I'd say the Mikami game has a 60% chance of ending up on the Wii and 40% on the 360.

Personally I don't care what platform is lands on at this point, as I'm buying whatever system it lands on.

Noshino @ May 15th 2008 1:58PM

I apologize, I wasn't aware of those facts (although I do know that he was utterly upset about RE4 going multiplatform) but the fact that 2 out of the 3 (well, 3 out of 3 if you count the VJ port) games made by Clover were developed on the PS2 made me think otherwise...

Still, like samfish said, it doesn't matter which console these games are in!

BPM [SSBB: 5026 4120 1186] @ May 15th 2008 3:37PM

Stuff like platforms being developed on is usually decided by the publisher, not the developer, since they're the ones who (usually) provide the budget.

Doesn't matter how much Shinji Mikami likes Nintendo and hates Sony, if his publisher (in the case of Capcom's Clover games) says he has to make a PS2 game, he has to.

Shagittarius @ May 15th 2008 1:23PM

Great more kiddie titles.

Taco_Hell @ May 15th 2008 1:35PM

Shagi, that better be sarcastic otherwise, this will be the best example of fanboyism.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 15th 2008 2:09PM

.....

I'm just going to assume that that was a horrible attempt at sarcasm.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 2:12PM

You know, if it was anyone BUT shags who made the comment, he would be three hearted right now for being a witty attempt at sarcasm...

samfish @ May 15th 2008 2:19PM

*I* plus'd him.

Don't worry, Shagi! SAMFISH still loves you!

wscbrown @ May 15th 2008 1:26PM

As "Sin-City" stylized as this is... there isn't very much about this that seems "light-hearted" or "comical" with the violence.

Don't get me wrong, the severed torsos and chainsaw fatalities don't bother me... but the fact that this is on the wii, and he's trying to justify it as some sort of family friendly game is contradictory to game itself.

This seems very much like a day 1 purchase for me, though... perhaps it will be for the wii what GTAIV is for PS3 and the 360?

FOXHOUND @ May 15th 2008 1:25PM

Yes. As the article mentions by quote; the Wii is missing 'this' type of game.

-refrains from any further comment; just nods-

CJLopez @ May 15th 2008 5:33PM

Nods

No more Heroes was AWESOME, but this one... will make it appear as a little kid game!!!!

Mike @ May 15th 2008 1:26PM

Wow, sure sounds comical and lighthearted. I'm sure those qualities will really hit home with your average Wii user, too. By all means, make a game that is incredibly violent and gory, but don't try to label it as "lighthearted" and "comical" just because the it's so over the top. There's a huge difference between comic violence and shoving a road sign through someones face. This is the type of game designer that perpetuates bad stereotypes for gamers.

Sidepocket @ May 15th 2008 8:18PM

You never saw Monty Python have you?

bowchikabowwow @ May 15th 2008 1:29PM

Does anyone notice the similarities to Gears? Mad World was the song on the commercial, and the chainsaw on the logo come to mind.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 2:08PM

Why you're absolutely correct... The game being titled after a five year old song Microsoft licensed for the Gears of War commercial in conjunction with these new fangled devices known as "chain saws" which haven't been seen in Mangas at all or even featured heavily as bizarre weaponry in things like Samurai 7, Zombie Powder, or Full Metal Panic at all are clearly a Microsoft invention. And let's not forget trying to recreate a manga look with stark greyscale imagery or a palette which draws immediate parallels to comic experiments like Grendel: Black, White, and Red is a direct ripoff of Gears....

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 15th 2008 2:11PM

Ok. Wong you need to shut the fuck up and calm down. Seriously for the past week you've been a bit bitchy.

I understand what he means though. No one's saying anything that this game is a rip off of Gears.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 2:15PM

Vegeta... You might need a Nyko Recharge Station for your sarcasm meter.

I don't see how any parallels can be made to Gears. Sorry, not seeing it. So I laid the sarcasm down heavy. When Fernando showed me this trailer last night, I wasn't even thinking No More Heroes or Sin City. I was thinking Min-Woo Hyung. Seriously, this game looks like a breathing Manga... and that's what has me hyped.

xFenixKnightx @ May 15th 2008 2:16PM

Fidlious

Was that even necessary? Fuck! Not even Noshino burned me that bad when I brought this up a couple days ago,lol. Do you really hate Gears THAT much buddy? It IS on PC ya know...

Calm your ass down and let someone ask an actually not-so-stupid question here.

xFenixKnightx @ May 15th 2008 2:18PM

Vegeta beat me to it. +1

Zsavior @ May 15th 2008 3:03PM

I'm sorry But Fids comment was hilarious, from people who read manga, and comics it sometimes gets underneath our skin when somebody sees two things and compares it to something else. Because the minute that happens, people stop looking at the game individual on its merits and start trying to compare everything to the other game.

While it wasn't a bad question seeing two pieces of a picture shouldn't automatically create a comparison to another whole game. You have no idea how many gamers I have come across that saw three seconds of Warhammer online and yelled WOW clone, even after you try to explain games workshop was at it first. Fid attacked harshly but I can see why, and I don't think he was wrong, just explosive in his retort.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 3:11PM

I don't even think I attacked. In my mind, it was in a very sarcastic tone and I laid it down heavily.

Roto13 @ May 15th 2008 1:34PM

""We thought Wii was missing this type of game in its lineup and think this will fit perfectly.""

It sounds very similar in tone and crazy-ass violence to No More Heroes, though. I love No More Heroes. And Clover.

Bring it on.

Ironhide @ May 15th 2008 1:35PM

Wow. With this style you could seriously invision a Sin City game or at least a Frank Miller look. Hell, a comic book style would be very possible.

David @ May 15th 2008 2:04PM

Great visual style! The graphics look great. I love it how hardware limitations bring out the artistic side of developers in order to make their games stand-out. It seems every generation we are promised ultra-realistic graphics but the games that use an "artistic" style tend to be recognised as the games having the best graphics.

It happened with the ps2. The games that many people said pushed the system's graphics more than other were the Jak n Daxter and Ratchet n Clanks series. Okami and Shadow of the Colossus also did the same thing. Right now Littlebigplanet looks amazing and the new Banjo game seems to be pushing the 360 to new heights.

It just goes to show that devs shouldn't focus so much in creating super realistic looking games and instead create a distinct visual style that takes full advantage of each system's hardware.

hydralisk456 @ May 15th 2008 2:42PM

+1 for both a well stated argument and Cowboy Bebop avatar.

David @ May 15th 2008 3:03PM

hahaha thanks! :)

JRM @ May 15th 2008 5:16PM

If that's the case, then it counts out every game released by EA.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 15th 2008 6:30PM

I agree with everything until the Banjo part. Aside from Fernando, I think I'm the only one thoroughly unimpressed. The building vehicles part is cool but the world and levels looks so empty and barren. It seems like while Mario and Ratchet took the approach to not only increasing the size of their worlds and populating them better, Rare just made them larger, more shit to collect, and kept the world just as empty as it's N64 days.

Just my opinion though.

hydralisk456 @ May 15th 2008 6:40PM

I'm with you on that Mr. Wong, I loved BK and BT and even the side-story on the GBA but it's hard to get hyped for Nuts and Bolts. Maybe it's because I was expecting a true Banjo-Threeie and ended up getting some vehicle building Little Big Planet sort of thing but whatever the reason I just don't look forward to playing it.

the_insider @ May 15th 2008 11:30PM

Yo Fiddy, if you watch the dev interviews with the guys from Rare you will notice that they say they toned DOWN the collecting a lot as they thought this to be tedious. Also they mention having to scale up the worlds in order to accomodate planes, boats, other vehicles.

Not trying to defend the game or anything, personally while I think it has some nice visual qualities my dis-likes outweight my likes, just pointing out some info that's out there.