September 19, 2008 - I have good news for those hardcore gamers whose Wiis have been gathering dust as casual game after casual game continue to flood the poor waggle machine. Madworld is on its way, and this M rated beauty is as hardcore as it gets.

The plot of Madworld mirrors that of the classic 80’s action flick, The Running Man. You are essentially an unwilling participant in a futuristic bloodsport. It’s kill or be killed in this city of the damned, and you’ve got a wide variety of options at your disposal. In addition to an arm mounted, retractable chainsaw, nearly everything in the environment is useable to induce premature death. You can impale your enemies on signs, dunk them headfirst into flaming barrels, toss them into oncoming trains, and literally dozens of more options.

What’s best, the controls mirror your actions. Stabbing motions with the Wii-mote translate to stabbing motions on screen. Javelin tosses, aiming with the IR, and much more are all mirrored in your actions. This could very well be the game that makes you glad for a Wii-mote instead of a mouse and keyboard or standard controllers.

Those concerned about the power of the Wii to render realistic action need not worry here. Madworld is presented in a extremely stylised, black and white comic book style. The visual style mirrors that of Sin City, with black and white hand drawn style with red blood super imposed over the entire canvas. Madworld is easily the most artistically beautiful and jarring visual experience on the Wii yet. Completing the presentation is hilarious commentary by a pair of sports-like analysts. One of them even suspiciously sounds like John DiMaggio, better known as Bender in Futurama and Marcus Fenix from Gears of War.

Madworld is looking like an oasis of bloody fun in a desert of Wii mediocrity. At this point, it looks like we'll be waiting until early next year to get our hands on it.

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