To break up the action a bit, Madworld offers a few deviations from the formula that add some variety. Each level includes a Bloodbath Challenge, which tasks you with accomplishing a specific goal in set amount of time. These objectives include stuffing unwilling enemies into barrels, chucking hooligans into an enormous frying pan, jamming deadly bottles of soda pop down a frightened fiend’s throat, and using a golf club to knock severed heads through floating hoops. Jack will also occasionally hop on his bike for some Road Rash-style motorcycle chases. Nameless villains will pull up beside you as you travel, forcing you to introduce them to your chainsaw as you barrel down the highway. These sections are wisely placed, ensuring that you never get bored with the beat-em-up gameplay.

When working on the controls, the developers at Platinum Games wisely took a page out of the No More Heroes playbook by restricting motion control to chainsaw swipes, finishing moves, and special situations. Everything else is effortlessly done with a button press, and you will be able to master Jack’s most useful maneuvers in minutes. The finishers—which include swinging your nemesis by his feet into surrounding danger zones and delivering a chainsaw shot that begins in an enemy’s stomach and ends in his skull—are all intensely satisfying and a breeze to deliver using the simplistic on-screen Wii remote movements.

One look at any screenshot of Madworld will show you how striking the visual style is. Jack lives in a world of black and white that is occasionally disrupted by a flashing yellow indicator or a red explosion of blood. In motion, it looks like an interactive graphic novel is being animated in front of you, as every image that you see is richly detailed and carefully drawn to stunning effect. The only visual gaffe involves the game’s camera, which will sometimes provide you with a less than ideal view of the action.

The sound of the game mixes the unbearably gruesome with the cheerfully wacky. Everything is blatantly over-exaggerated, with each kill resulting in a bevy of cracks, rips, and gurgles spouting from your fallen opponent. The music is made up of a number of original rap tunes that talk about some of your actions and provide a solid background beat for your work. Also worth mentioning is the two-man commentary team that describes every kill to the DeathWatch audience viewing at home. The duo of Greg Proops and John DiMaggio can be downright hilarious at times, having plenty to say about each weapon, level, and boss that you encounter. Unfortunately, their chatter repeats fairly often, which ends up being the only blemish to the game’s audio.

Overall, Madworld is a bloody, creative, stylish, and savagely funny action title that paints a bright future for hardcore gaming on Nintendo’s family-friendly console. If you have spent the last two years complaining about a lack of mature games on the Wii, go buy Madworld. It is exactly what you have been waiting for.