MadWorld is stylized game, consisting of mainly three colors – if you haven’t guessed already. Taking the look from Sin City, MadWorld does it extremely well. The graphical presentation is nice, smooth and creamy; or rather, nice to look at as the spectrum is actually really fitting for the game. The game does a good job making the world, well Mad, as it seems to a broken down trash heap of no humanity left. The level design sports good variety as no two levels looks the same, giving out nice atmosphere to the bloodshed that is all around you.

The game itself is genuinely fun, very fun in fact. Using the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck to a good extent. Using the A and B buttons to attack and actual movements to finish off people is a splendid combination, like No More Heroes. The game does rely a lot on the motion of the Wii Remote, but to a good extent – as in, not completely revolving around the motion. The game controls well but the only complaint is that at some points in the game, it will not completely register some movements, or it may register any movement. There are some Quick Time Events in the game which does a good job of not disrupting the action and continues the flow, as the action sequence is a very beautiful sight to see every time.

The game play itself can be described as a classic beat-em up, except with more blood. Though simply pounding on enemies is not where all the fun is; it’s exactly how you kill your enemies is the fun part. There are many different ways to kill your enemies, it never loses it touch. Why beat the crap out of someone when you can throw them on a wall spikes? Or into a grinder? How about slamming a pole through their face and then grind them against a saw? There are many possibilities and combinations on how to finish off your enemies, it never gets old. Anyone who has played God Hand for the PS2 will feel at home as you can tell it has the Clover touch to it, even some references here and there.

The enemies seemed varied but at the same time the same. There the weak guys, the strong guys, and then mid-bosses. First their street punks then ninjas then aliens, so on… just reskins, except the zombies which act a bit differently as well. Small minor complaint but it never really bothered me when dismembering them. The great thing is that all the bosses are all different and are very fun. Each stage will have a different boss with a different strategy to take them down.

Though I usually not fond of rap/hip-hop, I thought the soundtrack of the game went really well with the style. I tend to like it old school and the soundtrack takes me back and can’t wait till the soundtrack actually comes out. That’s saying something since all I listen to is metal.

The story itself is nothing too spectacular but it binds it all together. A city has been taken over by terrorist, released a virus, and made a game show called DeathWatch. The protagonist, Jack, enters the games as a bounty hunter and his own personal reasons. The game story gives it a definite dark feeling and a bit sense of mystery throughout. There’s no real character development and all that jazz but they are hilarious. The announcers throughout the game that describe your every action kept me laughing throughout the game. Though at times they will just repeat themselves depending on what you did, I don’t really mind hearing it a couple more times. The announcers really give the game a feeling that you are part of the DeathWatch experience. Nothing else much to say about the story itself, but the dialogue from the announcers makes up for all of it.

Of course for those of you who are in Euroland, some of those countries over there might be saying bad things about all the violence, saying the game isn’t meant for a “family” console. There is indeed a lot of violence, but there was also a lot of violence when I watched Tom & Jerry or Looney Toons when I was a kid. The only difference is the blood as the violence in this game is way too over the top, I doubt kids are going to shove streets signs up another’s asshole. It’s game perfect for the “family” console, after all, the dads, the moms, the teenagers may want something else than colorful rainbows farting lollipops doing the same thing over and over again.

Overall, the game is fantastic and if you’re a fan of beat-em ups and over the top violence, you should definitely get this. I know some of us are having a bit of buyer’s remorse since getting our Wii’s but I can assure you that MadWorld will make it worthwhile, or at least dampen it a bit.

A few days ago the demo for Yakuza 3 (Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 in Japan) came out on Japanese PSN. By cheating the system I downloaded the Japanese demo due to being a big fan of the Yakuza series. The demo has some flaws.

I had to download the demo twice, at first the demo had gigantic load times, but the second time I downloaded it and installed it everything went very smoothly.

Oh boy has the game been improved. First of all, when navigating through the town of Kamuro-cho you are no longer bound by fixed perspectives, you have full camera control all the time. Second of all, battles occur without any screen transition, instead all the pedestrians on the street run away from the place you will fight in and line themselves around the street ends to watch the fight. The game also has a wast assortment of mini games that are actually fun. Also the difficulty level of the combat has been increased, atleast when facing story enemies. Also there are more quicktime events in combat, some of which are pretty impressive. The demo itself is pretty long for a demo, lasting out for around 25 minutes if you don`t screw around.

There also was some plot but I barely understood it. Anyway, for those of you who are impatient, here`s a small walkthrough for the demo.

- Enter the club Stardust (blue door right next to where you start).

-Watch cutscene, then fight the yakuzas, the battle ends when you defeat the yakuza in the blue suit with the katana.

-Defeat the Yakuzas, watch cutscene

-Exit Stardust and head for the two pink triangles marked on your map while avoiding the police until you reach an alleyway. Watch the cutscene.

-Fight the foreigners in black suits, but be careful of the bigger one, he has some stronger moves and more health.

Congratulations, you have beaten the Yakuza 3 demo.

Oh yeah, I will defenately import this game along with Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan next month, expect my reviews sometime next month or the month after that. Also sorry I had no screenshots.

More rumor-mongering coming from IGN, and this time the word on the vine concerns that of SEGA of America. It seems that the current economic crunch is affecting even the American branch of SEGA, with the company rumored to have laid off at least 30 employees to cut costs. What particular department in SOA that’s getting their resources slashed is something we don’t know yet, what with the company keeping mum on this issue – but yeah. They might be laying off people as we speak.

IGN cites an unnamed source inside SEGA itself.

Rumors are rumors, and sometimes they’re nothing but. However, we wouldn’t really be surprised if this particular bit of news turns out to be true, what with Free Radical going under, Sony and Microsoft doing the same workforce-demoralizing tactics and so on. We just hope that the crew making up SONIC Team (bless their hearts) gets their offices locked down and all their shit boxed up nice and tight in the company parking lot.

Allow me to fill you in. Around 2006 a blogger came along with the name jpeg appeared, making wild claims about the inner workings of SEGA and the turblant relationship they had with Sonic Team. But as with anything on the internet, jpeg was largely ignored and passed off as a fraud who just wanted some attention.

In 2007 however, shit got real and he talked about NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (You know, that piss awful sequel to the game we all loved.) stating he had little-to-no faith in the game although he knew Sonic Team were giving it their darndest. He even claimed to know and work with Sonic Team on a personal/professional level. He even said that NIGHTS 2 was planned to be released on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as they were the only consoles that could realise Iizuka-san’s vision. A month later however, jpeg decided it was for the best to delete all of his blog posts and never return. Unfortunately for him, the internet has a memory larger than every elephant ever concieved. A forum user by the name of FlashTHD recovered an archived entry by jpeg, telling the harrowed journey Sonic Team have had to take, and how they became trapped within their own brand. It is a truly interesting tale that sheds a little bit more light on the real inner workings of the game industry, and shows us that things don’t actually run on fairy-dust and rainbows. (I at least thought they did.)

Fast forward to 2008 and everyone wondered what does this all mean? How can we really believe him? Maybe he was just lucky at guessing. That is, until Sonic Team crapped out their most recent Sonic game and everyone went back to looking at jpeg, or should I say looking for jpeg considering he left this interesting tidbit of information.

“Sonic Team are a relic from a past age who have overstayed their welcome. For the same marketing reasons that their name was initially kept (and has since backfired) they should be dissolved – it may already be too late for NiGHTS (and I really hope it isn’t and they manage to turn it around, which with Iizuka-san’s passion for the project is a possibility), but for the good of the company’s image; for the future of Sega’s other prestigious IPs and lastly for its iconic mascot it needs to be done… before they release another Sonic game with a transforming Evil ‘Night’ Sonic who looks like a werewolf and can stretch his arms out Dhalsim-style. It will happen, mark my words.“

Over a year before anyone even thought of a werehog, jpeg here handed us the future on a platter. And had he not deleted his blog posts, he would have been in violation of his NDA agreement which would have more likely than not resulted in him being fired and sued.

After confirming he was real, it was childs play to head back to the real BossRush blog and playing a game of internet detective with the name ‘Ben Andac’. This uncovered that he had been working in the past for SEGA Europe and even works as a Games Consultant (Strange title, but no reason to doubt.) for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, and currently writes for a gaming blog titled Idle Thumbs.

‘So!’, I hear you cry. ‘What does any of this have to do with anything?’. Well, for those of you that have been wondering, and even for those of you that hadn’t, it shows and proves that the one thing that managed to kill Sonic Team, was Sonic.

Thanks to TSSZ.

The story begins with your average FBI agent named Ethan Thomas who has been after a mass serial killer known as “The Match Maker”. While on duty, Ethan encounters The Match Maker, who throws Ethan out of a three-story window. Later that night Ethan wakes up at his apartment not knowing what has happened. Still weak from the fall, Ethan is told, by a man named “Vanhorn” that he has been framed for the death of his partner. He also gives Ethan information about his past and how it connects with the total chaos within the city.

The has you running from the cops and abandoning all connections with the FBI while retracing your steps in a corrupt city filled with cracked out civilians. When I said that this game is scary, I meant scary as in the levels are based off of real buildings and environments.  Condemned has a little bit of every thing from investigating crime scenes, crisp next gen graphics that are stunning, and acquiring new weapons like the stun gun; which adds a cool feature that I’m calling the crack and stack system, where you are able to finish off the enemy but preforming lethal blows that will have your stomach turning. One of the main highlights of Condemned is the stare and tear engine which will leave you asking yourself, “Did i really see that?”

Another major pro to the game is that almost every item can be used as a weapon, such as a 2×4 on the ground with nails protruding from it. You’ll also find other useful weapons such as a sledge hammer, crowbar, and fire axe. Now don’t get me wrong there are ranged weapons – I mean, you can’t be an ex-cop and not own a gun or five. Now that we are on the subject of gun play, I must start off by saying that it’s almost flawless. In combat it is very important to have the melee and ranged fighting flow together smoothly and that’s exactly what Sega has done with this game. At one point in the game you are searching a rundown mannequin store. As if that wasn’t creepy enough during the level you will catch tiny glimpses of the mannequins moving, I know right? Farther through the level you reach a part where the mannequins appear behind you every time you turn away!

Condemned was more or less pushed to the side as the 360 got older, mostly because of the releases of Halo 3 and Gears of War. However, Condemned has garnered a cult following by gamers everywhere.

Ok so in all fairness Condemned didn’t really do anything that we haven’t seen before, but not saying that that’s a bad thing. Bringing back the basics for a good solid first person shooter is just what needed to be done, and Sega hit it right on the money. All in all I’ll leave with this: if you are looking for an affordable game of great qualities, then go to your game store and join the horde of fans that have been hypnotized by the intriguing and heart stopping story of Ethan Thomas.