It's rare to need a break from a game after only fifteen minutes of play time, but that's exactly what happened when I sat down to review MadWorld on the Nintendo Wii. The game can be incredibly numbing—the blood and the f-bombs, the killing and the maiming, and the unrelenting negativity of the game don't offer much in the way subtlety. The game takes place in a black-and-white world, where red splashes of blood are the only color. It can sometimes be hard to see what's going on, but you'll always know what to do: kill.

You play Jack, a swaggering killer who is sponsored by an unnamed company, represented in a voice over by a sinister character called XIII. Your job is to kill people in the most entertaining ways possible, for the viewers of the show you're participating in. This little bit of metagaming gives the ideas behind MadWorld a crazy sort of logic. You get points for your kills because your viewers are grading you. Rending someone with your chainsaw is good for a few points, but why not shove a signpost through them, and then throw them into a bed of spikes? Each level is filled with weapons and environmental threats; finding the best ways to slice and dice your way to big points is half the fun.

Title MadWorld Developer Platinum Games Publisher Sega Price $49.99 Platform Nintendo Wii

A few special interest groups—whose names I won't give publicity to by printing them here—are aghast at the very idea of MadWorld, claiming it hurts Nintendo's family-friendly image. That's absurd, because gaming consoles shouldn't have "images" any more than DVD players, but the hyper-violence and dark humor of MadWorld does seem rather out of place on the Wii. Luckily, the Wiimote and nunchuk are used very well, with a combination of slashes, movements, and button-presses controlling your attacks. The controls may be hard to master initially, but soon enough you'll be delivering some epically violent kills.

There are a number of surprises for fans who have been following the game since its announcement, none of which I'll divulge. Let's just say that you won't just be killing people, and some of the bosses are massive in size and detail.

There is something so compelling about the heavy black lines and lack of color that brings these characters to life; there is nothing out there right now that looks like MadWorld. People complain about the Wii's graphical power, and it can be hard to go back to Nintendo's console after you're used to your PS3 and 360, but this looks just as good as anything on the more powerful systems. This game proves that artistic vision is perfectly capable of making up for hardware shortcomings.

MadWorld isn't purely a brawler, as each level is filled with minigames that test your skills. You'll be hitting baddies with a baseball bat at a giant dartboard, or throwing enemies into the path of a passing train. You'll be knocking your opponents into a giant aircraft engine, red and dripping with their entrails. You don't have to play these diversions if you don't want to—each one is unlocked when you hit certain point milestones in each level—but you're missing a good bit of humor and nihilistic joy if you pass them by. Each one is introduced by the Black Baron, a charming pimp who speaks about his ladies in less than flattering terms, only to be killed in each minigame by a dominatrix, who then bows. Don't worry about the Baron though, he'll be back for the next one. Touches like this may not make sense, but all add to the flavor of the game.

The game is over in short order; dedicated players can run through it in one or two sittings. You can take on your friends in the minigames, and playing through the game at a higher difficulty level gives you reason to go back to the game. You'll likely miss things in your first play-through, giving you a reason to return. Besides, you'll miss the play-by-play announcers once you turn the game off. Sprinkled with four letter words and profane anecdotes, you'll want to make sure there are no kids in the room while playing. One story you'll hear while fighting a boss? Let's just say it involves a torn scrotum and a part of the anatomy "unraveling like a ball of yarn."

I frequently couldn't believe what I was hearing or seeing, and there were more than a few jaw-dropping moments of violence or surprise while playing the game. This was a tough game to grind for a review—you'll do much better to play it in smaller chunks—but it's a title that will stay with me for a long time. Getting a game like this made at all, much less on the Wii, seems almost like a cosmic joke. MadWorld looks and feels like something fresh and new, even if it appeals to our basest feelings. This is the reason that Sega is such an inconsistent publisher: it's lazy enough to release something as misguided as Sonic Unleashed, but brave enough to bring MadWorld to the Nintendo Wii. Gaming is better for it, although you'll likely be hearing about the game on the local news soon enough.