I've lost count of the number of times I've heard the Wii described as a kiddy console with no mature games on it. You can sort of understand the reasoning when you look at the sheer number of god-awful children's games and cash-ins on the shelf of your average store, but it overlooks a number of great exclusives, from the wonderment of Super Mario Galaxy, the legendary battling of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the grandeur of The Legend of Zelda to the pick up and play fun of Boom Blox and the tactical genius of the Wii incarnation of Pro Evolution Soccer. Still, there's no arguing that the Wiimote has been more often used for grooming ponies and baking cakes than it has been for gory dismemberment, so some will be pleased to see the likes of House of the Dead Overkill, Manhunt 2 and now MadWorld doing their level best to forever tarnish the wholesome reputation of Nintendo's little white box.

In fact, MadWorld has been at the centre of quite a lot of controversy - and that's no wonder when you read a synopsis of what the game is all about. You take on the role of Jack, who is an accidental but gleeful participant in a gory reality TV show where contestants must kill each other in the most disgusting ways possible to work their way up the rankings. And while Jack's arm has a chainsaw attached (as well as, I assume, a bottle opener, nail file and corkscrew), simply separating an enemy's torso into two halves won't please the audience (and thus boost your score multiplier) as much as wrapping an enemy in a deflated tyre, thrusting a road sign through their head and then tossing them in front of an oncoming train. At this stage you might be thinking that the tabloids have got it right, but there's one major caveat: as well as it being ridiculously over the top and carrying a large, intimidating 18 certificate, the whole thing is delivered in a delightful cartoon book art style with a colour palette containing only three colours: black, white and viscous blood red - sort of like Sin City, only with the kind of outlandish plot that was probably sketched out on somebody's arm in biro before being transferred to the game design document.

You see, the developers have taken this wonderfully over the top, cartoony setting and tried to build an intriguing plot around it. Jack isn't just a contestant in the game y'see; he's an ex marine trying to rescue the Mayor's daughter. True, you don't find this out at first, but considering how disappointing this development is, I don't really consider it a spoiler - well, no more of a spoiler than trying to add layers of intrigue and mystery to what is essentially a 3D, extra-bloody cross between Manhunt and Streets of Rage.

So, how does the average level play out, aside from with more blood than your average abattoir? Well, with one eye on your score counter, you begin slaughtering the huge array of enemies that attack you. Each kill earns you some points but, as mentioned before, it's the arcade-style multipliers that not only stop the game from becoming hugely repetitive but also give it a sense of replayability - which is just as well, because the whole of the story could easily be ploughed through in five hours for the determined. When you reach a certain score then new things unlock - a weapon, a ludicrous killing challenge, and ultimately the end of level boss. Before I get on to your ranked opponents though, I should expand upon the challenges, because they play into the overly cartoon style that takes the grim edge off the game. "Pimps, players and pain purveyors", the cartoony Black Baron announces, before getting into the specifics of your current challenge - throwing enemies into a blender or using them as darts on a giant dartboard to up your multiplier. If the instructions weren't clear then the Black Baron is then used in a live demonstration by his leather-clad female assistant, putting more emphasis on this disturbingly base TV show.

You've got to hand it to Sega; they truly believe that variety is the spice of death, with everything from jet turbines to moving trains and spiked buses keeping the adrenalin pumping until you meet your next ranked competitor - the level's boss fight. The boss battles are not too far removed from No More Heroes, with each one using different attacking styles and harbouring weaknesses to be exploited, with an anatomically unlikely vampire seductress and a giant Frankenstein being amongst the number of other contestants that you need to take down in order to go from the low two hundreds to the number one killer on the show.

Not that there are over 200 levels or anything like - the game takes the significant shortcut of making each section advance you between five and one hundred ranking places. Each level could be shot through in around twenty minutes, assuming that you don't run out of lives and need to restart, which leads to the game's somewhat svelte size. Five hours might seem short and certainly makes MadWorld a likely candidate for a rental, but if you're the kind of high-score-loving fiend that the game is aimed at then there is plenty to keep you coming back for more. It's just a shame that the Wii doesn't have a leaderboard system like that of Xbox Live, because that would be perfect to keep you coming back for one more round of carnage.

It's fortunate therefore that the Wii controls hold up to repeat play and very rarely become a source of head-beating frustration, as they often do in other titles. You move around using the analogue stick on the nunchuck, lock on and jump with its buttons and use the Wiimote to attack. Shaking it causes a swipe, while pressing the A button carries out small punches. Additionally, a combination of these provides all kinds of context-sensitive actions, like throwing, stamping and forcing people into areas where people should not be forced in any civilised society.

The game isn't wholly without its problems, though; binding the B button (the one on the back of the Wiimote) to skip cut scenes meant that I accidentally missed several portions of the story thanks to resting the Wiimote on a surface, while the camera is a whole world of disaster at times, meaning that you have to wait for it to catch up if you try to run from an enemy and quickly turn to take them on again. And although a lot will be made about the dangers of making people act out gruesome murders with the controller previously used for less sordid acts, it's quite telling that the quick time events have to instruct you on how to carry out executions every time - it's hardly spontaneous. With that said, the Wii's controls work fine, even though there's no reason that this couldn't work on more powerful formats with more conventional controllers.

When it comes to the presentation of the game though, other then sharpening up a few of the edges and reducing the rare moments of slowdown, there's no way in which more advanced consoles could do better. The stylised comic book feel is matched by the limited colour palette (black, white and lashings of the red stuff), with sound effects written onto graphic panels ("Bang!", etc.). As a result, it's the best looking Wii game I've seen so far, even upscaled onto a big screen. There is a downside to this though: if you have a small TV then be prepared for not having a clue of what's going on. The text is small and the black and white colours can blend into a whole world of confusion, which can prove fatal in the brutal world that Jack occupies. The high quality sound won't be lost whatever your TV setup, though; John DiMaggio (Marcus Fenix from Gears of War and Bender from Futurama) and Greg Proops (Who's Line is it Anyway) provide a somewhat blue, wrestler-style commentary to accompany the onscreen carnage. If the game hadn't already guaranteed itself an 18 certificate then this would have been the deal breaker, with a seemingly non-stop onslaught of crass sexual references and swearwords littered around like they were determined to make up for lost time on the 'family console'. It's all very well done though and provides a suitably tasteless atmosphere for a TV show based on brutality, even when you're not paying attention to their actual words - something that's worth doing, considering how often some sound bytes are repeated.

A multiplayer mode is included but it's barely worth mentioning, a split screen affair where you play out some of the time-limited point scoring mini-games (human darts, using golf clubs to beat enemy's heads through hoops). The problem is, out of the context of the single player game, it's not something you're likely to revisit very often, if at all. If and when we see a sequel to MadWorld (and I sincerely hope we do), it would be a real improvement to have some genuine co-operative play, either split screen or online; that would make it feel even more like a spiritual successor to Streets of Rage.

MadWorld is bloodthirstily entertaining, even if it is incredibly short lived. Whether it's a rental or a purchase depends very much on your personality. If you're the kind of person who is more interested in reaching the end of a game rather than the multiplier-collecting journey in getting there then you might wonder what the fuss is about (aside from the obvious gore factor). If you regularly dip into arcade-style titles and love improving upon your high scores however, then MadWorld is an essential purchase, and if the Wii is your only console then this bloodbath may go some way to making up for the lack of adult games thus far. It should be emphasised that with this and Manhunt 2, the hunt for actually mature (as opposed to adult) games on the system continues unabated, but MadWorld is a visceral, brutal and exciting journey that will remain long in the memory once the story is over - a rush of blood to the head, as well as all over your screen.

Reviewed by Alan Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).