This has thus far, to the best of my knowledge, only been released for the Wii console, and the following is a review of said version. It is a beat'em-up about a television show(!) where gladiators take on one another in a championship. The visual style is unique to this medium(I believe) and comparable to that of Sin City, entirely in a stark, Noir-like B&W. The one exception? The countless gallons of red blood, and don't let the cover fool you, it isn't downbeat or censored. In fact, next to nothing in this is. From the brutal, gory and constant violence is completely over-the-top, through the sexualized females(I know that they're merely pixels, those chicks are still hawt) in this(seriously, even Amala has cleavage) to the running commentary(the one negative of which is that it repeats itself... and yes, you're not mistaken; one of them really is John Di Maggio, perhaps best known as Bender on Futurama, and here, he gets to say just about whatever you might guess that he wants, no matter how explicit and provocative), absolutely nothing comes off as watered down. With that said, this does feel the need to moralize over all the slaughter we take part in... I don't know, I guess they couldn't get away with it without a compromise. The House of the Dead: Overkill(and the rest of that series) didn't; I suppose it makes all the difference if they're undead. This is pretty short - a day or two, or four-five hours in recorded time, that is what it will take to defeat it. If you think about it, however, it has to be; the arcade approach would get old if not, and it doesn't, nor does it overstay its welcome. There is a little re-playability value, as getting through it unlocks a harder difficulty setting and 2 weapons. You can't really go back and do "much" better, as you have to get a certain score, and there's a time-limit, anyway. Yeah, you may prefer to stick with renting this. With that said, you should have the time of your life playing this. You rack up points by doing especially creative, humiliating and painful things to your foes(who are first and foremost victims; also, don't worry about quantity, they live by the Hollywood adage where opposing fighters wait for their turn and come at you one at a time, if not always), say, ramming a sign-post(or other long objects) through their head and a barrel(or similar) over their torso, and *then* take them out, in a nasty manner, and as the score gets higher, new things become available in the dozen or so small, simple and well-done levels(the locations are interesting enough), the last of them being the boss. You'll usually be picking up stuff, using it on them, wash, rinse, repeat. And you can grab 'em, head-butt them, toss them, smash them into spikes. For the genre, this has nice freedom, and they were smart enough to make stuff appear often enough for it not to seem limited. This does what these types of VGs have been missing since they debuted; at (plenty of) key points, you can trigger a nifty move by, when prompted to, moving, shaking or twirling the Wii-Mote and/or Nunchuk, giving you a really cool sense of being in the combat. The chainsaw(on your right arm!) is marvelous and effective, you can choose between horizontal or vertical swipes(by mimicking it with the Wii-Mote! No, it doesn't translate the exact move you make, then again, it's closer than any other I know of for this kind of thing), and yes, you can use it whenever you want, until it runs out of gas, and it recharges pretty fast. You can pick up and use mêlée instruments of death(that have different patterns of attacks), including dual knives, and you can put them away and store them, since they will wear down. Then there are boxes and such to throw(aim could use work), and you can swing staff-like things. You can use your surroundings to a great extent. You can Power Struggle(think crossing swords, and going for the upper hand), particularly against the ones you *need* to take a chunk out of the health bar of, and this is one of the places where you respond to directions about how and when to move the Wii-Mote and/or Nunchuk. When someone is a standing pulp and needs the last push to cease their habit of breathing, you can do Finishers(the icons could maybe be clearer, usually you don't realize if it was A or B before you press the correct one), where you destroy them in one out of several unforgettable ways. The camera is a third person perspective, but it will get you a superior angle on the massacre you inflict at all the right times. It is nearly always where it should be, you can reset it to straight behind you(allowing you to turn around swifter) at any time, and it comes with an immensely useful Target Lock, and that can be canceled easily, as well. The controls are intuitive, responsive and quickly mastered, and the dodge helps prevent a ton of possible frustration(not all). You get to drive a motorcycle a couple of times, and you can saw, spin(in select areas) or grip(and then hurl onto the road!) to make minced meat out of the other drivers. You can punch regularly, once or as a combo. The music is awesome, it really gets the adrenaline pumping, like the excellent, fun and addictive game-play. Sound is magnificent in general. Voice-acting is fantastic. The plot is clichéd, if perfectly tolerable and with a satisfying conclusion; story-telling is in comic book form. Graphics are stunning and don't hurt your eyes, if a few things that shouldn't be(fingers, snowflakes) are square. The lead character is your average bad-ass. Designs are impeccable. I recommend this to any fan of guilt-free entertainment. They clearly went out of their way to make this enjoyable. 9/10
