Vocal Music in Games: MadWorld

In a continuing effort to reveal my poor tastes in not only games but music, I present the second entry in my series highlighting vocal music in videogames. 

When people think of the Wii they tend to imagine a family friendly motion sensitive casual gaming experience filled with the likes of Mario and other Nintendo mascots.  The ultra-violent and ultra-stylish MadWorld from Platinum Games is definitely as departure from traditional Wii fare.  For those unfamiliar with the game, MadWorld puts players in control of Jack, a bad dude with a chainsaw, as he is forced to compete in a game/reality show that puts contestants in a series of violent struggles and challenges.  Think Smash TV but instead of gameplay reminiscent of Robotron it borrows more from the fast paced style oriented beat ‘em ups and hack and slashers of the past decade.  Couple this rather low brow and base concept with a high contrast black and white presentation and you have yourself a fun blood filled romp of an artsy game.

Most of the games I intend to highlight in these features possess only one vocal song on their entire soundtrack, which naturally makes that song stick out more.  MadWorld is quite the oddity then, because it’s chock full of vocal tracks, as in every song has lyrics.  This musical departure from the norm infuses a sense of energy into the game to go with the homicidal tendencies of the main character, Jack.  It’s hard not to enjoy the stress relieving stylish virtual murdering of dudes when your actions are accompanied by the very descriptive lyrics of Ox, Doujah Raze, S.O.U.L. Purpose, Bandy Leggz, Wordsmith, Optimus, and Sick YG.  “It’s a Mad World” exemplifies the musical stylings of the title as it concisely delivers a summary of what you can expect from the game.

Lyrics:

No time to waste, I'm on a death watch.Wipin' out the enemy is my next thought. 10K bounty, thoughts not cloudy. Chainsaw make ya brains raw, don't doubt me. Put your life on the line to survive. This game of death, you must thrive. Stay clear because the world is mine. And the right fist backs every word in my lines. Attack on sight - Red, Black, White. Is all that is needed. Delivering a beating. Face all bleeding, you're no longer breathing.Stop sign through your eye, life is depleting. Call me a heathen, this mad world is feeding. My appetite for destruction and my reasonIs to last, ya feeling my drift? If not, you can feel your chest cavity split.
It's a mad world. Better watch ya step. It's a mad world. Now take your last breath.
No one can be trusted, get your face busted. The result is a fatal concussion. Organ combustion, metal spike thrusting. Through your back, Jack has no time for discussion. Spike bat busting, man darts gushing. Through your flesh, it's a mess while I'm pushing.Your body in the trash can. Who will be the last man? Ask me, I'll reply Jack while I'm bashing your head in. Homicide veteran. Psycho. If you were me then you'd might go crazy. Looney. Schizo. Better yet, insane. Now I must come and cause pain. The price on my brain is at 10,000 dollars. Don't let the chainsaw stop ya. I slice through similar to a surgeon. This is my world and I'm still here lurking.
It's a mad world. Better watch ya step. It's a mad world. Now take your last breath.

No time to waste, I'm on a death watch. Wipin' out the enemy is my next thought. 10K bounty, thoughts not cloudy. Chainsaw make ya brains raw, don't doubt me. Put your life on the line to survive. This game of death, you must thrive. Stay clear because the world is mine. And the right fist backs every word in my lines. Attack on sight - Red, Black, White. Is all that is needed. Delivering a beating. Face all bleeding, you're no longer breathing. Stop sign through your eye, life is depleting. Call me a heathen, this mad world is feeding. My appetite for destruction and my reason is to last, ya feeling my drift? If not, you can feel your chest cavity split.
It's a mad world.Better watch ya step. It's a mad world.

Why I stopped playing Skyward Sword

[Note from Jake: Welcoming the newest Capital Wasteland writer to the fold, James Cameron!]

Mechanics are the most important part of any game, video or otherwise.  Without them, you have nothing.  Mechanics are what bind games together in series, in genres, in fanbases.  The rage at Dead Space becoming Gears of War by way of Resident Evil is the rage of one game losing what makes it really special--the mechanics.  This is why I can honestly say after two hours of playing it: I really, really wish The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was just a rehash.

A bit of a preface: I'm a fan of the mainline Zelda games, and I've enjoyed most of the older Game Boy spinoffs.  With the switch to 3D, Zelda became one of the franchises to properly manage the transition of major game mechanics into a widely different format.  Ocarina of Time, for all the hype, still remains as a golden example of a way to "handle" 3D.  With Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker, the Zelda series further refined Ocarina combat, exploration, and puzzles into an extremely polished system.  Twilight Princess, for better or for worse, was clearly a GameCube game ported to the Wii, and couldn't really be said to properly transition the mechanics from simple 3D to motion-controlled 3D. With Skyward Sword, we could finally see how Nintendo would manage it. In a word? 

Poorly.

And what was so strange wasn't that motion controls were an illegitimate control scheme (though I guess there are still segments of the gaming community that don't view the Wii as a worthwhile console).  It was the "under the hood"  changes that utterly remade the game. Even now, I'm still not convinced Skyward Sword is a Zelda game.  Maybe I'm just showing my "gamer generation card;" I'm sure there are fans of the Zelda series who felt the transition to 3D was poorly handled. But for now, I'd like to examine just what went wrong.