Why MadWorld for Wii Didn't Sell as Well as Resident Evil 4

The Nintendo Wii is thought of as a very family-friendly console. However, there are a few mature-rated games out there for the console that Mario built. In general, mature games have found tough sledding on the Wii, but there are a few games that have sold well. Resident Evil 4 is the king of the mature games for the Wii, selling well over 2 million copies.

The excellent sales of Resident Evil 4 are even more remarkable when you consider that the game was a port of a Gamecube game (with some added content). The game does everything right: It has excellent controls, superb graphics, an engrossing story, and memorable enemies.

Now let's consider MadWorld for Wii. It is far more stylized, opting for a black-and-white-comic-book look for its graphics. This actually works pretty well, with the one drawback being that it can be difficult at times to get a good sense of what is and is not around you. The action is first rate, incorporating the Wiimote and nunchuk to perform a variety of attacks and special moves. The story is also interesting, filled with memorable characters including the one you play (Jack).

So why then has MadWorld not sold nearly as well as Resident Evil 4 on the Wii? I think the answer lies in the approach the developers took to the game. While Resident Evil 4 deals with adult characters behaving as adults, MadWorld incorporates annoying announcers who talk like preteens trying to impress their high school friends.

Announcers in video games are always a risk, but after about the 100th bathroom humor joke or the 1,000th time you hear the word "rhymes with truck"-tard, you realize that the developers were not aiming at adult gamers. They were aiming at 18-20 year olds who still think it's funny to talk about diarrhea.

Rule number one for making a mature video game should be that you set an adult tone. Granted, part of MadWorld's charm is its over-the-top violence, but even over-the-top can be handled in an adult manner. In this case, Sega should have dumped the announcers and focused more on giving voice parts to the enemies Jack fights.

Another drawback to the game is the soundtrack. Soundtracks have the potential to lift a game to another level if done well. However, MadWorld suffers from grating, rapping, utterly annoying songs that only make the player wish language had never been invented. An instrumental soundtrack would have been the way to go here.

To summarize, MadWorld is a great game that could have been an awesome game if it had set a more adult tone. If there is a sequel to this game, here's hoping they go with something a little less juvenile.

Sources:

http://www.destructoid.com/resident-evil-4-wii-sales-edge-out-gamecube-version-142125.phtml