Computer Graphics World

novel look as a backdrop to emphasize the violence, represented by red blood. e sec- ond key objective was to make the violence more comical than perverse—an outlet for the game's beautiful and boldly different universe, rather than an end in itself. While Nishikawa admits that the team drew inspiration from Frank Miller's Sin City, Inaba says they had a broader agenda of emulating the "American comic-book style," though borrowing from both Japa- nese and international comic-book artists to create a visual identity unique in the his- tory of gaming. "e project came from a desire to not only make something fun and attractive for the Wii, but to introduce a level of violence that would make it unique among titles for the platform, where violence has been taboo," says Inaba. "From the outset, we were not aiming explicitly for a graph- ic-novel aesthetic, but for a simpler, more elegant art style. To accomplish this, we immediately chose a black-and-white art style. We were also intent on heavily styliz- ing the violence, making it humorous with cartoonish characters, rather than nauseat- ing. at was important to us." When asked if the hardware limitations of the Wii led in any way to the stripped- down simplicity of the graphics, Inaba is quick to protest. "Absolutely not. We wanted to create a powerful visual impact, a brand-new and wholly original art style," he says. "at was our mandate." Death Watch As outlandish as the violence is, it is moti- vated by an intriguing story line that cork- screws though a roller-coaster ride of twist and turns. In the game's back story, terror- ists, called e Organizers, have besieged the fictional Varrigan City, cutting off the island transportation and communications links to the rest of world. After releasing a virus upon the population, e Organiz- ers announce that any person who kills another will be inoculated with a vaccine, thus turning the city into the stage for the twisted game show Death Watch, complete with color commentators Howard "Buck- shot" Holmes and Kreese Kreeley calling all the action. As soon as Jack enters the game with the help of a sponsor named Agent XIII, e Organizers—led by the mysterious Noa—realize that Jack's mission is not merely to win, but to expose the secrets of Death Watch and bring down the nefari- ous cabal of high-powered politicians and pharmaceutical CEOs behind it. First, he tries to rescue the mayor's daughter trapped within the city, but when he finds her, she refuses to leave with him. Next, he saves a doctor named Leo, who was also trapped within the city but mysteri- ously managed to obtain the vaccine. e two become allies, and as Jack comes clos- er to unravelling the truth and becomes the darling of both viewers and advertisers alike, the organizers conclude that they must eliminate him from the game. In the final battle with reigning champ e Black Baron, Agent XIII reveals him- self as Lord Gesser, a powerful politician. He explains that Death Watch was created to quench mankind's thirst for blood and was orchestrated by a pharmaceutical com- pany named Springvale. e company lost billions of dollars in the last presidential election and saw the virus as a way to re- coup its losses. As it turns out, Leo's father was the head of Springvale Pharmaceuti- cals. And so the plot thickens. For Inaba, the plot was crucial. "We didn't want the violence to come easily to the player; we wanted it to be motivated by something deeper than mindless blood lust," he says. "In the end, we also wanted to give a message that says no to the violence. at's what we tasked our writer with." Inaba concedes that the plot is remi- niscent of e Running Man. "What was more important, from our very first script meeting, was to show the contrast between the people who have to fight and survive in this closed-off space, and the mad people who exist outside the violence, cheering it on, enjoying it as a TV program," he adds. "Also, with a game that's so relent- lessly exciting and frenetic—both visually and physically—we were afraid the player would become exhausted quickly, grow accustom or even bored with the pace of the action, and lose the motivation to play. To prevent this from happening, we needed a good story to keep their eyes on the game." MadWorld uses a black-and-white aesthetic in which the game's stylized violence plays out. While visually different, the look challenged the artists in maintaining visual clarity, particularly with the sweeping camera moves amid detailed imagery. June 2009 28 n n n n Gaming

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