Guide Written by: Brandon "Death Press" Cackowski-Schnell

Welcome to Varrigan City, home to countless visual wonders and an eager and friendly population hell bent on killing you. Take some time to enjoy our public transportation system, or spend some time in Asian Town. Maybe tour a medieval castle before visiting our top secret military base and our fun as heck Casino Land. There's plenty to do in Varrigan City as long as what you want to do is brutalize people with your bare hands, and maybe your chainsaw. GameShark.com is here to help you navigate Jack to the top of the DeathWatch rankings. In this guide you'll get the lay of all of the lands as well as boss strategies and tips for getting you on your merry way with a minimum of repetition.

Game Basics

MadWorld is split up into five areas: Varrigan City, Asian Town, Mad Castle, Area 66 and Casino Land. Each area is then divided up into smaller areas, all with a boss at the end, or sometimes consisting of only a boss. For the areas with a boss at the end, Jack will have to score points by killing foes until he has scored enough points to unlock the boss battle. Along the way his scoring will unlock different weapons, healing items, extra lives and sub-bosses to kill for fun and points. If Jack loses all of his lives, either during the level or during the boss fight, it's back to the beginning with him and the fun starts all over again. Luckily there are plenty of healing items to be found throughout most levels, and the game won't let you pick them up unless you need them, so keeping a watchful eye for Happy Pills can mean the difference between going into a boss fight with all of your lives, or just one. The game will automatically save after every boss, and only after every boss, so don't plan on exiting out until you've dispatched the boss of whatever level you're on.

Combat Basics

Here's a quick rundown of what buttons do what when controlling Jack:

C-stick - move Jack

Double c-stick forward - run

Shake Nunchuck - back flip dodge

C button - center camera

Hold C button - lock onto nearest enemy

Z button - jump

A button - fist attack, hold to lift item when prompted, hold to grab enemy

B button - rev chainsaw

Wiimote horizontal swipe - backfist, throw when holding item or enemy

Wiimote vertical swipe - uppercut, throw when holding item or enemy

D-pad up - pick up item

D-pad left/right - switch between picked up weapon and chainsaw

- button - pause and view mini-map

In addition to these basic moves, Jack has some more advanced moves at his disposal

Headbutt - grab enemy with A, flick Nunchuck forward, headbutting once stuns, multiple times kills

B + horizontal Wiimote swipe - horizontal chainsaw swipe

B + vertical Wiimote swpie - vertical chainsaw swipe

Z + A - jumping punch

Z + B - jumping chainsaw attack

Run + A - running shoulder charge

Dodge + A - dodge attack

Throw item/enemy - hold A to grab then vertical or horizontal Wiimote swipe

Finish move - hold A or B when prompted with the onscreen Finish icon

A note on dodging. During normal combat, executing a dodge move will cause Jack to back flip away from an enemy however certain enemies have charging attacks and if you dodge right before the enemy hits Jack, Jack will perform a slow motion sideways roll that will then put him in perfect position to mess dudes up. The timing can be tricky to pick up, but it's worth taking your lumps to learn the move, especially for some of the boss battles. In addition to these moves, each weapon has it's own set of special moves, so take a moment to play around with the weapons as you pick them up to maximize your killing. We'll discuss some of the moves as the weapons are unlocked but we're sure you can find some more if you try. Weapons will break when used too much, so try and balance out blood lust with longevity. The game also uses a variety of gestures based on how you're killing someone. For example, if you stun someone and then walk them over to a Rose Bush (a spiked wall), the screen will prompt you to make a vertical swipe with the Wiimote. Do it once and Jack will stick his enemy on the spikes. Do it multiple times and Jack will repeatedly slam his foe into the spikes culminating in a grand slam.

Power Struggles

Normal enemies will never initiate a Power Struggle, however sub-bosses and bosses will and if you want to dispatch them as quickly as possible you want to be on the lookout for these moves. Whenever you are prompted for a vertical Wiimote swipe, that's your cue to make the gesture and initiate a Power Struggle. Once the struggle is initiated, follow the on screen gesture prompts to win the struggle and do a ton of damage to your opponent. Just make sure you're not flailing around like a crazy person when fighting the sub-bosses and the bosses so that you're in prime position to initiate a Power Struggle.

Scoring

MadWorld is all about the points. Your eventual goal is to score enough points to unlock the boss battle; however there are plenty of useful items in the form of weapons, healing items and extra lives to be unlocked as your battle your way towards your scoring goal. Any time a new weapon or healing item is unlocked, check your mini-map to see where the item can be obtained. Your point values go up the more damage you do before killing your opponent so unless you're trapped in a corner and need to make a quick kill to survive, you should never take someone out simply by punching them or chainsawing them to death. Always, always, always look to increase your points by either slamming something over their head, or jamming signposts or other sharp objects into them and then, and only then, pick them up and throw them into a Rose Bush, or an electrified sign. As you progress through the game, enemies will still fight you as you start sticking things into them, however that's no excuse for paltry score totals.