Disclaimer
This review is based on plot, characterization, gameplay, level design, and secrets and unlockables. This review will try to be unbias as possible and my personal like or dislike of the game will not be reflected as I'll be discussing both good and bad points of said game in an organized fashion. I'll also briefly go over the DLC. This review was done on the X-Box 360 version. Thank you.
WARNING possible spoilers WARNING
So the plot of this game follows either Jack Caymen from Madworld or Leo an original character. Jack is a bounty hunter looking for Max, an agent from the local law enforcement gone rouge and insane, Jack is suppose to bring him alive, but Max killed Jack's only daughter so Jack isn't exactly happy about having to bring in Max alive. Leo is an agent from the same organization Max is from, and Max actually trained Leo and his team, however Leo has orders to kill Max but he wants to bring him in alive which puts Leo at odds with his comrades. Oh and this all takes place in run down towns and cities filled with mutants and illegal cyborgs and junk collectors. Each team gains their own leads on Max and follow them to the same locations and will either be at odds with each other or working together, but Jack and Leo are on polar opposite sides when it comes to the fate of Max their target but in the last story each of them work together to take down a more powerful enemy in the end which is a bit clique but it works out. There are details you will need to read up on however but the basics are all explained well here.
The mutants are seen more then some of the playable characters are. While each character plays different enough to notice, their parts in the story are often lacking. Jack, Blacker Baron, Matilda, Leo, Nikolai, Sasha, and Max have great points in the plot and a lot of character building. The other playable characters not so much. Big Bull has some decent parts, Rin Rin only appears as a fight for unknown reasons, then they show up as helpers to aid Jack. Zero is a ninja there to kill Jack. Durga is an insane mercenary trying to kill Leo with his partner who is in a robot body that shows up briefly, and Douglas comes out of nowhere to be a boss battle, but has some decent background to him. Fei Rin and Ai Rin show up for one conflict for Leo. That being said, Leo and Jack have great character development which can be sumed up in "Plot", Max is shown to be insane in the membrane, Sasha is trying to keep her team together but ultimately sides with Leo, Nikolai is a jerk who wants Max dead and will kill everyone for that goal including his own team, Matilda is a cyborg working as a pimp's assistant, and Blacker Baron is the trash talking rival (but kind of friends) to Jack who starts out as an antagonist but ends up an ally at the end and has some of the funniest but most offensive dialogue in the game. Roughly half the characters are developed really well in the plot, and the other half are there simply to be boss battles and playable characters, which they are unique enough play wise, but in the plot they receive bare minimum characterization and their profile dialogue is just as brief. Considering these are playable characters, the player probably expects more interaction then what they get, and as such, is left not knowing much at all about the people they fight and at times kill, but when the characterization is done right, it is pretty good.
Each character is left with a simple fighting style, each with their own weapon and hand to hand style. The main campaign has you killing mutants in the open world or free missions which add up points to move on to the main story. The game works well enough, but when fighting computers on harder difficulties at times the gameplay isn't as top notch as need be, and the computer characters often get away with a lot, especially in multiplayer if you don't have 16 friends with the game. Still, easy to pick up harder to master gameplay works fine here for the most part, and only a few hiccups and annoyances if you know how to play. The game asks you to be good at it, but on single player normal mode it doesn't ask too much of you which is great. Not the greatest gameplay, but the game knows this too, even with the large amount of mini games and game modes in multiplayer.
Some of the free missions are bull, but other then those few examples, this isn't bad. Actually the locations are really well designed, in single player you explore one half of the stage or the other depending on who you are playing as, and in multiplayer you can see the entire thing. There is one interesting detail, you don't really know what is going to happen. If you've played Kirby's Air Ride on City Trial mode, it is like that for each level with random things happening every so often. Kill enough enemies in single player and a mini boss will show up ranging from a huge type of mutant, to an attack chopper, to killers on a flamethrower cart. A large semi could come through the stage killing everything, tornadoes can run through the stage, black holes can open up, fighter jets could carpet bomb the area, poison gas from large mutant plants could cover the entire area, the levels are designed with chaos in mind and it really works well.
Well the single player campaign unlocks most of the characters and profiles, you can find hidden safes with plenty of concept artwork, and there is a secret character which is one of the better characters in the game added with longer range attacks. Also if you are willing to pay a couple bucks, you can also get Bayonetta for the game with quick and wide attacks making her dangerous. The concept art is cool, and the characters plot wise may not be great, but they play differently enough to unlock, and if you play the game twice you can unlock that secret character by starting with both the black and the white sides on the two playthroughs of the single player. The cutscenes are funny on Black Side (Jack's side), and the final cutscenes are pretty cool though to unlock them you need to unlock that hidden character as well. There are ranking systems in the game, but there is no reward for these ranks other then the higher the rank, the easier it is to get to the next mission in single player, there isn't even an achievement for them so going back for them does nothing but bragging rights. There are some decent collectibles, but nothing too great.
While this game is basically a sequel to Madworld, some of the former glory is lost. The plot is pretty good in its own crazy way, and the level design is amazing, everything else is okay. There are some great characters in this game, and some not so great or just glossed over characters, the gameplay functions well enough but can be annoying on harder difficulties, and the unlockables aren't that great and are easy enough to get. The story is pretty good though having two different sides to it, and the levels designed with Chaos in mind work really well.
I'd recommend trying out the game if the thought of a decent plot, offensive humor from Blacker Baron, and chaotic levels excite you. The multiplayer has some people playing here and there, and those slots without humans are replaced with brutal computers. I'd recommend renting this or paying really cheap price for it, but there is more good here then bad, it just isn't as good a beat em up as others out there, even taking to account the multiplayer. This game is pretty cheap however but I recommend borrowing it or renting it first.