Developers these days seem to have almost forgotten that playing a multiplayer game with your friends in the same room is actually quite fun, this is probably because Xbox Live has come along and made it easy for anyone to play against friends from all over the world without ever inviting them around, thankfully though Southpeak’s new addition to the Xbox 360, Monster Madness, goes against this trend and lets you relive what it is like to have more than one person using your console due to it allowing up to four players to join in the fun together. 

The plot of the game is practically non-existent, however this isn’t really very relevant anyway as it only serves to give you a reason for fighting your way through the hordes of monsters that await you in each of the levels. In all there are five zones to get through in the main game with each zone comprising of four levels, during these you must collect the various tokens and parts which are spread about to enable you to upgrade your weapons and make your character stronger, this mode is not supported over Xbox Live, so if you want to play with friends then you better make sure you have a few extra controllers.

There are four characters in Monster Madness, the high school geek, the normal one, the cheerleader, and the goth, all of them have their own special attacks and weapons, to move them it’s just a case of using your left analogue stick, with turn assigned to the right stick, dodge the left trigger (which is also used to throw projectiles like petrol bombs etc) and attack the right trigger.  The shoulder buttons are used to select which weapon you would like to use and clicking R3 or L3 allows you to jump. The controls work well although can be a bit awkward should there be more than one player playing at once, not only this but some of the missions also include vehicles such as cars, hovercrafts and UFO’s which while fun to use are also very difficult to control.

One of the best things about Monster Madness is the sheers amount of enemies that you face, these vary from Zombie’s, fire imps and crazy clowns to ground stomping Bigfoot’s which are impossible to a harm without a ranged weapon, the end of level bosses also provide a good challenge. Every time you meet a new enemy they are added to your inventory meaning you can keep track of all the ones you have encountered so far.

As previously mentioned you can upgrade weapons, this is done by visiting the roaming shop, named Larry’s Tool Trailer, to purchase a weapon upgrade you must have collected enough parts as well as the mandatory currency, Monster Tokens (which are earned by slaying enemies) and once you have enough you can get your hands on the more lethal weapons such as a nail gun or flame thrower.  

One of the most frustrating aspects of Monster Madness is that there is no quick save option, instead if you are killed you will begin the level at the nearest checkpoint, this is where having a friend playing comes in handy due to the resurrection points scattered throughout the levels, should one of you get killed, then all your friend needs to do is go here and bring you back, if however you are playing solo this obviously won’t happen.

The Xbox Live part of the game is completely separate from the single player game, using this option allows you to play against anyone in games such as capture the flag, king of the hill, and a cooperative challenge called Dojo where players face increasing waves of enemies and fight for tokens, this is all very nice but just doesn’t live up to the main game in terms of enjoyment. 

Visually the game looks quite sweet, the cut scenes are well made and the environments interact well with players due to object breaking and exploding around you. The weapon effects also look decent enough as do the weapons, however the camera can be quite frustrating when in co-op mode due to it moving in the wrong direction at awkward moments, the sound however provides no problems and fits in with the action quite nicely.

Overall Monster Madness is a very fun game to play with friends, it will remind you of all the multiplayer fun you used to have in the classic arcade games of the past, so while this is by no means a classic it is definitely worth a look.