October 17, 2006 - Very few people have heard of Artificial Studios. Makes sense. They haven't done much. But for all of the things the studio hasn't done yet, one thing it already is doing is listening. Monster Madness, the upcoming Xbox 360 and PC game, re-creates the frenzied top-down shooting action of Loaded on PlayStation, takes a light comic graphics angle, and gives gamers the four-player cooperative goodness they've been clamoring for.

While big-name titles such as Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell Double Agent and Gears of War hogging all of this fall's attention, less known games with smaller publishers have a tough time gaining any traction or even any attention at all to their games. But it's little games like Monster Madness that create long-term fans and drive casual gamers to buy Xbox 360s. On the surface Southpeak's game looks kiddy, even a little current gen. Can't argue with that.

It's madness I tell you.

But remember Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse? Similar to Wideload's game, Monster Madness (which has a far less distinctive name), boasts a comic-style graphics approach that parodies horror and sci-fi clich�s. Or at least it's trying to. I mean, the tagline is, "It's a turf war in Suburbia." Still, frantic arcade games like Loaded and Power Stone have always captured huge audiences and loyal fans, and Monster Madness is potentially poised to do the same.

Artificial Studios will deliver a very simple game. Monster Madness is officially announced for Xbox 360 and PC and is slated for a spring 2007 release. The single-player game enables one to four gamers to connect and play cooperatively offline (joining or leaving dynamically) or battle online for networked cooperative sessions. In single-player, you play as one of four characters, all young kids, and by advancing through the game you'll find power-ups enabling the transformation from human to werewolf, mummy, vampire, or zombie. I swear, all the game needs is monkeys.

Monster madness heavily promotes multiple play sessions because of the amount of rare weapon upgrades found in each difficulty level. Building upgradeable weapons using random found parts through the five unique environments is a big draw. When you collect a new more powerful gun (the list includes missile launchers, shotguns, machineguns and chainsaws), it's easier to return to an older level and just whip the pants off the weaker enemies. And it puts you on par for the new difficulty level. The fact is, you won't complete 100% of the game on a single run-through. Instead, you'll have to take a couple passes to max out everything. And just for kicks, if you beat the game on Very Hard mode, you'll see a special ending.

Storm the beach!

The levels are large. Each one in the Campaign Adventure mode takes approximately 30 minutes to beat, and there are more than 20 levels in the works. They cover the typical scary movie backgrounds for Friday the 13th type movies. You've got Suburban Nightmare, High School Hell, The Shopping Maul, Cemetery Scary, and The Dark Castle. But remember, this isn't Scooby Doo here. There is no mystery van or silly old people dressed up in sheets pretending to be ghosts. It's all action all the time. Over the course of the five giant levels, you'll confront more than 50 types of monster types, each with their own attacks and offensive strategies.

In campaign mode, of course, you won't just shoot. You'll jump into vehicles and cruise around blasting the hell out of enemies. You'll be able to pilot Go-Karts, Hovercrafts, Mech-Walkers and UFOs to name just a few. Vehicles are integrated into several missions as bonus abilities, while other missions are vehicle-only car combat sessions. Each campaign also poses unique objectives, while Artificial Studios is incorporating physics-based puzzles, escape sequences, and defend the base mission types.

The offline mode also includes a Smash Bros-esque four-player deathmatch with fixed camera angles. So if you've felt like you've missed out because you don't have a gold membership, Monster Madness has your back. If, however, the cooperative campaign doesn't tickle your fancy, you can always hop on Xbox Live and play four to 16-person deathmatches. Online games can be set up in free-for-alls or team-style games of eight on eight. The 16-player game is all-out deathmatch. It's an all-out 16 person free-for-all, or two teams of up to 8 players can enter into a variety of modes designed with special objectives to complete. You'll see standard games such as Capture the Flag and King of the Hill, and more specialized matches such as Monster Hunter (in which a team of monsters fights a team of humans).

In short, this simple co-op and multiplayer game is a throwback. But the right kind of throwback. Like Loaded, Monster Madness is a top-down romp. It's designed for people to play together in a frenetic shooter style that's incredible accessible to a wide range of players. You can play solo or cooperatively in a local setting, and you can play in Smash Bros.-style offline fights. Online, a slew of modes should pacify you and your buddies for some time for four to 16 players. Sometimes simplicity is best.