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The Maw
Okay! This
is quite a freaky and colourful game about aliens, however
somehow in this strange universe, it has charm and an amazing fun
factory. At its alien heart, The Maw is an action arcade game
that revolves around an alien called The Maw and whatever he or it eats,
he absorbs their powers and grows! Unfortunately Maw is quite stupid but
thankfully, he is kept under control by his friend Frank.
Although
you need to explore, fight and eat, the game even contains a healthy
amount of puzzles and by using Frank and Maw together, you'll be able to
access other parts of the gaming environment that would have been
inaccessible if you could only play one character. Needless to say, this
relationship works quite well.
The game begins on a space craft with the
large and lazy Maw and his tiny friend Frank and unbeknown to them, this
ship is about to crash on a mysterious and uncharted planet. When it
does crash, both of you need to survive the challenges that lay ahead.
The idea behind the Maw is to ensure that
your hungry beast is fed and thankfully there are a variety of beasts on
this planet to assist with his hunger, of course some of these want to
eat you as well.
Thankfully as Maw eats, he becomes bigger
and as he absorbs other creatures powers, it changes what this one eyed
beast can do. This is another cool aspect of the game as what you
eat is what you are and when Maw eats a fire alien, in essence, this one
eyed alien takes on their powers. He even gets a horn later during the
game that allows him to ram other creatures which is a real hoot. For
such a little game, it's quite diverse as to what you can do.
Of course, you also get to control the pint
sized Frank and fortunately he has a leash to keep Maw under control,
however this leash can be used as a weapon to throw items and enemies. The
puzzles in the game change as much as the gaming landscape and the
diversity is a breath of fresh ait.
Although
there are a healthy amount of traditional arcade levels, there's also
some cool weirdness, such as riding on the back of Maw and shooting
aliens, it's all part of the strangeness of this very fun and
entertaining game. The only issue is that the game is relatively quite
short which is a shame because just as you're getting into it, end ends.
Graphically, the game is a very good
looking title for XBox Live title and Twisted Pixel, the developers have
truly created a fun and colourful cartoon look. And yes, it does look
like something that has come out of Hollywood with the great graphics,
almost making this look like it's based on a movie game.
Of course, the star of the game is the Maw
who looks fun and uses a variety of facial features to progress the
story. Frank is also well animated and contains some even more amusing
facial features. The gaming environments are well designed and there are
some truly comedic cutscenes in the game that I haven't laughed this
hard since Sam & Max.
Add in a great musical score, thanks to
Winifred Phillips (God of War) and some truly bizarre and wondrous sound
effects and The Maw is definitely worth the entry price.
The only
downside to the game is that it is quite short. Let's hope that Twisted
Pixel will create a full game in the near future because the duo of
Frank and Maw really works and best of all, the gameplay is fun and can
be played by all sorts of gamers. |
