This game looks pretty good; after I get myself some more Microsoft points I may just have to pick it up.
XBLA Review: The Maw
Game Review | February 4, 2009 3:40 pm
By Minioger
The first thing that struck me about this The Maw was the graphics. It was clean, detailed, colorful and the characters were very expressive. The character designs were great, with quality above retail games of similar genre that I have seen recently. I was very impressed with the quality of the game from the moment I started playing.
You play the game as Frank, a Teltarian, captured by bounty hunters and thrown in a cell. When the bounty hunter's ship goes down the only apparent survivors are you and a purple blob, the titular character, the Maw. Frank takes The Maw along with him through the aid of a plasma leash and the adventure ensues.
Maw is a fairly simple lifeform, he just wants to eat, and eat he does. Maw will eat anything he can fit in his mouth besides Frank of course and the majority of the gameplay is based on getting Maw to eat and grow. When Maw eats certain types of critters, he will absorb their powers until the end of the level or he eats another critter which give him different powers. Frank's main job is to guide Maw around with the leash, feed him, and help Maw use his gained powers.
The game is easy, I'm not even sure it is possible to "die" as the only time I had any problem was on the final level
The sound was excellent, the music had a jazz feel to it and varied depending on the level and what you were doing. It was nice to have an Arcade game that had a good soundtrack. I actually did some research and found that Winifred Phillips scored the Maw. She has composed music for other games including Speed Racer, the Da Vinci Code and more notably: God of War.
One other notable feature was the free unlockables that came with the game. Upon finishing different levels you were awarded a total of two gamerpics and a theme. This was a total surprise to me and was great. Most companies want to charge you 50-100 MS points for a picture pack and another 150-250 for a theme. Considering you pay 800 MS points for this game you are getting 200-350 (depending on your opinion) of free goods.
I would definitely recommend this game, taking the freebies into consideration I would highly recommend this game. Bottom line: 8.8 out of 10. The only downsides are that it is an arcade game and does come to an end sooner than a retail title (though you can't hold that against them) and limited replay value. Although the game is plenty of fun, the levels are linear and the only reason to replay is to get 100% of the eatables in the level for achievements. I personally hope they will release a DLC and considering how reasonable the game has been on quality and content for the price, I would assume the DLC will be a value as well.
Wafflers & Completionists: The game is very easy for "pro" gamers, taking me a whole 3 hours to finish. One runthrough should net you 140 points without any real trouble. You can choose to replay the levels to get the 1 hidden creature per level and the 100% Eaten achievements. The remaining 20 points is for playing the game during Maw's 6 mealtimes: Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dunch, Dinner & Midnight Feast. This can be done by properly loading up a level during the times (your guess is as good as mine) or by changing your time zone.
You play the game as Frank, a Teltarian, captured by bounty hunters and thrown in a cell. When the bounty hunter's ship goes down the only apparent survivors are you and a purple blob, the titular character, the Maw. Frank takes The Maw along with him through the aid of a plasma leash and the adventure ensues.
Maw is a fairly simple lifeform, he just wants to eat, and eat he does. Maw will eat anything he can fit in his mouth besides Frank of course and the majority of the gameplay is based on getting Maw to eat and grow. When Maw eats certain types of critters, he will absorb their powers until the end of the level or he eats another critter which give him different powers. Frank's main job is to guide Maw around with the leash, feed him, and help Maw use his gained powers.
The game is easy, I'm not even sure it is possible to "die" as the only time I had any problem was on the final level
Spoiler: Click here to toggle spoiler
The levels did offer some puzzles, but if you floundered for too long a question mark would appear to give you a hint as to what to do next. If you are looking for an incredibly challenging game, look elsewhere. This game is what you want if you want an easy, fun game for the whole family.I didn't pay attention to the other ships shooting at my ship and my ship exploded, but Frank was able to dive to safety and I just snagged another ship.
The sound was excellent, the music had a jazz feel to it and varied depending on the level and what you were doing. It was nice to have an Arcade game that had a good soundtrack. I actually did some research and found that Winifred Phillips scored the Maw. She has composed music for other games including Speed Racer, the Da Vinci Code and more notably: God of War.
One other notable feature was the free unlockables that came with the game. Upon finishing different levels you were awarded a total of two gamerpics and a theme. This was a total surprise to me and was great. Most companies want to charge you 50-100 MS points for a picture pack and another 150-250 for a theme. Considering you pay 800 MS points for this game you are getting 200-350 (depending on your opinion) of free goods.
I would definitely recommend this game, taking the freebies into consideration I would highly recommend this game. Bottom line: 8.8 out of 10. The only downsides are that it is an arcade game and does come to an end sooner than a retail title (though you can't hold that against them) and limited replay value. Although the game is plenty of fun, the levels are linear and the only reason to replay is to get 100% of the eatables in the level for achievements. I personally hope they will release a DLC and considering how reasonable the game has been on quality and content for the price, I would assume the DLC will be a value as well.
Wafflers & Completionists: The game is very easy for "pro" gamers, taking me a whole 3 hours to finish. One runthrough should net you 140 points without any real trouble. You can choose to replay the levels to get the 1 hidden creature per level and the 100% Eaten achievements. The remaining 20 points is for playing the game during Maw's 6 mealtimes: Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dunch, Dinner & Midnight Feast. This can be done by properly loading up a level during the times (your guess is as good as mine) or by changing your time zone.
Reviewed: The Maw
Keywords: None
