The Maw (The Vigster Review)
There has been a lot of hype around Twisted Pixel’s new XBLA title The Maw. Considering how unusual it is for there to be this much buzz around an Xbox Live Arcade game, I decided to break my rule of never buying Microsoft points (They have no accurate monetary value and you’re always left over with 100 points that you can’t use for anything) and find out what all the fuss is about.
The Maw
The game follows Frank, a small alien who is captured by robots for an unknown reason. The space ship that he is imprisoned on crashes, freeing Frank on a strange alien planet. After the crash he befriends Maw, a tiny purple blob with an insatiable appetite for pretty much anything. Frank leads Maw to food, which causes him to grow larger and eat bigger and bigger enemies.
One thing that was immediately apparent is that a lot of time and money has been spent polishing this game as much as possible. It is impressive to see a small developer managing to make a game in full 3d with such style.
The Maw’s definite strong point is it’s character design. It is very cute and colourful, and the monsters that make up Maw’s diet are varied and interesting to look at. It is surprising to see such innovative design in such a small game. One of the best were snails disguised as rocks, and when Maw is smaller you must find a way to first smash the shell before he can eat them, but as he grows he is able to eat them fully intact. Small touches like this are what sets it apart from the competition design-wise. The soundtrack is also great. Although there is a lot of repetition, it never gets annoying and fits the game without being overpowering.
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