(XBLA) The Maw
Latest screenshots
View the gallery
The Maw
An extraterrestrial 3D adventure with a voracious appetite!
The art of creating an endearing video game character is never lost on our society. Such greats as Mario, Pac-Man, Link, Sonic, Ratchet and Clank and the Master Chief can now consider ‘The Maw’ among their company. Winner of the Audience Choice Award at last year’s Penny Arcade Expo, Twisted Pixel’s first independently made game hit Xbox Arcade recently. Truly an extraterrestrial 3D adventure, we take a look at ‘The Maw’ and his voracious appetite. Even if it’s a bit short for our liking, it was definitely well worth the wait.
Gameplay
The game pays homage to a number of movies, The Navigator and Lilo and Stitch immediately come to mind but does so in a unique fashion that is all its own. You play as Frank, a little blue alien creature (I thought they were all green?) who is taken captive by a race of creatures much bigger and more advanced than you. From your new cell, you can see an eyeball…an eyeball you ask? Yes. An eyeball…attached to purple goo. Meet Maw. With a pair of choppers that would make a great white blush, the Maw has an unquenchable appetite and nothing is off-limits; that is nothing except the scary stuff is off limits. With only a plasma leash to lead Maw around, you both form an instant … er … attachment as you set off to explore. The object is to eat you’re way to the exit as quickly as possible. Just like in Beautiful Katamari, the more Maw eats, the bigger he grows in size, retaining that size until you can ride him like a large, purple gumdrop and eventually it is you who Maw is dragging around like a ragdoll.
Maw can absorb special creatures abilities
Maw’s appetite is quite literally unending and the game even suggests that finishing the game doesn’t finish off his thirt for more. He can eat anything of equal or smaller size and this includes many cute and fuzzy tic-tac looking bouncy pink puffballs dubbed ‘Yums’ along the way. Along with these are five special creatures like the fire infused Gastro, the electrically charged Bulbous, the inflatable balloon Puff-Tor worms, the demented laser vision Loofer and the armor-plated Beetull; whose abilities Maw can absorb. Just like in Kirby, you must use your own ingenuity (or is it Frank’s?) to escape recapture.
Frank isn’t totally helpless however, he can drag huge rocks, slam creatures to the ground dazing them or whiz them around and around before flinging them. All of these elements play into the game’s puzzles and all are done with Frank’s plasma leash. This makes the game’s controls easy to remember. One of Frank’s more my favorite abilities of that leash is tossing edible creatures to the Maw’s gaping jowls where he wait’s bouncing like my puppy does when I dangle deli meat and potato chips above her head. Frank’s abilities are crucial because despite the Maw’s appetite, you can’t force him to eat everything in your path without first removing things like hard shells or destroying generators. Later this becomes not nearly as important as the Maw grows to such heights that he’ll eat the Gloobers, rock and all.
Maw has an unquenchable appetite and nothing is off-limits;
that is nothing except the scary stuff is off limits
This actually brings me to the game’s comedic touches. The Maw will have you giggling till you pee your pants from the get-go. One of the first mistakes I made was trying to toss a Gastro at Maw to eat without first dousing it. Maw will truly eat EVERYTHING that’s given to him, as I found out; with the more unique creatures it becomes a question of whether it’ll stay down. My mistake gave poor Maw a hilarious touch of ‘heartburn’ and after burping a fiery trail to the nearest source of water and throwing himself at it face first, I tried to see what other entertaining delights the developers had given me. Another error, I didn’t realize that you had to de-shell the Gloober’s first before feeding them to Maw. Instead I launched the rock-shelled creature only to be treated with a classic and side-splitting anvil to the head joke. Believe me, the first time you try this, you’ll find yourself on the lookout for more anvil’s to chuck his way.
The game progresses through exploration but there’s no real
penalty for dying but this isn’t a bad thing.
The game progresses through exploration but there’s no real penalty for dying. In fact, you can’t die but this isn’t a bad thing. Instead, each level is judged on time, weight eaten and weight eaten per minute while keeping track of the total amount eaten. Though this left the game feeling a little too easy somtimes it did reward exploration making up for it entirely. With only eight levels, I found myself wanting more when I finished the game in about three hours. Fortunately more levels are coming though I do wish they had packaged them with the original game’s release. Honestly, these are extremely minor complaints, actually I dare to say they aren’t really complaints at all because they never detract from the gameplay.
Graphics and Sound
With Pixar-like graphics, the Maw offers a production quality equal to that many larger retail titles. It’s hard to believe this is ‘just’ an Arcade title. The creatures designed are definitely on the weird scale but their quirkiness fit the alien landscapes. This would have to be the most graphically polished game on Live Arcade and hopefully we’ll see more titles strive for this. I can’t help wonder if the developer’s somehow channeled my puppy for some of the Maw’s more pooch-like characteristics. From his tongue wagging giddiness as he travels much like a dog with its head stuck out the window of a moving vehicle, to his Wiley Coyote “Help” animations as the road runner tricks him into running off a cliff…they are all fantastically rendered and entirely too entertaining.
Maw completely steals the show, or…game and rightfully so.
Music was a surprising treat. Each level has its own soundtrack that is quirky, fun and entertaining to listen to. Frank has some very adorable sound effects, mostly in the way he calls out “MAAAAHH!” Still, Maw completely steals the show, or…game and rightfully so. His slobbery gurgles were just as funny as the various animations and surprised me when they grew deeper and deeper as he grew proportionally in size.
Value
At eight level’s, you can play through the entire game in about two to three hours. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the point I really want to stress is that you will play through the entire game because you cannot put this game down. Completionists and over achievers will play through again and again to get find everything available in the game and get fantastic times. Even if you don’t fall into one of those categories, you’ll come back to play through the game over and over because it’s just that much fun. I hope that the upcoming new content suggests that Twisted Pixel is planning on more content in the future.
Conclusion
The Maw might be short but it’s one of the more charming titles that is available on Arcade. Even at 800 Microsoft points (ten dollars), the graphic quality, entertainment and the comedic styling’s of Twisted Pixel make this game worth every point. I hope Twisted Pixel gives us more games like these, ones with character’s we can get behind, and dares to have a good time while laughing at itself. The Maw is title that every gamer should own.
Pros
+ Pixar-like graphics
+ Comedic and highly entertaining
+ New Iconic Character: The Maw
+ Fantastic, quirky soundtrack
+ Adorable and entertaining sound effects
+ Weird, unique creatures
+ Simple idea with fantastic execution
Cons
- Short, even for an XBLA game
- No penalty system like death
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
Mature gaming has come a long way since its infancy. I mean, back in the Atari days, mature gaming was considered "Custer’s Revenge" type of fare. It was crude, senseless, and more often than not, pretty darn offensive. I think it’s safe to say that gaming is finally past that juvenile period, and we’ve now entered an age where a mature game... 
finalkross
RSS Feed