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What a weird and wonderful game The Maw is. It’s a cute 3D puzzle/platformer with a disturbing underbelly. You see The Maw, the star of the show, is a one-eyed purple blob that’s hell bent on eating everything in sight, including cute little creatures. Each mouthful makes him ever so slightly bigger, his razor sharp teeth and bottomless pit of a stomach the stuff of childhood monster nightmares.
Along for the ride is Frank, a somewhat opportunist alien who, along with The Maw, crash lands on a mysterious planet with no hope for rescue. Using a psychic stone buried into his head, Frank keeps The Maw from devouring him whole, using a plasma leash salvaged from the wreckage to drag the purple dustbin around like a dog. A hungry, dangerous dog. The Maw, Frank reckons, will make a useful bodyguard while he works out how to get off the rock he’s found himself on.
The first thing that strikes you about the game isn’t the cute art design, but just how good the game looks for an XBLA title. It’s no Gears of War 2, of course, but compared with some of the stuff available for 800 MS Points on the 360, it’s triple-A stuff. There’s a whopping 900 animations, 1000 sound effects, 25 music tracks, 200 visual effects and 150 models crammed into the paltry 150MB download. How the hell has Twisted Pixel Games managed that? It’s all down to 85:1 compression technology, apparently. Without it, the game would weigh in at 2GB, and, no doubt, not be possible as a XBLA download.
The gameplay centres on The Maw and his ‘eating enemies to get bigger’ mechanic. He can devour any creature his size or smaller, and absorb their abilities. Pressure sensors, for example, will require him to be a particular size before they lower force fields. The fire-breathing Gastro need to be eaten in order to grant The Maw the ability to burn down the environment with his own fiery breath. The balls of electricity that are the Bulbous, used to destroy enemy robots, can be eaten, but not before Frank has lowered their charge with a plasma leash slam attack. The Puff-Tor inflate and float around – The Maw can float himself when he eats enough of them, taking Frank along for the ride. The puzzle potential is obvious.
Platforming sections usually present themselves when you let The Maw off his leash and seek out objects, like large rocks, and creatures, that you can chuck in his giant gob. Then, with a simple press of a face button, Frank will call out to his unlikely companion, who will then slink towards his master until he’s close enough for re-leashing. This dynamic is The Maw’s most impressive quality. Working out what ability The Maw needs in order to progress, letting him off his leash in order to take Frank on a spot of platforming, and simply exploring the world in order to eke out its secrets gives the game an almost Portal-esque “evaluate then execute” feel.
The Maw’s puzzles and levels quickly become more elaborate, and certainly too difficult for the age of gamer the cutesy design suggests the game is suitable for. You’ll find yourself toiling for what seems like ages as you try to figure out how to lower a forcefield when, at face value, there seems to be nothing around to feed The Maw with. You’ll find yourself backtracking, hunting for that final creature that’ll make The Maw big enough to take you to the next area. It’s mentally challenging, often to the point of frustration, but, crucially, it is fun. And, in any case, we’re probably just being dumb and you’ll find it ridiculously easy.
Problems are few and far between. The camera constrains the view – it doesn’t let you look up for some reason – which often frustrates. And, beyond progressing through the main campaign, there’s little to keep your attention, unless you’re the dirtiest of Achievement whore and look forward to hunting down hidden Snuffles. But these minor niggles are comprehensively put into the shade by the quality of the core concept and, well, just how cute the whole thing is. Unless you’ve got a brick for a heart and enjoy the sound of babies crying, you’re guaranteed to fall for The Maw’s irresistible charm.
The guys at Twisted Pixel, which was founded in 2006, worked on Midway’s NBA Ballers and Blitz The League II. The Maw, then, is a welcome departure, and we can’t wait to see what downloadable gem this undoubtedly talented studio comes up with next.
