The Maw

PlasticPorter

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Aug 27, 2008
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Well browsing my X-Box live arcade the other day I came across a little game called The Maw. I downloaded the demo and was shocked to find a hilarious, old=school platforming game. I swiftly dropped 12 dollars for the real game and started to play it. The Maw chronicles the adventures of a small alien named Frank and his incredibly evil pet, The Maw.

After a short exposition cinematic you and The Maw are set down on an alien planet where once there you set about feeding every living thing to The Maw. You guide the maw around the game world on a leash but this leash can be detached and placed on most enemies, once placed on them you can toss, drag or just throw them into The Maw's maw.

In most game areas there is a unique creature that once fed to The Maw will give him an ability (i.e. Fire Breathing) that will allow him to find previously hidden food as well as open up new areas for your adventure. The levels are very linear but thats actually kind of refreshing now adays and the games humor is quirky and quick to the punch line.

As the game progresses The Maw gets larger and larger changing the game play for specific levels. All in all the game is a strange cross between Rachet and Clank, Kirby and Katamari if such a thing can be imagined. Im loving this game so far and for a simple Arcade download its been polished to a mirror shine, and frankly has more effort put into it than some real console titles.

So if your waiting for the next slew of releases and have nothing else to play go check out The Maw.

 

Spartan Bannana

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Apr 27, 2008
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Wow
Why are people complaining about this? We've had way bigger walls of text here than this.
I never got around to playing The Maw, although I have seen a friend play it and heard it talked about. It sounds like a lot of fun.
 

Brokkr

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Nov 25, 2008
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Pretty good review. Friendly tip though is to break it into paragraphs next time so it's a bit easier to read.
 

Baonec

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Aug 20, 2008
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I dl'd the demo along with F.E.A.R 2 yesterday and was pretty dissapointed by it while it did look good in comparison to other 360 arcade titles it just looked/played a polished N64 title. I don't know maybe the full game is better but the demo failed to DEMOnstrate a decent enough game to think about buying.
 

Frybird

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Jan 7, 2008
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Played the Demo yesterday, and yeah, it's overall pretty nice. Everything (except some ground textures) looks really really good for an XBLA Game, and the Gameplay is a nice mix of things.

Also, i love the way how the Protagonist seems to surpress the thought that he is constantly unleashing (literally) something pretty evil with a cute naivete (or does he just not care?). And his "MAAAAA-HAAAWWW" shouts if his pet is out of range.

When i have some points left, i'll probably give the full version a spin
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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I beat it last night and it is well worth the 800 points IMO. 2 gamerpics, a kickass theme and a solid fun game. My only complaint is the one level where they revert back to typical gameplay. Riding Maw while shooting is not what the game should be. I suppose it could have been more challenging and the ability to die would have been nice. Could have been longer as well but hey it is only 10 bucks.
 

ThaBenMan

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Mar 6, 2008
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I saw gameplay footage of this on a show about indie game developers on G4 a while ago, and thought it looked pretty cool. It's on my list of XBLA games to get when I finally get around to hooking up Live (along with Braid and Castle Crashers).
 

Eclectic Dreck

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Sep 3, 2008
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Yensid said:
Wasn't this first known as Kirby?
He did note it has a bit of Kirby flavor in the game. Having never played the game I can't comment further. It sounds like it might be worth at least trying the demo.
 

Yensid

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Jan 23, 2009
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Ok, pulling back the smartmouth comment..this is a must on the xbox360. It's a great mix of styles that actually work. Considering some of the crap that is out there on the Arcade, this is easily worh the points.