Not to everyones taste but for me this is one of the most charming & fun games ever made. Maaaaaa aaawww! :D
You are in control of a little alien that has been captured by other aliens & shoved in a cage inside a spaceship with a few other weird & wonderful creatures. One being a pink blob with one eye wobbling at the top of it who you will know from now on as Maw. But I'll get back to him in a bit. Anyway, the ship gets in trouble & crash lands on a planet.
This is where the game begins. You (as the previously captured alien) & Maw survive & its just a matter of making your through the levels to try & find a way home. In the first few minutes you'll come across a gauntlet style item that will shoot a beam out to grab & throw objects or put Maw on a leash.
Maw becomes your little companion in this game & helps you get past all obstacles but he's got a free spirit & acts like an especially loveable dog – hence the need for a leash & he is also the main reason this game is such fun & so charming. The only other game character I can compare him too seems to be Yoda from ICO. This is in the way he has his own behaviour & explores without any need for you being there. Leave him off the leash & he bounds about the area playing & running in circles. He is also the most timid character you could meet. But in a very good way. He's a very curious little blob that loves to eat anything & everything. This causes him to grow & eventually he'll be bigger than you could imagine. But the smallest creature can still have him running for the hills if it looks at him funny.
I really cant express how amusing it is to see this in action, all the characters emote brilliantly without even having to say a word. & the only time there is any speech is from your character that shouts Maw when he leaves you side at the touch of a button. Even this is done in a cute & charming way. It's a game that will put a massive grin on your face every time you play it. It reminds me of something Nintendo could have made back in their good days.
You need each other to progress & escape the alien captures that start invading the planet you land on. The gameplay is kept pretty simple, you feed Maw as much as possible to make him grow enough to tackle the next area. Or you may need to find & eat certain animals that will grant Maw special abilities in a similar way to Kirby games. Finding a way to make these creatures edible creates little puzzles of their own, such as the fire creature. If you just try & get Maw to eat it, it sets his mouth on fire. So you must find a way to extinguish its flames & make it edible. These are never too difficult to figure out though & you'll constantly make progress.
Which is my only real gripe with the game. You cant really die, the gameplay stays basically unchanged throughout the game apart from the odd platform section & until the last level (which is a very surreal & pleasant surprise). & with you constantly progressing it can be completed within a couple of hours – a few more if you're a completionist as all levels can be revisited to find & eat every last living thin. Sometimes the camera wont give you quite the view you want either – although this happens in extremely rare cases.
This may make the 800 point price a but steep. & I guess it is. But in the end the production values are very impressive for an 800 point XBLA game. Its so unbelievably charming & just the fact it made a cynical gamer like me laugh out loud & put a stupid big grin on my face from start to finish has made me more than happy with the purchase.
Its not going to be to everyones taste & it is limited but for me it was a much loved & hugely enjoyable game that provided a refreshing change of pace.