A fun simple plat former/ puzzle game with a little twist that will keep you entertained, but for how long?
The story behind The Maw is that you play an alien named Frank who at the beginning of the game is captured. He is put in a cell next to a bunch of other creatures that are being captured for who knows what. One of the creatures is this purple blob. This blob is known as The Maw. The alien ship that you are on crash lands on a strange planet where you get up and grab this device that is like a leash so that The Maw will follow you around. You soon realize what The Maw likes to do. You come across a bunch of cute fluffy puff ball aliens and The Maw eats them. You realize that The Maw just likes to eat and eat and when he eats, he gets bigger and he never stops growing. So Frank and the Maw journey out to try and get off the planet, but the aliens that captured you before don't want you to leave.
What type of game is The Maw? Well, it is a plat former with some puzzles in it. Most of the puzzles involve The Maw eating a certain type of animal to get its powers, kind of like Kirby. The puzzles will get your brain working a bit and they feel rewarding when you finish one, but they aren't very hard or frustrating. The plat forming sections in The Maw are fun but simple. Over all, the Maw is a fun game.
The Maw can eat a bunch of different creatures to get powers. The are creatures that allow The Maw to breath fire and others allow him to float or grow a horn and allow him to smash things. There are a good amount of powers and they all are fun to use.
The Maw does have one big problem, which is it length. The Maw may be fun, but it is really short. A normal player can finish it in about 3 hours. There is very little replay value also. The only thing you may want to do is go back to try and get more achievements. The Maw is also very simple. It does not change a lot and at its core it is just another plat former out there. But there are better in The Maw than there is bad.
The Maw graphics look great. Not only is this game in 3-D but the textures and the environments look good, and to think that this is an Xbox Live arcade game.
The sound in the Maw is good. There are some funny sound effects and some good music. But the sound isn't amazing and there defiantly are a lot better sounding games out there.
Overall The Maw is a great game. It may be short and simple, but it is a lot of fun. This is a great game for anyone especially kids and if you want a good plat former for only a few bucks than you need to give The Maw a try.