GAME-A-WEEK - THE MAW

Originally released on XBox Live Arcade in 2009, The Maw is a cute little cartoony action/puzzle game.  You play as Frank, an adorable alien captured by...er...other aliens and thrown into a menagerie of exotic species.  When the ship crashes onto an unknown planet, Frank must team up with a little one-eyed purple blob with a huge appetite named The Maw in order to escape.

What were my expectations going in?

I'd played the demo long ago when The Maw was first released, but the demo was incredibly brief.  What I saw was cute, but simplistic.  I didn't see how they could stretch such a basic mechanic of "eat everything in sight" into a full game, unless they were going for something akin to Katamari Damacy, which I knew they weren't.   I picked the game up for something like $1 on Steam, but never got around to playing it.

So how was it?

Initially?  I was going to give this game a bad review.  Not long into the game, I realized that I am not this game's target audience.  If you're looking for something that is any kind of challenge or fun for grown ups?  You will be sorely disappointed.  Once you get past the game's adorable and endearing veneer, there's not a lot to this game whatsoever.  The entire thing can be beaten in three hours, with minimal challenge.

However, if you have young children?  This game is absolutely perfect.  

I don't have any kids myself, but I've always said that if I had children, I would start them on the path of gaming.  Unlike a lot of parents today, I would not let my pre-adolescent children run around murdering brown people in Call Of Duty or commit wanton vehicular manslaughter in Grand Theft Auto.  I'd monitor their gaming, keep myself informed of what they play.  And I definitely think that The Maw is the kind of games that I would love to give my children when they're just getting started, around the 4 to 7 year old range. 

This game has a little bit of depth to its mechanics; it's not all just "eat = grow".  Frank has to use his electro-leash to grab items and critters Maw can't reach, or to disable turrets or forcefields.  Maw can eat special animals in order to gain their powers, like fire breath, electricity, or flight.  These powers are, in turn, used to solve simplistic puzzles.  Some of them require Maw and Frank to work in tandem, like having Maw shock a small creature, then using Frank's electro-leash to hurl the creature at an enemy turret and short-circuit it.  To an adult, all of these puzzles are pretty much "No duh" solutions, but I can see them teaching young children simple problem solving skills.

There really is no challenge penalty to this game.  Neither Frank nor Maw can take any kind of damage.  There are enemy soldiers and turrets, but their energy blasts just knock you back a little.  The few creatures that have any kind of attack just cause Maw to have some comical animation, like running around with his butt on fire, or getting an electrical shock.  For young children, I think this would really free them up to figuring out solutions rather than having to face the frustration of dying over and over again.  

Visually, it's a mixed bag.  It looks like an HD remake of an N64 game, to be honest.  The background and terrain textures are repetitive and hideous, but the actual mobs are all stylized and distinct.  A very bright and vibrant color palette brings the whole world to life in a very animated way.  Everything in this game has a tone of being "cute", even the enemy soldiers.  Maw himself (herself?  Itself?  Hell I didn't even know Frank was male until I read the Wiki page...) is absolutely adorable in all of his forms.  There is absolutely nothing scary or questionable, apart from maybe the concept of Maw eating everything alive. 


The sound is well done.  The music is catchy and fun without ever being distracting or invasive.  Creatures all have their own little grunts and noises, and the sound effects are appropriate.  Maw makes all kinds of cute noises, and they get deeper as he grows throughout the game, including the Cookie Monster-esque gobbling sound whenever he eats something.  I think the only sound I don't care for is Frank's voice.  You only ever hear Frank when Maw is far away, and you press X to call for him.  Frank cups his hands to his mouth and cries "MAAAAAWWW!" in this high-pitched grating voice.  Still, it's annoyingly cute in that way kids find adorable, so I chalk it up to that.

Even if it wasn't necessarily what they were going for, everything about this game feels like a great game for kids.  It never treats the player like they're stupid, but it never manages to offer much of a challenge.  It definitely aims for "adorable".  The creatures all have silly names like Loofers and Gloobers and Beetulls.  Even the most common creature for Maw to eat, little pink balls with bright blue eyes, are simply called "Yums".  

If you buy this game for yourself (I think it's safe to assume I don't have any pre-teen readers here), I think you'll be sorely disappointed.  But if you're a gamer, and your youngins have their little grabby hands out saying "I wanna play!" then The Maw would be a perfect game to let them run wild in.  I think any children older than say, 8 or 9 years old might find this game a little bit simple, but the wee little gamerlings just starting out would find the adventures of Frank and Maw to be absolutely delightful.

Play time:  3 hours
Finished:  Yes.  It's THAT short.
Recommended:  For kids ages 3-8
Available For:  PC, XBox 360