XBLA - The Maw - 800 Points - 12/20: 400 pts sale begins 12/28

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FriskyTanuki

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http://www.mawgame.com/


Info:
The Maw is a full featured 3D action/adventure game for Xbox LIVE Arcade! Returning from a routine mission, a Galactic Bounty Hunter ship crash lands on a strage planet, leaving the captured Frank (our hero) and a tiny glowing blob in a cage labeled "THE DEADLIEST ORGANISM IN THE UNIVERSE" (known as Maw) as the only survivors. Aware of the risks, but concerned about traveling around alone, Frank hooks the strange blob to a plasma leash from the wreckage. Making their way towards the communication tower in the distance, they must escape from the bounty hunters out to cage them, as well as the unknown dangers of the new planet they are on...
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Twisted Pixel Games, working in conjunction with the Galactic Council, mistakenly let The Maw escape from his quarantine early Monday afternoon. Scientists predict the destruction of all life in the galaxy "probably by next Wednesday." Twisted Pixel's CEO Michael Wilford responds: "Real sorry about that. That's totally my bad." Twisted Pixel refused further questions, instead announcing the award-winning game's release date, price point, and website location. The Maw is the company's first original IP, a product of monumental effort by a passionate and loving team, and also their first venture into galacticide.

Release Date
The Maw is coming on January 21st to Xbox LIVE® Arcade. The game will be localized for a wide range of languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. Pleas for help in any of these languages have all gone ignored by this one-eyed purple beast of the apocalypse, currently measuring the size of a basketball.

Price Point
The Maw will be available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD). "We set out from the very beginning to create the most content-rich and impressive game that we could for ten bucks and 150 megabytes," said CCO and Director Josh Bear. "There are over 900 animations, 1000 sound effects, 25 music tracks, 200 visual effects, and 150 models, making this an incredible value for your $10… in the time that we have left." Bear then wept bitterly.

2GB == 150MB
The Maw will weigh in at a slender 150MB due to the superpowers of Granny 3D and its stupefying 85:1 compression ratio for animation data. Without it, The Maw would require more than 2GB of space, a size more attributable to retail titles. "I don't think we could have done it without Granny," says CTO Frank Wilson. "The simplicity of integrating the technology into our engine, the artist-friendly tools, and the brilliance of their compression algorithms are unbeatable."

Unlockable Free Premium Theme
The Maw will offer the rare opportunity for players to win a free premium theme as an in-game unlockable. The only way to get the theme (and free gamerpics too) is to play The Maw and find them.

Website
www.WhatIsTheMaw.com has officially launched today, featuring additional information about the game, downloadable wallpapers, and more. The site was created by SBS Studios, a web design firm with a focus on the website needs of game development companies.
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Got an email just now about this game coming out next week for 800 points. I'm not so sure about the press release putting all of the value of the game in the graphics instead of the gameplay, but I'll give the demo a show next week.
 
Oh fuck yes. Been looking forward to this since I saw gameplay videos back in the summer. It seems like to have the style of 3-D platformers from generations past, which of course is almost a good thing. More than likely buying this next week; I was getting worried about my MSPoints expiring from the DreamCar contest before this came out, so I'm happy :)
 
I do remember seeing this somewhere too. Oh yeah, I think it was one of the top indie games at PAX. Seemed very interesting that's for sure.
 
And here I was thinking they made an XBLA game out of the last level of Halo 1. I feel a little disappointed.
 
i bit after playing the demo.
pretty solid game. the mechanics are solid, the art design is good. graphics are nice.
the sound is far above par for an xbla game.
not sure how long it is but after 30 minutes of play time it seems worth the 800 pts. seems like something id expect them to charge more for.

for those playing the demo, if you unlock the game after it ends you continue playing.
there are small additions to the mechanics as you play on so expect more depth in that regard.
 
I bit. I unlocked the full version from within the game and it just unpaused the game and let me continue, and also gave me the achievement I had earned in the trial. :D
 
This is only the second or third game to ever make me have to purchase it after the trial was over. The other two contenders, CC and A Kingdom for Keflings.

This isn't counting stuff I instantly bought without regard, such as Castlevania, BC:R, Duke Nukem 3D, ect.

Very fun game so far, very well done. Great graphics and gameplay so-far, and I look forward to finishing this game up.
 
I went ahead and bought it as well. Nice demo and my daughter didn't want me to stop playing yet. What choice did I have? ;)
 
I bought it as well. I really like it.

Uh I tried articulating my thoughts on why I like it, but they just sounded horrible; more insightful thoughts later.
 
I freakin' loved the demo, so I bought the full game! It's like a flashback to Spyro on the old PSOne! Not sure how much play I'll get out of the full thing but I played it more last night than Fallout 3!
 
[quote name='UltimoRey']I liked the demo, probably gonna buy, but wanna know the length of the game.[/QUOTE]

8 levels. If the first level is any indication, 2-3 hours total if you try to find everything there may be to find.

I purchased the game after playing the demo. I'm on level 2 now. I rarely purchase arcade games that aren't remakes/ports or continuations of old franchises like Mega Man 9 was, but I like this one so far.
 
[quote name='Matt Young']8 levels. If the first level is any indication, 2-3 hours total if you try to find everything there may be to find.

I purchased the game after playing the demo. I'm on level 2 now. I rarely purchase arcade games that aren't remakes/ports or continuations of old franchises like Mega Man 9 was, but I like this one so far.[/QUOTE]

I would say more about 5-6 hours in the length department. Its taken me about 3 and a half hours to get through the first 5 levels but then again, I've also been tracking down everything to eat
 
I downloaded/played the demo it seems pretty cool but not really a purchase for me. I'll check gamerankings and see whats its clocking on there.
 
I picked it up, and it was well made, but very easy (no way to lose, actually), and very short. I'd say it took me about 4 hours total to complete, and I found 100 on all but 2 levels.

My biggest problem with the game is that there was no challenge at all. I never once felt stumped, and it felt like I was basically just walking through the levels. There was no problem solving skills needed. No twitch skills needed. No skills needed at all, really. Not that I mind and easy game, but the Maw was just too easy.

Had I known it would be so short and easy, I wouldn't have bought it. It's not worth owning, since I'll never bother playing it again.
 
I just finished it and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is a puzzle game more than anything else and it's not really "Challenging" but I still think it's well worth the 10 bucks. The animation of the characters is FANTASTIC, much better than a lot of AAA games out there. It's very "kid friendly" in it's style and difficulty but it's charm is very appealing to adults as well. I loved calling out to my pet, Frank's plaintive "MAAAAAAWWW!" shouts were great. It's definitely a "warm and fuzzy" type of game without being cloying or saccharine. I hope to see a sequel because I really liked these characters.

I'm REALLY happy with this reward-the-player-with-a-premium-theme-for-finishing aspect, I hope to see more of that!

If you're looking for challenging, hardcore gaming then look elsewhere, but "The MAW" is definitely worth the 10 smackers in my book.
 
Bought this Wednesday, played 2 levels that day, then like 4 levels last night, and finished it today. I agree with others in that it wasn't challenging but it was kind of nice to just have an easy, fun game. I think this game is more of a technical achievement for quality on XBLA above anything else, as it looks really nice to be from such a small developer. I would say it took anywhere from 15-20 minutes to beat each of the 8 levels, with getting 100% on each (on some of them, I missed one thing, so I had to go searching for it.) The achievements are easy, which is never a bad thing, the only one I don't have is the "play during the Maw's six meal times," one. So yea, I might not play it much again, but I don't regret spending 800 MSP on it.
 
Well this game is from the same school of thought as Kingdom for Kelflings. There is no real challenge and no way to really fail. The fun is just in playing it and interacting with it until it's over.
 
Apparently you can unlock a theme in the game. Even if i didn't like the demo, id buy it. Just to give props for them doing it.
 
[quote name='homeland']Apparently you can unlock a theme in the game. Even if i didn't like the demo, id buy it. Just to give props for them doing it.[/quote]
This would've been a nice reason for Jonathan Blow to patch his game to give away the premium theme he put up on XBLM instead of whining about it.

I've beaten four levels, I think, and I'm enjoying it so far. It has enough charm that I would like to see this become a series if the developers could come up with new transformations for Maw, though I like the fire-breathing levels a lot.
 
[quote name='Matt Young']I wish we had a rep system, so I could give the doc good rep for using the word "saccharine" in a sentence.[/quote]


Your acknowledgment is all I need.
 
I saw this pop up the other day and had no idea what it was. The reviews on metacritic were pretty solid and the fact that it is a well-made kid-friendly game (that adults can also enjoy) seals it for me. I haven't bought anything on XBLA for a LONG time but I'll probably get this. It sounds like something my 6 year-old would enjoy. That's assuming I can tear him away from LBP to check it out. He also hates the 360 controller now after playing the PS3 ;). If not, well, then, it will just be for me.

Edit - Well, whaddaya know, he just came in right now to my office and said he wanted to play the demo of "that Maw game". I told him I'd just buy it - he's thrilled! First I gots to unload some cheapy points onto my account (still have some of those $5 cards from Target ;)).
 
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Actually I might pick this up I just need some points. I got alot I want to buy though.

The Maw
UNO Rush - whenever it comes out
Outrun - whenever it comes out
Halo 3 - Mytic Map Pack
 
alright, how do you stop those worms guys that jump into the ground and then turn into a ballon? I need to eat it and I dont know how....
 
Pull out one of the bugs they're eating and drop him on the rock in the middle. One will come after it and slam into the ground, which Maw has to eat quickly.

Beat the game today and I like what they did for the last two levels to change things up and keep it from getting tedious. I think I just need to go back to the two or three levels that I didn't get 100% in and I should have almost every achievement.
 
Beat the game and I gotta say it was a great experience. Only thing I would like to see improved is the speed of the walking. The premium theme is really sharp too.
 
Ended up buying the game. 100%ed the first three levels thus far and got the fire and electricity achievements. Looking forward to the premium theme.
 
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