While Microsoft may have hoped Community Games would provide the next leap forward in videogame creativity, XBLA still has more than enough of its own. Gamers need look no further than the slick action-adventure of The Maw for proof that it has not all been done before. The Maw is essentially a 'boy and his dog' tale about a couple of best friends just trying to get home; except, you are not really a 'boy' and your best bud is not exactly a 'dog'. You play an alien named Frank, just after the crash of the spaceship holding him captive. Also surviving the crash is a large, purple gelatinous mass with a singular eye and shark-like teeth, simply known as Maw. Newly emancipated, you notice that Frank has an electronic leash, of sorts, that he can use to walk Maw with or move other various objects.
Maw, on the other hand, has his voracious appetite as his most useful tool; eating just about anything creature that gets in his way. Together, Frank and Maw must use their combined 'talent's to traverse the planet's landscape and creatures, and evade capture. The concept is smart and the game makes solid use of it by providing a nice selection of prey for Maw to feed on. While some of the early animals are of the soft and cuddly variety, there is a definite food chain element to what Maw can digest. As Maw eats, he eventually grows larger and gains the ability to gnaw on larger animals in the world. Once or twice a level, there are animals that will alter Maw to give him additional abilities, like spitting fire or floating like a balloon. These additional skills wisely play into the puzzle elements in each level, along with Frank's ability to make it places the grounded Maw cannot.
Maw will eat just about whatever is in front of him, but there are several points in the game where you must use Frank's leash as a lasso and toss food into Maw's mouth from ledges above. The leash is easy to control, but some slow-moving chewing animations make tossing Maw food more enjoyable than walking him to each morsel. The platforming and puzzle solving is definitely on the light side, as the game never allows you to die or make a wrong decision. Instead, the game holds you back from reaching certain places until you solve the problem at hand correctly or feed Maw enough animals until he is large enough to move on. Levels tend to drag a bit toward the back half of the game, with the sweet spot for exploring Maw's powers on a particular level seeming about ten-minutes. When the levels expand to the twenty or thirty-minute mark, it feels needlessly stretched out. To that point, the game is among the easier titles you will find on XBLA, leaning toward a more casual audience. It is an unfortunate error in judgment on the part of the developers, as the game's slick concept would be a home run with the hard-core gaming audience if it put up more of a fight.
The last level, in particular, throws out all the inventive gameplay in lieu of a space shooter with floaty controls. It does not quite ruin the experience, but the game would be better off if they provided a challenging final level using all Maw's skills in a clever way. Thankfully it is unique enough to warrant a look, despite how easy it all is. The Maw is one of the better-looking XBLA titles, despite some basic, cartoony textures and a look that seems oddly borrowed from one of those College of Computer Technology ads you see on TV. The camera system could use a little more work, with a frustratingly limited capacity to tilt the view upward, but it gets the job done more often than it gets in your way.
The main character, Frank, looks eerily similar to the female alien character in sci-fi fantasy film Explorers, and the whimsical score occasionally harkens back to Congo Bongo, so it is clear the developers drew some inspiration from the eighties. The ability to call Maw closer to you he is not on the leash is handled with a blood-curdlingly annoying "Maaaaaw" call from Frank, which will lead you to turn down the sound after only the first or second time you hear it. You are definitely more likely to play the game for the concept rather than the audio/visual package. Completionists will find plenty of reason to go back for more, with downloadable bonus levels and plenty of hidden creatures to discover to reach the 100% eaten achievement. The Maw's clever concept deserves at least a cult following, even though the game itself needs a little more work. At the very least, The Maw earns enough good will to make you hope they pull it all together in a sequel that you would line up for if they make some slight improvements.
