The Maw

In a gaming age where titles like Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and GTA IV are doing their level best to push the average length of games to well above the 30-hour mark, it's refreshing to have an original, charming and memorable game that can be polished off in a relaxing few hours, without the fear of redoing huge sections or having to perform gamepad miracles.

Irresistibly cute. [Feb 2009, p.84]

The Maw is the sort of game you'll play for an afternoon, giggling like a fool the whole time. There's not much more to it beyond that brief but satisfying flurry of amusement, unless you want to go back into each level to harvest all the Achievements, but not every game needs endless replay value. The Maw is charming, cheap and memorable enough that its short lifespan shouldn't put you off.

Average gameplay and an unforgettable main character merge in this short but endearing adventure.

The Maw is a very fun game with a great controls system. We can only regret the shortness of the adventure, because we really wanted to play more. That can be rectified with a great couple of new DLC. Nevertheless, The Maw is a joyful and fun experience. It's a candle while it lasts.

Whether it’s the cute aliens, the bright and impressive visuals, or the moments of humour, it’s hard to criticise the game too much.

With platforming games being somewhat of a rarity these days The Maw is a welcome addition to the Xbox Live library. The game is both charming and fun, especially the main character Maw. If you look beneath the charming surface you'll find quite an ordinary platforming adventure though. But with a reasonable price tag we can't but recommend this title for those in the mood for a new platforming experience.

An accessible platformer that bears more relation to Lemmings and Katamari than it does Mario. [Issue#43, p.114]

It's no classic, but this is still better value, and in some cases better quality, than shop-bought games.

While it lasts, it’s one of the better platformers available on XBLA, and the inability to die and general ease of progression make it ideal for very young gamers. [Mar 2009, p.92]

The Maw is a game that will probably appeal strongly to the younger set. For the rest of the populace, the game's lack of substance will make enjoying the world that Twisted Pixel Games worked hard to create so much harder.