There are a few action heavy sequences that require good timing and a deft touch to make Six move just the right way that I failed simply because I had to think about which button to press in the heat of the moment. Tarsier’s gamesmiths settled on an unusual configuration of buttons for crouching, grabbing hold of objects, running, and jumping that I found unintuitive to start and with which I never grew completely comfortable. The only part of the game that occasionally weighed things down for me was, strangely, the control scheme. But in the moment it rendered me motionless for a few long seconds as I tried to process what had just transpired and come to terms with its gloomy implications. Looking back, it probably oughtn’t have proved so shocking, given the progression of events up until that point. One particularly haunting scene near the end of the game left me literally wide-eyed and mouth agape. You’ll desperately want her to best her aggressors.Įven as the story presents observations on the nature of gluttony and how it transforms those who fall under its spell, it also shows us how acts of the greedy can impact those who are left wanting in their wake. The odds are stacked against her, and she frequently stumbles from exhaustion and hunger. The style, however, is not without substance. In its way, it’s one of the prettiest games I’ve played this year – which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising, given Tarsier’s previous collaborations with Media Molecule on the LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway games, which possess a similar visual panache. Little stutters in character movements and occasional sequences with a forced diorama perspective make it feel like we’re looking at a set filled with wonderfully detailed miniatures and models. Tarsier’s level designers and animators have cooked up a unique look and feel that faintly recalls clay-based stop-motion animation. As Six explores – the bulk of the game’s three hours is spent helping her sneak, run, jump, and climb around enemies and obstacles while solving a series of simple navigational puzzles – she makes many ghastly discoveries, including other children trapped in cages, bloody meat bags being ferried about on hooks, and depressing little gnome-like creatures who scurry away so fast that sometimes it’s hard to be sure that they were even there.īut for all its creepiness, it’s also strangely beautiful. It is inhabited by many disturbing humanoid creatures, including a blind janitor with stubby legs and unnaturally long arms, a pair of disgusting, saggy-faced chefs who take a malevolent pleasure in hacking away at hunks of meat, and crowds of boated, disgustingly obese guests so obsessed with shoving food into their faces that they literally crawl over each other in an attempt to capture and devour Six should when she is unlucky enough to be noticed by them. Tarsier StudiosĪs suggested by its name, The Maw is a place of insatiable appetite. But, as quickly becomes evident, she has no shortage of courage and determination – both of which she will need in order to survive the ordeal ahead. She is alone and defenseless, armed only with a lighter to help illuminate the darker bowels of the boat. The game begins with an emaciated little girl named Six, clad only in a yellow raincoat, waking up inside a suitcase on a strange, creepy ship known as The Maw.
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