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Will072
232,453
TA Score for this game: 478
Posted on 25 April 11 at 13:38, Edited on 20 February 12 at 00:00 |
This review has 37 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Gameplay - 4/5
Swarm is a game with a fairly simple concept, get your little blue creatures along the course in search of DNA for "Mama" so that she can get bigger and more powerful. You take control of 50 Swarmites at the start of each level and you must guide them along destroying enemies, items and themselves in this mission to find DNA.
Seems easy enough and it really is! There is a score meter and a multiplier one too that you should try to keep going to maximise your score as much as possible. You can collect orbs, kill enemies and even sacrifice your own blue minions to keep this multiplier going en route to your destination. There are also checkpoints along the way and also little replenishing stations where more Swarmites will spawn if you aren't at the maximum of 50 in your posse.
Each level has 5 DNA strands to collect and also a target score that you must reach to move on to the next. Keeping the multiplier going is key to getting high scores but this can sometimes mean you have to move quickly through highly hazardous areas and you do not want to lose your last Swarmite or you will lose that multiplier and the progress since the last checkpoint.
The levels aren't particularly long though so you will soon find easy methods to do certain parts after a couple of tries although you will probably finish most on the first attempt.
The little blue Swarmite fellows are particularly entertaining when they die a death and there are a number of ways of them reaching their demise including being crushed, electrocuted and poisoned. This is what makes the game for me as it is a game you can play just to have the ability to send some gormless blue dipsticks to their death and have no consequence.
They are also rather handy for certain situations along the way and can bunch up tight, spread out to cover a large area and even make a moving tower out of themselves to help you past the obstacles you encounter.
The originality of this game is what earns it the score of 4/5 for gameplay though more than anything.
Replayability - 3/5
There are only 10 main levels and two boss battles which is a bit of a downside really as they could have made it a lot longer. You do, however, have the option to replay levels and complete speed runs to try and get top scores for the leaderboard system they have in place.
There is also another feature: Death Medals.
Every time a Swarmite dies a death, the method in which they die is recognised and tallied up towards Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of the Progressive Death Medals. There are also individual medals for the first occasion you kill a group or your last Swarmite known as Mega Death Medals and Death Medals respectively.
There is also the ability to hunt out all 5 DNA strands from each level had you not been able to obtain them on the first playthrough.
The lack of levels really makes the game suffer in terms of replay value otherwise it has all the right things.
Achievements - 2/5
For all you TA'ers that love their achievements, you will possibly be glad to know that this game will not give you much trouble in attaining the full 200.
There are a couple which require a little bit more patience and a degree of skill but nothing overly difficult and most will be gained through general progression of the game. (There are also a couple of avatar awards to be gained from this game.)
Summary
An action-packed destruction of a blue race which will provide you with hours of entertainment but not much of a challenge. I think that for the price there needs to be a little more content in the game because, once you are past the distractions of mass suicide to the poor blue aliens, you will see that there is not much else to the game and longevity is lacking.
I really enjoyed it but feel that it would not be worth a purchase at full price and is much more suited to 800MSP or less so when it goes on offer, that will be when to get it! 
I was really quite disappointed when the game and achievements were over and feel that they could have done something more to keep me enthralled that bit longer.
Overall Score - 3/5
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TakeTheToast
213,425
TA Score for this game: 478
Posted on 27 March 11 at 02:05, Edited on 27 March 11 at 05:11 |
This review has 23 positive votes and 5 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Review for Swarm
A game on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200mp ($15).
I got this game knowing very little about it, other than the fact that you control a group of blue guys at once. That right there peaked my interest, and after some time I was able to complete the "Story". After that, I decided to write a review seeing as how nobody else has. So, here you go.
Story- You play as many, many little guys called Swarmites searching for what I assume is "food" for their mother. The reason they are searching for "food" is to help their mother grow to get off of the planet. This is because the planet they are on is very dangerous and hard for them to live on without becoming extinct. As you would assume, looking for the "food" does not come easy and this is where you fight for survival.
Gameplay- You control up to 50 Swarmites and try to get to the end of the level with as much points as possible. To gain points you have to collect, destroy, and kill anything is sight... including your own Swarmites. But, if you lose all of your Swarmites you will have to go to a checkpoint and you will lose your multiplier.
The faster you get to the end the more points you will get and there is a specific amount of points you will need to pass the level. So this opens up more of a "Speed run" style of gameplay.
Since you will be losing a lot of Swarmites they also have Death Medals. These are categorized by bronze, silver, and gold, based on how you kill your Swarmites. It can be things from being burned and impaled to being poisoned and electrocuted.
Visuals- Nothing to complain about here, average Xbox Live Arcade graphics. But even though the camera follows from far away, the times it does zoom in you will notice the small things the creators added like animations and facial expressions.
Replay Value- Speed Run and Leaderboard junkies will have more replay value than others. But with specific scores to make, collectibles to get, and death medals to unlock, the game gets a nice replay value.
Achievements/Avatar Awards- There are 12 achievements and 2 avatar awards. The achievements are about a 5/10, they aren't really that bad but if you aren't the best at speed runs then it may be a little harder to obtain. The avatar awards are a Swarmite prop and a Swarmite hat. The prop was awesome but I can't see too many people "Wanting" to wear the hat.
Verdict- The game was solid, fun, and easy to play but I did not feel like it was worth 1200mp. I just felt like there wasn't enough content, with a small amount of levels and only 2 bosses. The game can be beaten (along with all achievements) in a few hours. On a bad note, there were occasions where my Swarmites would separate from each other and the game would not figure out which side to control. But, that only happened once or twice.
Don't get me wrong, I loved this arcade game. From its style to humor the game really grew on me, especially the "Do Not Press Y". Its just that 800mp would have been a much better price. With all that said, my only problem with the game was the decision on the price.
Thanks for reading.
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Twinkling82
70,304
TA Score for this game: 66
Posted on 05 August 12 at 00:08 |
This review has 7 positive votes and 4 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
This review was originally posted on my website, http://gamingirl.com
Only your imagination set boundaries on how to kill these small, blue and cuddly things, called swarmites. Now, your job is to get through the levels as fast as you can, while gathering as many points as you can.
Swarming is the definition of a collective behaviour of small insects or animals, a definition that Hothead Games have based the gameplay around in this charming XBLA title. In Swarm you control a swarm of little blue two-legged creatures called swarmites, moving around in unity with the collective goal of finding DNA strands for their “momma”, to help her grow.
Run, Swarmite, run!
There’s no story per se, so I will focus on gameplay and the funny quirks. To summarize, you have to get these cuddly mini aliens from point A to point B, but beware! The levels are filled with traps, fire, toxins, big exploding bugs, lava and not to mention; gaping, horrific abysses.
The essential part of the gameplay is maintaining a high enough multiplier to reach the goal with enough points to unlock the next level. That means you have to move pretty quick through the level, collecting strands of DNA and surviving with at least one of your swarmites. You are also rewarded with keeping your multiplier every time you lose a swarmite. But be careful not to lose your last swarmite, because then you fail and you’ll lose your multiplier and the points from last time your multiplier ran out.
Also, certain “buttons” requires a certain amount of swarmites to stand on, before you’ll be able to activate it. When you have reached the end of the level and are suck back up into mommy, there’s a time award awaiting – I got a 4.5 time bonus in a level, which multiplied my score with that, and suffice to say, that was my top score in that level.
Fun puzzler with great variation
Sounds and graphic is not something I would go haywire about. It’s above mediocre, a lot is happening on the screen at once, and the game doesn’t make a cough over this. Soundtrack is decent and suitably, nothing less, nothing more. Only issue I did experience was that the game totally froze my machine a couple times – a word of advice; in the level select screen, let the leaderboards load before jumping to next level, and you’ll avoid freezing. The developer is aware of the problem and we know they’re working with Microsoft on it as I’m writing this.
Swarm is heartbreakingly cute (check the video below), luckily enough the camera doesn’t go closeup with the swarmites while you are playing, so don’t worry about messing up the game because you get blurry vision from tears. The game focus on keeping your head cool, and keep the swarmites alive while running through the dangerous levels. It’s a little fun puzzler for the easy minded, yet still a challenge for braniacs, as they can chose to go for the top score on the leaderboards. So far, over 687 million swarmites has been harmed, killed and molested in unthinkable ways; check out the counter on the official website (http://www.swarmites.com/faq/) for current numbers.
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