WARP- Xbox Live Arcade

WARP is a strange beast. On the surface it's a puzzle game cut from the same cloth as Valves exceptional Portal series. It's setting, it's premise, all reek of Apature influence. Yet spending little more than 5 minutes with WARP suggests otherwise. It's an odd game to review, but I'll do my best.

Kicking off this months Xbox Live House Party, WARP is 1200 MS points. That's more a comment on the extortionate prices of a certain military shooters DLC bundles, but I digress.

WARP places you in the shoes of a weird alien thing named Zero. As the game begins, you witness scientists performing surgery on Zero, ridding him of his unique warping abilities (THAT'S WHERE THE TITLE COMES FROM!!!) and making him miserable, and downright lazy. As he reclaims his powers, he seeks revenge on the scientists who've wronged him, and escape the facility, aiding any and all aliens he may come across.

It may sound straight forward on paper, but it's not. The warping ability offers a fresh opportunity for puzzles, but that opportunity's not taken. Instead, we're offered a pseudo-Metal Gear Solid sneak combat type thing. If you get spotted, you're gonna die. Your ability to attack is limited to warping into your enemies, and blowing them up from the inside, by wiggling the right stick as fast as you can. It's satisfying to watch, but unsatisfying to create. Let it be noted that the game is possible to complete without killing a single soul. An achievement is your prize for doing so, so consider that when you're thinking about watching a hilarious explosion animation.

You have the ability to upgrade Zero using grubs that you collect on your adventure. You can make him faster, for example, so it's worth seeking out the grubs just to stop Zero moving at snails pace.

WARP's a bit of a looker, certainly in the top tier of arcade titles in terms of aesthetics. the facility is clean and shiny, Zero looks...almost liquid like. The scientists are very cartoon like, which adds to the hilarity of the explosions. All the scientists wear masks, however. Which I suppose is a way of getting around creating separate faces for each individual.

On the hole, then, WARP is a fun game. It's a fun game in general. The combat may be a bit grating at times, but the pay off is worth it. It's a great way to kick off the House Party season.

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is coming up within the next few days. Imma grab some pizza before I sit down with that one.

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