It's easy to become attached to cute little swarmites.
The blue, brash, brainless beasties chitter and crawl at your command, and steering them through the ten perilous levels of Swarm is a real challenge.
So, when you have to sacrifice a few of the little blighters to continue it hurts a little - until you realise you get rewarded for burning, impaling, crushing or otherwise demolishing the cute, bug-eyes beasts with some shiny ‘death achievements’. After that, the game becomes a whole lot more fun...
A downloadable game for Xbox Live in the vein of Lemmings, Swarm tasks the player with steering a swarm (obviously) of tiny, brainless creatures from one end of a map to the other, fending of other beasts, pitfalls, spike traps and other horrors without getting the entire 50 swarmites killed.
Thankfully, there are little swarmite nests dotted everywhere throught the levels so – despite the often punishing difficulty – a little care and slow movement can be its own reward.
Graphically the game is pretty good looking - for a DLC game - and presents the varied levels the swarmites have to pass through in a great range of colours and lighting effects, as well as a funny cartoon style.
The level designs themselves are an eclectic mix, ranging from snow to lava and back, and present a good variety of challenges. The levels are also quite long, so you get a fair bit of gaming for your book.
The score and sound effects aren't quite so strong, however, and fail to leave an impression.
For the price, Swarm is an entertaining little puzzle game with plenty of replay value, and a decent challenge to it. Graphically the game is great fun to play and watch, and steering your swarmites personally - rather than Lemmings style, with girders and buttons - is a refreshing change. If you've got the cash, give it a look.
Score: 8/10
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