Swarm XBLA Review

Look at those idiots, they
have no idea the horrors
about to befall them.

Swarm is a cute but surprisingly gory strategy-action game where you're tasked with getting as many of your minions from the start of a level to the end. Along the way you dodge all manner of death and will lose untold hundreds of Swarmites but they'll give their lives happily for the good of Mama, their queen/colony. Eventually you'll take over the planet and the game ends, it is short but felt like a good length with plenty of variety and challenge throughout.

Completing the games 12 missions isn't the end for the Swarmites though, their existence is entirely predicated on their individual extinction. One of the most fun things in the game is watching the Swarmites meet their grisly demise, and the game encourages this with the inclusion of Death Medals, an ingenious inclusion that makes those attempts where you fail not frustrating at all as all those deaths have just helped you make progress somewhere else. I was never once frustrated playing this game, which is not something that happens often!

Overview

Swarm must have taken some
inspiration from the earlier Lemmings

Mama appears on a nameless planet and starts sending out Swarmites to harvest points, DNA and whatever else it can use to grow and spread across the planet. The Swarmites themselves seem to have no fear of death and bumble around with a dimwitted expression doing what they must for the good of Mama. They sort of remind me of the Lemmings games where it is up to the player to look after them as best as they can, but ultimately some (or a lot) will die for the rest to succeed. The gameplay is a lot different with you having direct control over your Swarmites but the idea of trying to help a group of bumbling idiots across a map as best you can is the same.

Each level has a points goal you need to meet to help Mama grow and reach the next level. Even the higher points goals are never out of reach and are easily obtained after trying the level out once or twice. I only ever needed to retry a level a couple of times because I didn't reach the points goal. There are also hidden collectible DNA strands on most levels that you need a number of to unlock the boss stages, but these are easily found and you will almost certainly have enough to unlock them without backtracking to get more.

The lucky surviving Swarmites returning to Mama

Rational
The game is actually a relaxing play as very early on you realise death is barely a setback. Even dying propels you forward, making progress on a variety of Death Medals. The game has struck a clever balance between wanting to protect your Swarmites to make further progress in the level and not minding when a bunch of them have just been picked off by traps. There are eggs throughout the levels which will restock the Swarmites you lost previously can keep you going, only to have your group decimated again later down the road. It's practically impossible to get your whole group through the various traps and platforming without losing a few here and there and the game knows it.

Deaths are inevitable

You can control your group in two main ways, moving them with the left stick and spreading them out or clustering them together with the triggers. Both have benefits in different situations. Spreading your Swarmites out over a large area will mean less deaths from traps and explosion damage but makes platforming and dodging things like fire and electricity difficult. If you cluster everyone together, it's easier to platform and dodge geysers of fire, but one trap or explosion in the right place will devastate your group.

Eventually your Swarmites get the ability to stack on top of each other by holding the cluster trigger and jumping at the same time. You get the impression they aren't planning on it happening they've just been told to cluster and jump by some invisible hand. You can create a fairly impressive tower of Swarmites, all looking at you with a blank stare, this way. This tower will help you reach higher areas or manipulate your way through really tight pathways, but the Swarmites don't have the best balance so you'll have to take your time. Throughout the game you're tasked with using the different mechanics to get through the levels and make it back to Mama, and I had fun the whole way through.

I love the smell of burning Swarmites in the morning

Summary
The game could be viewed as a little masochistic, with you being responsible for thousands of dead Swarmites, but they seem to have no cognition or sense of self-awareness and show no emotion. They press on worrying about nothing other than what is good for the swarm and in that they are doing right by their Mama. You are far enough removed from the violence that you don't really see it and the Swarmites seem to be filled with nothing but a blue ooze so it is never that gory.

I would happily advocate this game to just about anyone. It's a fun time, not frustrating and long enough to be worth it's asking price. The levels are varied and you encounter different traps and trials along the way and figuring out what combination of abilities will get you through with the least (or most) deaths remain interesting the whole way through.