Writings of Mass Deduction

I suppose the closest comparison is fl0w for the PS3, but “Monsters Swimming” is not a clone and has a personality (and gameplay) all its own.

Several aesthetic differences are immediately obvious. Graphics are sharper and more dangerous looking, with audio to match, as opposed to the light mood fl0w engenders. Under the hood you’ll notice significant gameplay changes, too. For example, controls are dramatically more precise, using the analogue sticks for movement rather than the floaty and imprecise sixaxis motion controls like the PS3 (and did anyone ever tell Sony that “sixaxis” is grammatically incorrect, and that it should properly be “sixaxes”? But I digress…). Enemy behaviour is also different, with fl0w playing a bit like XBLA title Feeding Frenzy (you’re a terror to smaller enemies, and terrorised by larger enemies); “Monsters Swimming” has all enemies being antagonists, with smaller ones simply offering less of a threat than larger ones. This means you’ll have to use your tail to destroy the small ones before consuming their battered remains, which on a cluttered screen ramps up the challenge level somewhat. It’s a nice game that innovates rather than copying wholesale, and for 80 Microsoft Points is definitely worth checking out.

Here’s what the developer (Monster Bite Games) has to say about the game:

“In this twin stick action game you will need to avoid monsters and then smash them to bits with your axe so you can eat them. Monsters Swimming has 25 levels that become more and more challenging and 5 challenge levels that will test your avoiding, smashing and eating skills. So prepare to hack and devour.”