Repetitive death was never so funny…
Sometimes, a game has a big influence on you and your daily life, and you know nothing about it. Swarm is a great case in point for me: herding small groups of tiny blue “pellets” with arms and legs called Swarmites, avoiding danger and racking up points, you´d be forgiven for thinking that I was describing a Pikmin/Lemmings hybrid designed for a cheap release. But in truth, Swarm does far more than first glances could possibly convey.
You control your little band of blobby dudes through a variety of hazards by moving the left stick, much like you would in Overlord, but without the differing ability groups. You see, the first mistake made is to think that Swarm is a puzzler – it isn´t, it´s actually a multiple-organism platformer disguised as a different genre. You can move, you can sprint, you can jump, you can even do a great little “Swarm-pyramid” stacking move to reach higher objectives. You need to move your little fellas round a variety of pitfalls, pratfalls, jumps and dangers to get to the safety of the exit at the far end of the level, but with a huge twist – you need to be racking up the points as you do so. 
And the points quickly prove themselves to be the, well, point – your score dictates whether you progress to the next level or not. Now, in their most basic form, points are accumulated by collecting little DNA bubbles, helices, and also offing your little comedy buddies. Yep, that´s right – sometimes you have to wipe out your little fellas to keep your score up, as you´ll gain point multipliers if you can keep the score totting up. However, sometimes certain level sections require a minimum number of Swarmites (that word looks a lot like Marmite to me…) to progress, so you can´t just indiscriminately off your chums to keep the points flowing, despite the regular respawn points littering a level.
Sounds tricky, but in reality Swarm is a very clever balancing act between beating a level and keeping the points going, and the real charm is the whole grisly death mechanic. These little chaps really can be offed in a wide variety of ways, each of which is as comical as the last (and watchable close up in the title menu!). You even get in-game medals for mass suicides, although this does kill any chance of hitting the needed score for a level…
Graphically, its pretty cool – the detail taken to depict the deaths borders on the creepy, but the dangerous rat runs and platforms which make up the levels all look pretty good. Each death (see? I´m getting obsessed with them now) is also accompanied by a suitably gruesome noise too, and the overall sound quality is pretty good.
The only shame is, if you can´t be arsed with the scoring, the game cuts you off too quickly – you really need to be planning each level as you go, maintaining your multipliers and moving forward. And too often, the difficulty level spikes mid level and you find yourself losing all your hard work, which can sometimes get pretty frustrating. And even then, the ten levels on offer are´nt really enough for the price – let´s hope for a free expansion to bolster the shelf life a little.
But underneath it all, Swarm is still pretty good fun – blending old school platforming with score attack-style gameplay works well, and many gamers will find enough to obsess over to keep them happy for a rainy afternoon.
And let me finish with this: I recently have been catching myself creating groups of Blu-Tack pellets on my desk, then stabbing them with pens, flattening them with rulers, squeezing them back into one big blob, and flicking them off into the bin. You tell me that Swarm hasn´t had a bigger psychological effect than I first realised……
The Bad: A bit short; repetitive; boring for those who don´t get obsessed with scores; shows its hand quite early; at times it´s crushingly tough
Bronze Y Award