Maize (PC)

Maize is an adventure / puzzle / walking sim game about a corn maze, that old stand-by of rural America, but with a very important twist. The pun-tastically titled game is the second project developed by Canadian indie studio Finish Line Games, based in Toronto. It’s a short game, but it’s pretty much everything it advertises itself to be.

When the game begins, you wake up in the middle of a corn maze with no apparent exit. Problem is, some of the corn is not only alive, but sentient, and quite capable of moving on its own, thank you very much. You can find all sorts of useful items such as vise grips, keytags, and of course, incredibly stale English muffins to help you on your way. The inventory system is blissfully simple: Items you no longer need disappear, and everything else is on a simple rotating list of items you can select from using the shoulder buttons on your controller (or whatever key you choose). Oh, and there's also a sarcastic, grumpy Russian Teddy Ruxpin lying about who accompanies you once you help him to get his gear together.

You'll piece together the story over time by collecting various files and documents about a grand, over-spendy experiment by a foolish, careless co-leader of a wealthy corporation. One of their major projects ended up creating the sentient corn in question. It's up to you to delve deeper into the mystery presented by going along and seeing what there is to see in their extensive underground complex, piecing together a picture of just how this all happened. For example, the two scientists who head the corporation left sticky notes for one another all over the place; mostly about the absurd expenditures one of them is racking up (such as a solid gold toilet).

Maize is controlled using a keyboard (it is a PC game), and it also has controller support. I used an Xbox One controller to play the game myself. Note, however, that controller support is somewhat limited, and does not yet work in menu screens.

The graphics are really well done (especially for an indie game), if a bit repetitive. There's really only so much you can do with the concept of a corn maze on a rundown farm, or a suspiciously empty(?) office complex. Interactibles in the environment are helpfully highlighted when you mouse over them, helping to avoid the old “hunt the pixel” problems from days of yore. The sound is pretty solid, with appropriately creepy ambient music and crisp sound effects.

 


Summary

Overall, Maize is a bizarre, somewhat trippy take on the genre with a good sense of humor. It’s well worth checking out if that's your sort of game, but at a current price of $20, you might want to wait until it goes on sale, as it’s still quite short, and not entirely free of bugs (indie games of this sort rarely are). All in all though, it’s a few hours’ worth of good fun. (Review by Eric Kei)


Comments:
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2017-07-11 23:31:58... - Breahna

key please me


2017-07-03 08:00:14... -

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2017-06-29 04:48:04... -

key pliss men


2017-06-27 22:43:53... - Viktor

hu


2017-06-27 12:28:47... -

good


2017-06-10 14:45:47... - mohamed

Hi I would be more than happy to test this game and review it!


2017-06-05 20:49:18... - kavics

good game


2017-06-04 05:11:31... - Huelisson

key plz


2017-06-02 10:51:12... -

What is the key?


2017-05-26 01:48:50... - Wilson

me puedes pasar la key porfa


2017-04-28 07:24:48... -

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2017-04-27 00:08:51... - Ange

key


2017-04-25 02:04:55... -

asds


2017-04-17 07:39:28... -

key


2017-04-16 09:27:03... -

sasasa


2017-04-08 22:27:40... -

Good Pagina Is Key Pls :3


2017-04-07 18:42:54... -

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2017-04-04 11:56:54... -

bgf


2017-04-03 18:50:45... - Donkey

key


2017-04-01 15:05:24... -

vavv


2017-03-29 19:15:57... - Isis

key pls


2017-03-23 03:24:42... - Diego

jogo parece ser otimo


2017-03-21 22:37:42... - tyny

how to get the game ???


2017-03-21 21:59:54... -

NICE GAME


2017-03-20 15:49:53... -

I would really like to test this game and show my friends


2017-03-18 10:40:22... -

Adelin


2017-03-17 14:04:58... - Kacper

Hi game


2017-03-16 22:48:32... - Dabaking

Hi I would be more than happy to test this game and review it!


2017-03-16 22:43:03... - Zach

I will like to test it


2017-03-16 16:37:27... - Vlad

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2017-03-16 16:34:03... - Vlad

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2017-03-15 07:48:41... -

hello will you?


2017-03-13 22:13:41... -

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2017-03-13 17:41:08... -

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2017-03-11 02:56:34... - James

cool


2017-03-10 23:52:28... -

super!


2017-03-10 19:59:00... -

hg


2017-03-10 14:51:35... - Michel

how to get access to this game guys ?
i would like to test it...


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