Week in Arcade: Warp

The XBLA House Party begins with this $10 stealth puzzler.

Warp

It’s hard to imagine who thought bringing Warp to life with such a vicious streak was a great idea. It’s not as if this is a personal aversion to violence, but here it feels tremendously out of place. This vengeful little alien isn’t fun to control on this bloodbath tale of revenge. He’s a grimy little villain with an odd obsession for gummy bears. The gimmick is the title, Warp able to zip about the map and imitate objects to avoid his captors. Implementation is strictly handled and precise, making motion a breeze and unintentional mistakes few. Power-ups keep breathing life into the creature while keeping repetition low. Puzzles vary themselves enough to keep the concept fresh too. Warp is quite a joy to play, short of that bizarre obsession with blowing people up.