I have said before, I like Snake games. Ever since I played the famous Nibbles game as a kid, I’ve loved them. Some are worse than others, of course. This definitely isn’t one of them.
The reason I’m doing a review of the Lite version in specific is for two different reasons. One, I only had enough points to get the Lite version. Two, this is a bit of a different game than the full version in the sense it doesn’t have as much while still being very complete. It’s perfect for more casual players, or for people who don’t wanna spend 240 points on the full version, because in the end, they’re snake games and not everyone’s bag.
But if these games are your thing, these are definitely among the better ones I’ve seen. I say “these” because there’s no difference in the engine itself, just the content.
This particular version boasts 90 levels, 5 game modes, great music and 4 player battles. Now, that’s a hell of a lot of content for 80 points.
The graphics are slick and as detailed as a snake game needs to be, and the frame rate never falters running at a full 60 frames per second all the time. The game IS in 3D, but you don’t really see that so much. There are multiple camera options which all work and work well. But I prefer the Aerial option just because it allows you to see the screen all at once. But that’s just me, give them all a try if you want. There are 3 different courses each consisting of about 8 different stages with each difficulty having their own unique courses. So with 3 difficulty levels, 3 courses apiece with 8 stages apiece along with bonus stages that you get when you make it through all 8 stages without dying, there’s a hell of a lot in this for the price. And there are the multiplayer battles, but this doesn’t have Xbox Live support, so I’m not even going to get into those aside from saying that there are 2 modes for 2 to 4 players : Battle mode where it’s just a free for all and the last one standing wins. And a Suffocation mode where you have to trap the other players. But that’s as far as I know because there is no Xbox Live support (which is actually understandable for a game like this because this is definitely a game where ANY amount of lag would absolutely devastate the gameplay) and there are no bots. Which would have been a very welcome addition, because it’s very likely that I’ll NEVER play the multiplayer modes just because of that.
The sound effects themselves are terrible, but … mercifully can be either adjusted or just flat out turned off. Hearing the developer say “Quick move!” and “Oh no!” was a bit much and very irritating. And the snake’s voice isn’t much better sounding like a 3 year old child. The only sound effect I really hear anymore is the sound you get when you die and the little bloop you get when you snag one of the targets. The music is excellent however, fairly varied and never gets old to me. Unfortunately, the Lite version doesn’t have the music player that the full version has. But that’s not really a big deal in the end.
The gameplay is about as flawless as one can get with the controller. Which, that’s really the game’s only downfall. The fact you have to play it with that useless 360 controller. The developer compensated for this the best he could however in the fact rather than having to use the analog sticks which doesn’t really work for a game like this, or the completely worthless directional pad you can use the face buttons which provide MUCH better precision. But, much like the controls in a first person shooter … they’re no replacement for a keyboard. The full 240 point version has support for a keyboard (except, understandably in multiplayer) and when I manage to get the full version I’m damned well going to get a USB keyboard because I can’t stand the controller for this game. It requires too much in the way of precision to play WELL. Now, don’t get me wrong here. The controller works great and plays the game excellently. But I’m very very picky.
And while I’m on the subject of the controls, let’s get to the level design. It’s excellent. The levels ramp up in difficulty at a very smooth pace always providing a bit of a challenge but never really seeming impossible just because of the way the level progression is structured. The bonus levels (from the ones I’ve gotten to) do ramp up quite a bit, but that’s because they’re bonus levels. I prefer to play on the difficult levels personally just because they’re the most interesting. But they’re all great. And that has a lot to do with the excellent control. And it also has options (which it’ll bring up if you tend to die a lot) to adjust the snake speed 3 levels from slowest to normal and visual guides on the lower difficulty levels. There’s an option to just play the game, which brings you to the courses and stages I mentioned earlier, a survival mode that’s a hell of a lot of fun where you just get longer and longer and see how long you can survive, and a “Kid Mode” where there’s a 3 second pause before you actually die designed for younger kids.
This also has internet rankings for your high scores, which is done in a way I haven’t seen before. To actually get your score on the internet, it gives you a key to enter in on the website (which I haven’t done yet) and THAT”S how you get your scores posted. But it makes me wonder if someone out there made a key generator or something just to spam the high score list with crap.
8.5 – If you’re a snake game fan, this is definitely worth the money. And even if you’re not a fan, it’s still worth it. Think of it as kind of a shareware version of the full thing, you can get this just to get the overall feel of the game and get the full version later on. Or if you’re just a casual player and don’t wanna spend the 240 points on the full version, this definitely has the content to fit the bill. Me personally, I’m going to eventually get the full 240 point version because it has 300 levels, high difficulty levles, faster speeds, 9 game modes and most importantly : USB keyboard support. But I don’t regret the 80 points spent on this because this is a great introduction to the game.
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