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As kids, most had a great fascination with small critters. Remember the local fair. Your parents bought you a wristband to ride virtually everything. After making yourself thoroughly nauseous from riding the sand spinner 15 times, it was time to win some prizes. You would shoot hoops, squirt water at the target to make your horse go faster and throw softballs to dunk the clown. After all that physical exercise, the real choice began. Should you trade up the five spider rings for a gold fish? On the other hand, did you take the easy route and stay at the duck pond where every yellow duck is a guaranteed winner? Better yet, could you get your Dad to buy some gummy worms, cotton candy, and a slurpy before Mom comes back from the long bathroom line?
Snails is a variation of the Worms game. Instead of fighting people, tanks or planes, the battle is fought with energetic snails. Each snail has its own unique personality, helping build the narrative being told during each snail's turn. On any given turn, the player can assess the situation with the look button before moving and firing. During those last two action phases, the timer starts, making getting close to the target vital. Choose the weapon that will meet your needs, shoot, and hopefully (depending on how many seconds are left) get out of your target's return fire range. As the game progresses with each team victory, more weapons and useful tools are added to your arsenal, such as cricket and fleas. Choosing the correct weapon for the job makes all the difference. By using the Bazooka from a sheltered location, a snail is able to take out most of the enemy on the other side of a large structure. For those unfortunate teammates sitting on the low ground, receiving direct hits that would result in a quick demise are not their only option. Fortunately, like all games of life, there is an equally effective countermove. There are three paths of difficulty to keep game players challenged, each running through an entertaining storyline. Besides traditional game play, there are also death match and two player modes. Both let you purchase your weapons of choice and let you decide how many snails are on the team.
Once again, this is another title confirming the wise decision of buying a Pocket PC. Combined with excellent sound, vivid cartoon backgrounds, believable snail behavior, and lively strategy/action playability, Snails is a definite ?must have?.
Snails is available for ARM, MIPS and SH3 processors for $11.95 from Peter
Balogh's web site |
