Welcome to our review of Snakeybus, where the original Snake game from the oldest of mobiles gets a new lease on life.
Public transportation goes to extreme lengths!
Snakeybus is an absurd arcade-driving game and frantic score-chasing experience where the biggest danger is yourself! Wind through city streets, pick up as many passengers as you can and deliver them to their destination to increase your score AND the length of your bus!
Boost, jump, and steer around an obstacle course of your own making! Test your serpentine skills with various maps, modes, and bus types! All aboard the Snakeybus!
I think any of us that were once in possession of the iconic Nokia (and obviously other brands too) remember Snake. The silly little game where you were a snake, moved around the place and ate up the little dot to grow in size, your mission being to avoid eating your own tail and getting that dreaded Game Over screen.
Snakeybus is more or less the same, you are a “snake”bus that grows as you pick up passengers. Pick them up as in real life, bus stops all over the place. A place that resembles real-life traffic or a big city or the bedroom of a college student. Once you hit the max number of passengers, it is up to you to find the drop-off point, clear out the bus and start again.
Once you drive yourself in a bind, you can hopefully maneuver yourself in such a way to avoid stopping down completely as that loses the game. Sounds easier than it really is. The bus is actually quite silly to control and while I loved the mechanics very much, I did have my issues with the jumping mechanic as well as the drift. Now I do need to explain this properly as this game is actually not static but 3D.
That 3D aspect is what makes the game really hard in the beginning. Much like the real Snake game, the action requires some quirky hand-eye coordination but in a 3D mode, that eye coordination can mess up more than once. The camera does do a decent job at following the action, just that it was a little disturbing when you drove up and down ramps. The entire rooms spins at the same speed as the Snakeybus and that can be a nuisance.
A natural reaction would be to use the brake function, but in turn that reduces your jumping powers so much, it renders it nearly useless. Luckily the Snakeybus does not really drive off bounds so you get to drive at full speed if you so desire. I know it is a little contradictory, but when you play, this will make more sense. Needless to say, I had to force myself to ignore the cameras and the room around me, instead focussing on speed. Took me a few games to really pull this off.
Despite really having an awkward beginning and not really enjoying this game at first, I did not consider it a bad game. The lack of guidance might be more of an issue rather than its quirky gameplay. At first, you really are all on your own to figure out how it works. Yes, the game is basic, but when the bus is full, it is not always clear where to drive. Just a minor detail, but I made the mental note at the time of playing to really write about this in my review.
In conclusion, Snakeybus is what it is, a bizarre game that actually works. Despite not clicking with me at first, it did give me a few smiles. It could use a small introduction maybe?
