Review Conditions
Snake Deluxe from Crazysoft was installed on a Nokia E71, an S60 3rd edition FP1 device.
Installation
Installation of the .sisx file is straightforward, using the Nokia Application Installer in the Nokia PC Suite.
First View
I have been a huge fan of the snake game on the Nokia 3360 which was one of my first mobiles. Since then, I have not played the Snake game, until recently, when it was introduced in Gmail as the old Snakey! When I got a copy of Snake Deluxe 2 I was eager to see if I will still be fascinated with this simple yet immensely popular game.
Main Review
Snake Deluxe 2 doesn’t deviate from the usual game play of the snake eating the fruit and getting longer and moving faster as the game progresses. Your challenge is still to make snakey eat the most number fruits, thereby gaining points before the snake becomes too long for you to manage. But the creators of Snake Deluxe have added many new features and extra game plays that make it very interesting.
There are 3 modes, Easy, Hard and Adventure. While the Easy and the Hard modes are for primarily for honing your skills, only the Adventure mode lets you complete levels, unlock further levels and areas and eventually ‘finish’ the game.
There are 4 different ‘areas’, [forest, countryside, swamp and frozen land] each having 8 levels. In the Adventure mode, only one area is unlocked when you begin to play. The 8th level in each area is called the Boss level, which when completed lets you open the next area.
You can pick any level you want to play in a area when unlocked. This way, I got a flavor of the various levels enjoyed playing in a variety of terrains, against different obstacles.
You cannot just make snakey loiter around without eating a fruit. There is a clock that counts down to zero before which the snake must eat the next fruit. But I was surprised to see that you still get to accumulate points (fewer) even if you do not eat a fruit. Sometimes a clock appears on the screen, which if eaten extends the count down time.
There is an information bar at the bottom of the the screen. The number of lives left are shown as small red dots over the points. The snake gets an additional life if you eat the heart, increases in size and speed when it eats the meat and reduces size when it gulps down the soda. This is especially useful when the snake gets too long to manage.
A pleasant background music plays while you play the game. The game can be abandoned half way and you loose the score. But levels that you have completed still stay. However, if the snake dies, all the completed levels are lost and you have to start again.
Handling
It seemed to me that Snake Deluxe 2 was primarily developed for S60 5th Edition and then ported onto the 3rd edition. There could have been more uniformity in the user interface.
It took me a while to find out how to access the the exit menu on the main screen and the exit menus on some of the initial screens. Some menus can be activated using numbers while some by selection using the OK button.
I tried closing the application using the top right menu in the play and it threw the application into an indeterminate state where it couldn’t be used. I got the message “time’s up” all the time and all levels were locked. In another instance after exiting the application and opening it again, the level was completed and all locations were opened up. And the language had changed!The only way was for me to remove and reinstall Snake Deluxe 2 again. But it worked after some time. There is something to be fixed, surely.
Weaknesses
I would have liked to see Multiple profiles. This was sorely missing.
Conclusion
Even after several years, the snake game is very addictive. When interesting features and challenges, Snake Deluxe 2 kept me indoors for many hours last weekend playing at it. The game is very challenging yet engaging enough to keep you going till all the 32 levels are completed. Its good stuff and I would give it 4 of 5. Snake Deluxe 2 can be downloaded here for trial or purchase.
