Snake Reloaded

Snake is one of those titles, like Pac Man and Tetris, that people can't help trying to update.

Whether it’s by adding fire-breathing reptiles and power-ups in Aztec Snake, or by throwing in boss fights in Snake Revolution, the results never quite seem to capture the addictive one more go nature of the classic design though.

And now it's Digital Chocolate that's having one more go at updating the formula.

Everyone knows Snake, so let’s skip the normal What’s this all about? introduction and get straight into the nitty gritty.

Snake Reloaded’s main story mode consists of four speed levels (difficulty) and 16 levels of multi-screen mazes, with the titular reptile now partial to eating golden statues and gems, rather than the usual pieces of fruit.

To add a bit of interest to the scoring, Digital Chocolate has added a system in which eating three of the same coloured gem in a row increases the score multiplier, although as the main focus is navigating through the levels, it’s not a very compelling addition.

In terms of structure, Reloaded follows Revolution’s lead in that it requires your snake to be a certain size before it can progress to the next level, with obstacles like locked doors, collapsing blocks, and teleports strewn around to keep you on your toes.

In an effort to reduce the amount of frustration from accidentally hitting your tail when you’re one step away from the exit portal, Snake Revolution doesn’t punish the player with instant death for failure either.

Instead the snake’s tail rapidly transforms into walls, which in theory should give the player the time they need to escape certain death.

It doesn’t always work this way however, with the stubborn reptile occasionally refusing to turn away to safety despite the imminent threat of certain death, which can lead to a very frustrating Game Over seconds away from completing a level.

Classic mode doesn’t seem to suffer half as badly from this issue as the main story, with controls tight and the gameplay just as addictive and compelling as ever.

In fact, it’s this mode that’s almost certainly going to end up as the most played – the controls and high-score driven gameplay still as addictive today as ever.

So while Snake Reloaded is an improvement on Snake Revolution in terms of graphics and extra features in the story mode, there’s no escaping this remains a nice extra on top of the meat that is classic Snake, rather than being any great improvement.