The APPera

Snood, yes THAT Snood arrives for the iPhone!

Snood ($3.99)

Essentially stemming from some Bust-A-Move roots, EA Mobile puts their iPhone magic to test in this classic game. You can call it a glorified match 3 if you want but know that this revolutionized gaming in the past. How well does this iPhone version play?

My Take

I’m not impressed with Snood.  It’s fun, and if you decide to buy this over Bust-A-Move, to each its own in my opinion.  For some reason it just feels rushed and not as polished as most of my favorite appsranted it’s a 3 match with a few variable “snoods” to mix the gameplay up a bit.  But I’m certain the direction and coding was cooked under pressure.

It just seems it was voted on, built, barely tested and rushed into the AppStore approval waiting game.   I have memories of Snood selling for 10 bucks at Best Buy, a boat load waiting for your hard earned Alexander Hamilton.  I decided to pass, but I happen to come across it again on my iPhone.

Presentation

The graphics are decent, not the best, but it’s fine.  I think the faces are a bit too contorted for the screen size.  Nevertheless, it’s exactly what the screenshots show.  I will note that the splash and UI screens are in landscape and the actual game is portrait with no options to switch.  While I’m not looking for options, I was under the impression it was landscaped.  They need to fix the splash screen/user interface to match the gameplay.

Game Play

It’s a match 3 app with random variables thrown in to help or hinder your gameplay, depending on your aim.   Touch and drag to aim the cannon, then tap the Snood tolaunch into the puzzle.  While this is going on, a vat of bubbling liquid continues to rise up with each match.  If the vat reaches the cannon or tops out, the roof lowers down by one layer of snoods.

The only way to stifle the hot liquid magma from lowering your roof is to drop extra snood attached to your matched three.  It sounds confusing, but if you hit a higher match and if there is a fewbarnicles that come down with the match, the lava retreats. Finish the level by matching all the snoods before any snood reaches the bottom. Simple and addicting indeed.

EA did load it up with playing features, that I applaud.  There’s head-to-head WiFi multiplayer, push notifications for challenges, listen to your ipod music while playing (always a plus).  100 different puzzles with 5 difficulty levels it’s crammed good!  But the one that they are pushing is theFacebook integration with live head-to-head and point challenging your friends through Facebook.  While that seems cool, the game to me just does not feel right.

The Cons

There’s a few issues I have with Snood.  I will say it’s fun, but the cons of the game make this one a definite candidate for an update.   First, it looks like it’s been coded from flash.  Not that all flash based games are bad, theiphone/ipod touch platform doesn’t need anymore flash games. It plays like it belongs in a browser.

Second, I’m not completely sold on the challenge aspect.  This game is more of a global high score contest.  I mean you could challenge your friends, but I would rather set my bar to compete against the world!

Conclusion

While there are plenty of Snood fans, it is somewhat fun to play.  It’s just not the same as the original to me.  Snood will provide your match 3 fix, but I’m certain it will be a foolish purchase.  EA has a great library, but there are those that need to be shelved or updated to compete with the greatindy titles…. you decide which group Snood belongs.

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