Despite the premise of controlling an always moving snake on fighting against snake opponents in a rectangle arena that has a instant-kill perimeter that takes place in space with some sparkly stars in the ground being simple but intriguing enough for me to buy it on discount of 0.99$ on March 18, 2024 (which as of this Steam user review if not discounted is 9.99$), Snake Effect is not something I strongly recommend to anyone interested in this kind of game. The game has a lot of problems worth pointing out minor and major, a couple of which I'm unable to overlook because it directly impacted my enjoyment I'm trying to get from playing.
Due to the lack of coverage of this game, and I feel the game store description might be too confusing I opted to list down the game details:
[list][*]In each level, the player must earn 3 stars from collecting experience both from small dots and deceased snake parts.
[*]Snakes has 6 activate-able abilities, 1 is unique for one of the six snakes, 3 are distinctive attacks, 1 shoots a slow area of effect, 1 shoots a reverse controls area of effect, and 1 being a 3 second shield.
[*]Each ability when used has differing cooldown time, along with the other abilities with their own cooldown time to reduce the ability from being too overpowering by reducing ability spamming.
[*]There's 5 unlockable snakes with their own special abilities to select, with 4 of them determined by the amount of levels finished, and 1 of them unlocked at random by the amount of defeats of a particular snake increasing the chances to unlock it.
[*]When collecting enough experience, a 3 second magnet ability auto-activates that enables collecting experience from in a larger circle range.
[*]Hurt snakes respawn elsewhere on the level with a 3 second shield, with loss of experience occurs with reduction of the progress bar of the 3-star system, and magnet ability loss if used.[/list]
Note that I played only single player, and not two player, and playing with the keyboard and not a controller, here's the amount of time I spent on this game on the levels, spending only a mere 71 minutes before I called it quits:
[list][*]Level 1 through 5 - 18 minutes.
[*]Level 6 through 10 - 28 minutes.
[*]Level 11 through 15 - 25 minutes.[/list]
[h3]MY MAJOR NEGATIVES[/h3]
[list][*] [b][u]The game doesn't have the ability to rebind keyboard keys;[/u][/b] this is one of the most critical things that go against the game, as I wanted to rebind the shield action from the 'W' key to the space bar keyboard key, so I can quickly and easily do that action to my liking. Although this game can be played with a controller, and I have a PS4 controller, I highly just prefer playing with the keyboard fine, as I can just time the aiming diagonally and use the abilities accordingly.
[*] [b][u]It may be too difficult to reliably dodge the attacks from the snake opponents due to a mix of the attacks originating from the snake opponents offscreen being unpredictable and how chaotic the attacks can be from multiple snake opponents that might be too fast-paced;[/u][/b] even with the shield ability, the cooldown after using it or when using another ability means being unable to rely on it especially in critical moments, even when trying to stay away from the snakes as much as possible. One attack that isn't an ability but all snakes have it to be able to bite with their head, with bypasses the shields entirely, which adds on top of the ranged attacks to keep in mind.[/list]
[h3]MY MINOR NEGATIVES[/h3]
[list][*] [u][b]In the main menu, choice navigation isn't possible with the computer mouse, only with the keyboard keys or game controller;[/b][/u] this is really strange since I can click on selected choice with the computer mouse, but can't swipe or move the selected choice at all.
[*] [u][b]The Steam achievement names and their descriptions feel unfinished;[/b][/u] multiple of the Steam achievement names have the same name such as "ACHIEVEMENT_LV", "ACHIEVEMENT_SKIN", and "ACHIEVEMENT_KILL_ENEMY" accordingly. some of the Steam achievement descriptions are self-explanatory, but some of the others don't tell anything without having to read the Steam achievement names and the associated images for proper context.
[*] [u][b]Adjusting the audio volume is only for sound effects, with no separate audio volume for music;[/b][/u] the music is so overpowering while wearing my headset with microphone.
[*] [u][b]The snake aspect doesn't feel explored enough and feels more superficial;[/b][/u] the only distinctive gameplay detail being upon being hurt, the snake body length becomes dead and is collectible for other snakes to collect and accumulate experience. The length of the snakes in general remains the same, with no size differences in terms of power.[/list]
[h3]MY EEHS/NEUTRAL FEELINGS[/h3]
[list][*] [u][b]The snake's movements can be controlled with the mouse, deploying a virtual joystick similar to one from a mobile game that requires such a thing;[/b][/u] this is an unconventional way to play the game, similar to playing a mobile game on PC, although I have a feeling this can be a thing for Steam Deck.
[*] [u][b]There's a lack of sound effects when using abilities, either from the snake player or snake opponents;[/b][/u] must've been too noisy one can imagine, or maybe the noises might've been lowered down if implemented properly, I wouldn't mind either way.
[*] [u][b]You can get hurt or affected by your own abilities;[/b][/u] not something I expected as much, some games when the player is inside of the explosion of area of effect damages, the player isn't affected, but some games do. I hope that means the snake opponents themselves are affected too, or else it would be fake difficulty, but it's hard to tell since it's too chaotic. This means you'll have to be careful when fighting against snake opponents.
[*] [u][b]There's no way to go back to previous levels after finishing one;[/b][/u] this is something I really don't like about recent mobile games within at least the past 5 years, especially on unable to earn additional stars or unable to revisit or replay content since it makes it feel like content feels disposable, something to be forgotten, when I feel they should be repurposed or replayed at will. However, the levels don't seem to be different from one another enough to be distinctive? The only difference are the snake opponents having higher levels but they feel like the same to play against. Additionally, collecting stars in this game doesn't appear to do anything.
[*] [u][b]When getting 3 stars during the level, the level finishes upon the player snake getting hurt;[/b][/u] additionally, the even odd thing is that there's a toggle in the options menu where you can turn off remaining in the level until earning 3 stars. A real oddity, but I suppose if after max leveling all of the earned snakes, the only remaining Steam achievements are finishing 100 levels and finishing 1000 levels, and turning it off enables finishing levels quicker.[/list]
I played Snake Effect and wanted to leave a Steam user review because there is only 1 of them as of this Steam user review, and I feel it didn't really say anything helpful or insightful about the game's contents at all. I was wondering if there's something worth taking about, maybe a hidden gem worth sharing my thoughts to others and encourage them to buy this game since I bought this game in the first place, with a deep discount but still.
Noting the premise of battling against other snakes, maybe there would be different layouts for each level to go through with obstacles that every snake is affected, not just the snake player. Unfortunately, the game is much less than stellar, as the two major issues are too much not to ignore while playing the game. I wanted to play more, unlocking the rest of the snakes, maxing the snakes to level 100 inferring from the Steam game page screenshots, but I can't be bothered to continue.
