[h1]The difficulty kind of sucks.[/h1]
I'll start this review off with [b]the stuff I enjoyed[/b].
[list]
[*]The level editor is pretty simple to get the hang of, and levels updating live in the game itself is a nice touch.
[*]I feel the Easy and Advanced level packs are a good introduction to the game and its mechanics.
[*]Good graphics and music.
[/list]
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Now for the [b]stuff that I believe needs tweaking[/b].
[list]
[*]Expert is an [i]egregious[/i] difficulty step-up from Advanced. The combination of the higher level count as well as the harder levels themselves leads to a very harsh difficulty curve. I haven't even bothered with Master difficulty yet.
[*]The lives system feels like artificial difficulty to me. I played through what I did on "Easy Mode" to alleviate it, so at least it's not mandatory. Apparently keeping easy mode off does unlock more content, but I can't be bothered. I understand the life count is a part of the experience but I still dislike it regardless.
[*]The difficulty of some levels feels too determined by the random placement of apples. For example, a level split up into sections can occasionally have all the apples spawn in only some of the sections, leading to a run where you won't have to risk moving around the whole map.
[*]Rainbow worms. I understand that their gimmick is being the hardest regular worm, but I feel the souped up AI and fast speed is enough. The fact that they're also invincible and stop before crashing is too much. I would personally remove this part of them to make them a more balanced enemy, which would also add the satisfying moment of taking a rainbow worm down.
[*]On very rare occasions, an invincible worm can accidentally pathfind its way into an open exit. Because it simply stops and has nowhere to turn, it stays there, effectively softlocking the level. Due to how rare and unpredictable it is, it feels less like something to work around and more like something you need to hope doesn't happen. I'd either have snakes treat open exits as walls or just have them die when they enter an exit.
[*]Not really related to difficulty, but why force the player to choose between WASD and the arrow keys in the options menu? I feel letting the player control the snake with either WASD or arrow keys while allowing them to switch between the two at any time during gameplay would be nice.
[/list]
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Overall, this game is certainly fixable. Here's a comprehensive list of fixes I'd add.
[list]
[*]To fix the difficulty jump between Advanced and Expert, I'd either rename Advanced to "Intermediate" and create a new level pack called "Advanced" to bridge the difficulty gap a bit better, or I'd increase the base life counts of the level packs as they progress.
[*]Do some more playtesting with the randomized apple placements. Add some more control to how they spawn and replace more of the randomized ones with manually placed apples.
[*]Let us kill rainbow snakes.
[*]I've already explained my proposed fixes for snakes blocking exits, as well as the whole WASD/arrow keys thing.
[/list]
In conclusion, keep at it. I'll definitely update my review to recommended when some of my issues with the game get fixed.
