Hyper Snake Review

Hyper Snake is a revamped version of the classic Snake game that can be found on most older cellphones. With this game I've the most fun I've had with motion-based controls for a mobile game.

For those who aren't familiar with the classic Snake game, the basic concept is to collect orbs (traditionally represented as a pixel) in order to make the snake grow. If the snake reaches its own tail, game over. Hyper Snake works the same way except the snake can move in more than four directions. Also, each of the six game modes put a different spin on the classic game.

The controls are the most intriguing part of Hyper Snake. The snake is moved around by tilting the iOS device towards where the snake should move. The controls were so responsive that I felt like the snake's head was a small ball resting on top of my iPhone. In the settings menu, the game has three orientation options for the controls to adjust to the players resting position.

The six game modes include Classic, War, Survive, Bombs, Split, and Eat. Classic is identical to classic gameplay of Snake with the added objective of increasing the score multiplayer by eating consecutive orbs of the same color (only three random-colored orbs are available at any given time). Hitting the snake's tail doesn't end the game in War. It uses the snake's tail as a weapon against enemy ships instead. In Survive, collecting orbs increases your time clock. Consecutive colored orbs remove those pieces from the tail. In Bombs, the orbs are bombs that destroy nearby ships. The goal is to eat the orbs when enemies have been lured close to then. Split is another timed game that increases time with orbs. The orbs start as large pieces that need to be broken down into small, edible pieces. And lastly, Eat mixes Snake with Pac-Man. Eating the large blue orbs allows the snake to eat the enemy ships (let's just call them ghosts). I spent most of my time with the Classic

and Eat modes. I found them the most entertaining.

I found no real problems with the game, but I wish there were more orientations in the settings to choose from. I found myself wanting an orientation that is between parallel to the floor and parallel to the wall. My suggestion is to play the game in the floor-parallel orientation and hover over the iOS device while sitting on a chair. Hyper Snake is a universal app. It worked great on both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

Snake and Pac-Man fans, along with anyone who loves revamps of classics, should definitely try out Hyper Snake.

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