Snake Pass is the worst game I own on the Nintendo Switch. I bought it for the full $20 because I always need some smaller game to fill in the gaps between play sessions, and I regret it fully. This game is only for a very small minority of people, and even then it is not worth $20 of your hard-earned money. Instead, buy Golf Story (Which I will replay and review, hopefully soon) or Blaster Master Zero if you want hours of high quality, single-player indie gameplay, or Super Mario Odyssey if you want a 3D platformer. I appreciate what developers Sumo Digital are trying to do with new control schemes in a genre struggling for mainstream attention, but their efforts fall flat and sputter out quickly after the first level.
Now, let's talk about the graphics. They're actually pretty great. Noodle, the main snake character, is adorable, and the snake and bird duo reminds me of Banjo Kazooie. The levels are colorful, and the textures aren't half bad either. However, the resolution just sucks. This game was famously ported to the Nintendo Switch in less than 24 hours, and even though they worked to optimize it more, Snake Pass desperately needed about two more weeks in the oven. The resolution in docked mode is sub-720p, pitiful for a game with such little going on. Don't even get me started on handheld mode. It's so blurry and bright that it could easily cause headaches for anyone, and is practically unplayable on the go.
There is something very charming about this world, though. The bright colors and the pure adorableness of a freaking 5-foot long snake are the highlights of the game. Even though I don't like this game, I would probably buy a Noodle plushie. Props to the developers for that. His pure looks of agony as he falls into the abyss are the highlights of this game.
Where the game really falls apart is in the gameplay category. It's entirely based off of its' controls. The main premise is that you have to move like a snake, and grab onto obstacles to get to new areas or to collect one of three gem-like things to complete the level or one of a plethora of different collectables. That's the problem with this game. It's a fight against the controls! You have to continually press down buttons, hurting your fingers, while the game's unpredictable physics engine makes sure that you will always screw up multiple times. Oh, yeah, you're going to have to do these infuriating puzzles over. And over. And over. And over. And over. And over again. There are barely any checkpoints, and you have to go back to the start if you make one teensy mistake, or if Noodle's tail barely grazes spikes. This game caused me to be more frustrated than anything has ever done in my life. Now, my life is pretty good, but still. A video game shouldn't be more frustrating than real life. It's not fun to 99 percent of people who aren't sadists.
I appreciate that this game is trying to innovate. I do. But when the only emotion I feel towards this game is frustration, you know there's something wrong. Don't let the cute characters and colorful environments fool you, this game is extremely frustrating. Now, frustration can be good in a video game (see Cuphead and Dark Souls), but this game makes you feel like the game is at fault, not you, so the usual highs you get from games like this are replaced with a constant downward spiral.
I give this game a 3/10, for Noodle being cute and the game not being broken.
Pielover out.