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I really need to play Snail Bob 1 and 2 because the opening story/slide-show is just plain crazy. You play as Bob, the snail, and this ends the sensible part of the story. Now for the good parts. Bob travels back in time by accident because his grandfather (or a random bearded snail) was trying to fix a time machine Bob just had to mess with. You end up in ancient Egypt and have to travel back to the present. Obviously there’s a lot to the plot that needs explaining, but good luck with that.
Puzzle / Hidden Image
First off, this game presents itself as an interactive puzzle game. Bob the Snail (or Snail Bob, or even better, just Bob) never stops moving unless you click on him. There are some pieces to the puzzle that will you will have to avoid, lest Bob’s life gets cut short. A few of the traps and be deactivated and won’t bother you again, but most go away for a few seconds and then respawn.
The second half of each puzzle is finding three hidden stars. This is actually the hardest part in most levels–not that those particular levels are easy, but the stars are well hidden. You really need to pay attention and click anything star shaped to get those extra points because finding stars also unlocks images / statues in the art gallery. Don’t stop Bob just to find the stars though. The faster you get through the puzzle, the more points you get.
Sights and Sounds
This game actually sounds good. The music is nice and fits in well with the whimsical nature (or the entirety) of the game. It’s the same song on a loop, but at least you don’t really notice it. The screams of pain for the snail aren’t as horrifying as you might think. I’m assuming snails screaming is a thing that pops up in your mind too, or at least they are now.
The puzzles look good and the background is nice. I really like the prisms and most of the animations are well done. The only real problem I have with the visuals would be how Bob moves and goes into his shell. I can’t tell if it’s too rigid or not rigid enough. I just know that they could have done a better job on that.
Overall
This was a pretty fun and quick game. Usually I get disappointed when a puzzle game is really short, but since half of this game was a hidden image game it really saved the entertainment value. I won’t be playing this game again, but I will be playing the first two, as well as the fourth if it gets made. This kind of game really benefits from a short play time, the find the star aspect helps out with replay value as well as the scoring system.
You can play this one at militantplatypus.com
