Snakeybus (PS4)

Do you remember classic 'Snake" from the old Nokia cellphones? Do you remember Katamari Damacy from the the OG PlayStation? If you do you'll find that this particular game, "Snakeybus" is a familiar mixture of the two. As the title of the game suggests the gameplay contained within is all about a snake-like bus. A snake-like bus that picks up passengers, and grows in length as it does so. Ultimately dropping off said passengers for points. All while trying to dodge it's own trailing tail as well as collision with the vertically stacked, and boxed in environmental obstacles.

Beyond that basic premise of familiar origins lies a simple start menu where the action kicks off. A start menu with a simple setup consisting of bus types, map locations, modes of play, and a leaderboard listing for all those high scores you earn along the way. As previously mentioned Snakeybus is a score based game. In each of the given modes you will be earning points by picking up passengers, and dropping them off at highlighted locations, or by jumping through rings via boost in the Aerial mode. As you go about doing so your bus will lengthen very much like it does in "Snake", and will make traversing the 3D maps more challenging as they are tightly cramped and cluttered with limited space for movement. To counter the quick end by default flat level driving, and automated acceleration you are given a jump with a limited jump gauge that can get you out of stalled situations. Once you get stuck though or go out of bounds it is GAME OVER.

From the get go Snakeybus throws itself at you with a menu system that is filled with four sub-menus of options. You'll find a bus selection slider which will change the appearance of the bus. This includes the starter Transit bus as well as familiar fanfare such as the School Bus, and the Double Decker among others. Some of the bus choices are locked behind a point total that must be reached before you can select them. Below that sub-menu lies the map selection. In it you'll slide through several options including a dorm room, surreal environments, futuristic environments, and even real world locations like Paris. As with the buses you will have to make some high scores to unlock some of them. Lastly is the mode selection slider which house Classic, Time Attack, Endless, and Aerial modes. Classic is fairly much self-explanatory. You snake around the map in bus form growing in length as you fill up, to set capacity, with passengers by running into them (or the lit up platform in front). The more passengers you have onboard when the target location is revealed, and hit by your bus the higher the points you will earn. This goes on until you get caught up in the environment or against your own train tail.

Time Attack is the next mode in line, and like Classic you will have to pick up passengers, and take them to spotlighted locations with highlighted names. Doing so will extend your time by some seconds. Keep in mind you start off with a 30 second timer that rapidly counts down. This means that perfecting the playthrough is your only chance of scoring big. Endless, like the previous two modes takes in the same mechanics, and goals, but allows the gamers a more zen-like experience with no end. Aerial, on the other hand, is a different beast entirely, and will make use of the boost button to send your bus flying through rings on specific maps only. The Aerial mode is limited to only a couple of maps out of the lot.

As a growing bus you have a handful of options tied to the controls. You can drift, steer, change the camera angle, jump, and boost your way through the various object littered environments. Movement being done by the two thumbsticks, and the rest mostly by shoulder buttons. This is all shown on a controller display within the menu system, and as you load up a game mode by selecting the "Play Game" option. Other menu options include sound settings as well as a leaderboard listing (personal / global), and a developer credits screen. It's a very to the point indie style construction that gets you in, and out in little time only leaving the brief loading screens between to slow things down.

The Verdict ...

The concept was interesting, but the delivery itself less than perfect. While it harbored a decent presentation, a good control scheme, and gameplay goals that have won gamers over in the past through different yet similar games it falls short with it's difficulty curve, and cramped environments. By that I mean the sessions are made difficult not only through the snake implementation, and the vertically constricted 3D maps, but also by the size of the maps in general. It makes meeting early point goals for unlocking more of the attached content more cumbersome, and quite aggravating at times. I feel if this game had, had bigger maps, a more open environment, and something akin to the Katamari Damacy formula it could have been great. If they had made it where the bus snake grew infinitely longer, and where it would be able to continuously go further and further out of a world sized environment (land, water & air) starting at a microscopic playing field that increased the bus and world in size as you reached a certain passenger threshold it would have been a winner. Making it where the bus eventually launched into space where it could go to other planets, and repeat the passenger growth goals until it snaked around every planet in the known universe, and beyond would be even better. Add in destructible objects, and environments with a point emphasis on landing destructive tricks against key landmarks, and this game would be hot! On a bigger budget, and with a better quality presentation it could become a cult classic like Katamari Damacy. Sadly, it is not that. With it's simplicity, limiting environments, and extreme difficulty it is a turn off. It is not what I expected, if I were to be honest. I feel the developer could have done better. For that reason I cannot recommend this game. Hopefully the developer doesn't give up on this idea, but instead chooses to expand upon it, and improve it to the point of being a cult hit.