Snood saved our marriage.
Written: Aug 14 '00 (Updated Aug 18 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Addictive; cute little Snoods; shareware
Cons: Addictive!!!
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| wovengold's Full Review: Snood for Macintosh |
My husband and I have been Snood addicts for at least five years, starting when I discovered it on a shareware-for-Macintosh site. We've even adopted Snood alter-egos: I'm Zod, the fiery, toothy, red one. He's Numbskull, the... well, the bone-headed one. Whenever the going gets rough in our marriage -- or whenever we just need to lighten up -- we set up a Snood tournament.
It's better than marriage counseling. Funnier, too.
The Premise
Snood is a nonviolent little puzzle game that "tests your intellect rather than your reflexes." At the start of a game, you're presented with row upon row of Snoods (more about them in a minute), all locked together in a puzzle, and a Snood-O-Matic cannon, which you control with your mouse. Your goal is to "free" all the trapped Snoods by launching other Snoods at them: Connect three or more of the same kind, and they "transport away." Any Snoods not connected to other Snoods when this happens will fall to safety. You can take as long as you like to think about your shot, but you do have to pay attention to the "Danger" meter, which climbs for each shot that doesn't free a Snood. When the Danger meter hits top and the Snoods hit the bottom, game's over.
It's a little like Brickles, but requires more strategy.
It's also deceptively simple. Almost anyone can play. There are five difficulty levels (Child, Easy, Medium, Hard and Evil), and if that isn't enough for you, you can design your own using the SnoodEdit program. Snood also features a Puzzle level (which I haven't used much) and a Journey level, in which the player progresses through all the levels from Child to Evil until losing a game.
What are Snoods?
Snoods are little cartoon faces. Some of them stick their tongues out at you, others wink. They're all cute, but not too cute: Zod, as mentioned above, has teeth. The eight Snoods are named Jake, Zod, Midoribe, Geji, Sunny, Mildred, Spike and Numbskull. Each is a different color and each has its own little idiosyncratic gesture. You can choose a favorite Snood as your identity for your personal score bank and for tournament play.
I recently got an email from the game's author saying T-shirts and caps are available with all the Snood characters, and I can't wait to get mine. I'm that addicted.
So what's so special about Snood?
Everything! There's no blood and gore, you aren't obliterating anything, and you aren't beating a clock. At first, the funny characters drew me in. But later, the infinite combinations and surprising challenge of the game kept me playing. I now play only at the Evil level, and I win approximately 24% of the games. Winning about one-in-four games keeps it fun for me, but when I begin to win more often than lose, I'll probably design my own or go to the Snood site and download puzzle sets designed by other Snood addicts.
I find myself using three features over and over. First, the tournament feature allows me to challenge my husband to a Snood-fit. We usually play three games, but you can select more. Second, when playing alone, I often will choose "Replay Last Game" when I've just lost and think I can do better. Finally, when I know I've gone on long past bedtime, I select "Just One More Game," and the program will shut down when the game is over. (As it so sweetly reminds me, no-one is any wiser if I start it up again...)
A word about shareware
Never heard of Snood? That's probably because it's shareware. Remember shareware? That wonderful concept that allows real folk to design games and other useful software that you can try and then purchase (for a ridiculously low price) if you like it?
In this case, Snood registration costs just $10. For that meager fee, you get a code that will allow you to design your own custom difficulty settings, get updates immediately at no cost, set up tournaments, load alternate puzzle level sets that you design or download and, as the author says, "feel good about yourself for supporting the shareware concept and urging me to continue writing games."
Why not head over to http://www.snood.com and download the demo? As mentioned above, Snood began as a Macintosh game, but it's now available for Windows, too. You have nothing to lose (except, perhaps, time away from Epinions...)
Now, the low-down. Who's better, Zod or Numbskull? Well, we're about even. He wins more tournament games than I do, but I have overall higher scores than him. Nyeah. So there. We both win.
Childlike behavior saves yet another marriage.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
wovengold
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Member: Kristin Summerlin
Location: Two Rivers, Alaska
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 45 members
About Me:
Life's too crazy. Be back someday...
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