Concept: An isometric platformer from Rare, complete with all the befuddling oddness that everyone has grown to know.
Graphics: Very colorful and fresh, Snake Rattle 'n Roll is very nice game to look at.
Controls: Jumps around corners can cause complications, but otherwise everything is a-okay.
Learning Curve: With a grand total of four buttons and a d-pad, most NES games are pretty easy to grasp.
Sound: Fits the game perfectly, chock full of all the 8-bit-era soundtrack goodness.
This quirky NES title by Rareware features two snakes, Rattle and Roll, who are trying to... ummm... achieve something? Yeah sure, there's no story, but all failures in this department are made up for by rock-solid gameplay. Regardless of their ultimate goal, Rattle and/or Roll have to travel through a multitude of colorful levels--all in a neat fake-3d isometric perspective. The levels are made up of rectangular-prismic chunks of terrain stacked up over each other in layers, and are thus vertically inclined and many-tiered. I don't know if that makes sense, but if my explanation is insufficient, you can afford to buy the game and check it out .
Granted, the isometric view can be problematic when planning jumps around corners, with a classic "endless drop" looming below. These situations are bound to claim a few of your lives every now and then, but after a while you grow used to it and learn to time your jumps just right. Then the fun really kicks in, with Rattle (or Roll) licking their enemies to death and eating little circles to get longer (no, not Viagra ). As you progress through the levels, nothing but the somewhat tough time limits will stop you from having a total 8-bit blast.
Snake Rattle 'N Roll is a must-buy for Rare fans especially, as this game bears the trademark weirdness of just about every other Rare game to date, except possibly even weirder because nothing is explained. Why do disembodied feet hop out of manholes? Why are vinyl records, anvils, and toilet seats rampaging around the levels? No one will ever know, but it'll always be a lot of fun.
NOTE: A very basic and old version of this review can also be found on my blog, parkavenger.blog-city.com. Just wanted to make sure no one emailed me about copyright infringement
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). As you progress through the levels, nothing but the somewhat tough time limits will stop you from having a total 8-bit blast.
