Freebie Feelers... Snakeball

Freebie Feelers is a series where we download the free monthly console-specific or newly released free-to-play games to test their worth.This series will contain some useful information as well as plenty of personal opinion. While these articles may not be reviews, we hope that you will be able to use them to help decide whether that free download is worth it.

What is it?

Snakeball originally came out December of 2007, and is free for the month of August. As the name implies, it is a pseudo reimagining of the classic arcade game Snake, except with an emphasis on online multiplayer. The aim of the game is to deliver balls into a goal, dispatching opponents along the way either with your ever lengthening tail, or a variety of weapons available.

What did you think?

The controls are loose, and while I initially found it difficult to aim my snake after some practice I started to become better at maneuvering. The same cannot be said for the dreadful camera, of which there are two perspectives to choose from: overhead and behind the back. The overhead is completely useless, being too close to the action to get any sense of space; while the behind the back perspective is better in that it lets you see directly in front of you, if nowhere else.

The controls and camera may have their issues, but the worst thing about Snakeball is that no one is playing online. It’s not surprising that a decade old game doesn’t have much in the way of a player base, but it means that casual and ranked matches are entirely non-functional. You can still play against some competent AI, or create a lobby if you convince some friends to dust off their PS3s, as well as play a variety of challenge modes, but the meat of the game (according to the title screen, I never managed to get into a match myself) is its non-existent online multiplayer.

 The challenge modes are competent, but ultimately shallow.

Is it worth downloading?

Normally Snakeball is £3.29, and I certainly would not recommend paying even that price for it, but If you and several of your friends are desperate for a multiplayer game on PS3 then it may be worth trying for free. Worth noting is that there is also a team mode available for an additional $1.99, but is absent from the EU PSN store. With such a small pool of players it would probably be difficult to field two teams of four, so, assuming it’s available in your region, I doubt the team mode is worthwhile.