A Slithering Success
Things have settled down for the Nintendo Switch; the news is quiet, and people are happily plugging away on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game is so enormous that I could easily play only that game until April 28th’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as many others are doing. While that is a good plan, you would be remiss not to check out Sumo Digital’s Snake Pass.
No game on the Switch so far has pulled me away from Breath of the Wild quite like Snake Pass. Fast RMX, Bomberman, 1-2 Switch, and Shovel Knight are a lot of fun, but they don’t have the allure of Snake Pass. I love games that try something new, whether that is as subtle as Anti-Gravity in Mario Kart 8, or as genre-shifting as Splatoon. Snake Pass feels a lot like the latter; Splatoon does not reinvent the 3rd person shooter, but it does offer a wildly new take on the genre that people had not experienced before. Sumo Digital has accomplished a similar feat with Snake Pass. This game is a fresh and exciting take on the 3D platformer. I haven’t played a game quite like this before. At the heart of the game is its protagonist; Noodle the Snake.
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| Noodle is unique and expressive |
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| Snake Pass frequently challenges you with high stakes bamboo mazes |
Believe it or not; Snakes cannot jump. In order to maneuver around Snake Pass’s non-linear levels, you need to slither and wrap Noodle around various components of the world. While this sounds simple, the controls complicate the issue. To slither around the world, you have to rock the left stick back and forth to build up momentum. Then, Noodle’s head can be lifted with the A button, and you can tighten his grip with either ZL/ZR. This becomes integral as the game will frequently require you to traverse high bamboo mazes. There is a steep learning curve here. Yet, the controls are very fair, and all of the times I’ve fallen to my death have been a result of my incompetence, not the game’s. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t a frustrating game, because it really is at certain points. For example, level six of the game is punishingly difficult and it took me roughly two hours to finally beat it. While most of that time can be attributed to me simply being bad at the game, the camera certainly did not help.
So far, that is my main complaint with the game. The camera has a tendency to place itself in positions that make it hard to see what Noodle should be climbing on. In big bamboo mazes, the camera can put itself in positions that make it unclear whether the next pole is next to or behind noodle. This is a big issue because falling means either redoing the puzzle or dying and being sent back to the last checkpoint. The camera can be recentered with R, or rotated freely with the right stick, but when I’m straining my hands hitting A, ZR, and rocking the left stick around, I cannot get to the camera. One other concern is that the game cramps my hands sometimes. When playing in handheld mode, I usually have to stop after 45 minutes because it hurts my hands. Though, it is very possible this is because I grip the Switch very tightly. Still, you really need to stretch in order to hit all the buttons to climb. For many people that do not get as frustrated as me and do not strangle their Switch, this might not be an issue at all. In TV mode though, even I did not feel any hand cramps during prolonged sessions.
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| Snake Pass is non-linear and very exploratory |
On the whole though, the game is great. The levels thus far are well designed, and have a lot of secrets to find. There are collectibles strewn all over the lush jungle, and some of them are hidden in very devious places. David Wise’s music is amazing, and really sells the jungle theme. Snake Pass was built with Unreal Engine so it is a very good looking game, though the resolution can get pretty fuzzy at some times, but nothing that lessens the experience. Noodle is very expressive, and has a certain mascot quality about him. He reminds me of Kaa from The Jungle Book; only Noodle will not hypnotize and eat you. Snake Pass easily surpassed my expectations and pushes forward what an Indie title can be.
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| Underwater areas shake up the gameplay and beautifully crafted |
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| Journey is a fantastic PS3/PS4 title that pushes Indie games forward |
Usually I can separate Indie titles into one of three categories. A 2D platformer, Shovel Knight for example. A Metroidvania like Shantae, or a narrative experience such as Virginia or Emily is Away. These titles usually don’t push their genre forward or try anything especially new or ambitious. Shovel Knight is one of my favorite games and is critically acclaimed, but certainly doesn’t push the genre forward. It is simply a great 2D platformer, and that is it. Its 8-bit graphics are pretty, but they can’t stand side by side with AAA production. Too often Indie games fall into these tired categories and do not try to rise above being an independent game. That isn’t a slight towards any developers, they certainly have proved that they know their stuff. My issue is just that most Indie games have the same expectations and deliver the same results. Indies like Snake Pass eschew these expectations and break the ceiling for what an Indie game can be. It executes on a unique idea with production values of a full priced title.
Snake Pass, while short, feels like a title Nintendo themselves would have put out in the N64/Gamecube era. The game is so different and well executed that I hope it finds great success. Snake Pass will certainly join the pantheon of Indie titles such as Fast RMX, Journey, and Gone Home that have try redefined what an indie title can be. I am very glad that this game has come to the Switch, and I hope that everyone who is milking every last shrine out of Zelda gives this one a chance before Nintendo rolls out more titles.
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