"Cutesy shooter with quick jolts of weird graphics and simple strategies"

Some file-based Apple games retain status as sleeper hits even when they are obviously a bit clunky. Sneakers seems to trump Space Invaders(ported well to the Apple, where it was approximately as tedious as the arcade) soundly; you control a weird spaceship that resembles an umbrella-covered table that appears outside a coffee shop, but there are functionally and visually different monsters in each wave. The object is pretty clear; shoot everything else before you are shot or touched. The game has the standard keyboard/joystick option for moving and firing with only one shot allowed at a time and although the playing area is a bit boxed in, the variety of monsters and strategies is not.

Your enemies, which move quicker and more haphazardly as the waves increase, are listed below:

Sneakers--smiley two-legged mushrooms who don't shoot but pedal furiously as they move in the eight compass directions.
Cyclops--ovals with rotating eyes in the middle. They start near the top and work their way down on a slight incline. They go faster when you fire.
Saucers--the first of your enemies to shoot bullets. Surprisingly, the bigger and thicker bullets may curve. Any one saucer moves the same horizontal direction but unlike cyclops, not all move the same direction.
Fangs--look almost like bees but bounce quickly in a tight left-right pattern and drop down as invincible swaying divining sticks before they reappear at the top.
H-Wings--bounce off the edges at a slow downward incline. They do not shoot but can span a lot of your movement area before they disappear.
Meteors--small pellets that fall down in waves and at different speeds. Sometimes there's a weird square blob that falls on you, too, which gets you 85 points instead of 12--a bizarre touch to likely the dullest wave in the game. Passing this one seems based on the time you survive and not what you shoot.
Scramble--arrows that point down and swerve diagonally. After hit they go slowly up to the top of the screen where they disappear after you’ve shot them enough.
Scrubs--they travel diagonally in formation, although when they go off the edge of the screen they may reappear some place bizarre. After you shoot them, they seem to turn into dreidels, which descend more quickly if shot. There’s a chance to pile up points if you want to play chicken here.

If you can vanquish the scrubs, you’ll get an extra guy, and the next wave will have another monster to harass you. In addition, if you have more than a certain number of ships on completing the first few waves, you get a bonus. Each wave requires a different strategy to avoid monsters and get in a position to shoot them.

The most memorable single graphic is when you lose a guy; a big green spaceship comes down from the top of the screen and spits out a new ship. Full details fail mere words, but this may be the first computer graphic that’s managed to imply both of the major naughty body functions at once, and it even has the sound to go with it. You’ll hear a “neener-neener” if you are on your last ship, as well. There’s also a 9-to-1 countdown before each level. Even the monsters’ explosions give unexpected variety. Some just collapse in a white imploding circle, and others seem to collapse in a hazy mess that resembles your own demise. The x-wings chirp with a “POW” polygon you’d see in a comic book, meteors burp, and scrubs and the scramble make a plinking before they disappear off the screen. You even have a plush font to keep track of your score, a welcome difference from the usual text-mimicing graphics.

Although this game is a lot less challenging now than when I was in elementary school, I’m impressed with the variety of graphics, sound and movements in the game. It’s not particularly tough the first time through and only the later levels present a serious challenge, but it cycles quickly enough through the early waves, which feel like warm-ups. Sneakers is neat, like one of those globes with fake snow that you can turn over, and it will always be good for keeping you occupied for a brief while. As it doesn’t quite copy off any one game or stay the same too long, it deserves a place in gaming history.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/00, Updated 01/15/02