Snail Against Squirrel

"Is that a squirrel pulling oranges off of fire hydrants while carefully avoiding snails from the realm of four dimensions? Woah!"

Snail Against Squirrel was a weird little gem. I am unsure if it has some sort of story behind it, but from what I gathered with common sense is that you are a squirrel that is hoarding acorns and snails get in the way. If I go on about the level layout and my thoughts on this game, I will probably sound insane. It really is a trippy game, and you will soon find out why...

In any case, I will rate this game's various aspects an Atari 2600 game has to offer out of 10.

Gameplay (6/10)

Too hard. Way too hard. I am only assuming there being an objective and goal to this game by the way your acorns are set up on screen after their deposit, but I have yet to affirm this. I believe the most acorns I have got to the top was 4, and I have a pretty reasonable assumption that 5 are needed to complete a level. There are 2 levels to choose from, and that is more than enough, trust me.

You are a squirrel, as I have mentioned before, and you must pull acorns off of some weird trees and then transport them to the top. When you reach the top you set the acorn down and then you must do the same and stack up those proceeding the first. There is some sort of bar hanging above the top floor, and I think if the stack reaches the bar, you win, but I was one acorn from achieving this. If only the game weren't so hard, and here's why...

This game is based on slopes. The squirrel runs up and down slopes continuously as he goes back and forth from the acorn site to the storage vertically. At the very bottom, you pull acorns off of the projections (they certainly aren't limbs of a tree,) and you run up and drop them on the top floor. You can carry 1 acorn at a time, and they continuously grow on these ''faucets,'' as I shall refer to them from now on. I know it is weird, but bare with me... You run much slower when carrying an acorn which can be very annoying when you have to hurry up a bit. The hard thing is is that the acorns break away on their own and hit the ground, taking away a life. You have to be quick in transporting an acorn because you will then have to run down to the bottom and take another before it falls.

This isn't the only problem. Snails play a big role in this game. As if the damn acorn-producing faucets weren't enough... The snails just move up and down slopes on their designated floor. Oh, there are 4 floors by the way... Upon contact with a snail, you will fall all the way down to the bottom. If you have an acorn, they will eat it straight out of your hands. They can be quite annoying. However, you are not defenseless. You can run them over if you collide with them as their back is facing you. Always fun, for a short while. Snails can be a good thing sometimes too. They can save you a long trip down the floors if you just let them touch you.

Slopes can also affect the acorns. The fire button allows you to set an acorn down. If you set one down on floors 2 or 3 they will sit there for a while, but then they will start to slide down the slopes. If they hit the 1st floor, you will lose a life. Transporting multiple acorns is almost impossible.

If only you were given more than 4 or 5 lives and a little more time to run up and down the stairs to make trips, this game would have been much easier. Of course, I could just be playing it wrong, or be unaware of a strategy to make it easier.

Graphics (10/10)

Trippy graphics are a 10/10 in my book. This game is probably the craziest acid trip of an Atari 2600 game I have ever played. You have everything from Squirrels and Snails to the big dude that makes up the entire level. Really just a ''birthday cake'' with a weird face and ladders that enable you to climb... Engraved on him are hearts and just funky designs and projections that serve no real purpose. Real crazy stuff...

Sounds (10/10)

Another feature about Snail Against Squirrel that I found neat is the little tunes that play in the background. There is a weird ''rising'' tune you can hear as Squirrel runs up the slopes, one that goes ''down'' as he runs down, and a slow tune for when he is carrying the acorns. It isn't annoying, and adds a little adrenaline to everything I guess...

The sounds are pretty basic... Not annoying. Perfect.

Overall (7/10)

Everything is above average for an Atari game, except it is WAY too hard. I have yet to even see if there is a goal, and I doubt I ever will. However, I will still play it, which is good, meaning there is a pretty good replay value. You can stick with it for a while if you are patient and can tolerate Donkey Kong, which most people can, so just try it!

...It would probably be the only opportunity in which you can gather acorns from faucets and set them on the top floor of a birthday cake while avoiding snails, so that's something to look forward to!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/03, Updated 02/09/03