Snake Mayhem E3 2005 Hands-On Report

Ask average Americans about playing games on their phones, and about eight times out of 10 they'll wonder if you're talking about stuff like "that snake game." Snake is the most successful mobile game of all time for a couple of reasons: It's fun, it's easy to play, and it comes embedded on all new Nokia phones. Strangely, though, there isn't a decent downloadable version of the game for non-Nokia owners, so Verizon Wireless decided to hire Pulse Entertainment to make one. The resulting game, Snake Mayhem, looks like it'll be a very nice update to the classic pastime.

Snake Mayhem is better than the original in several important respects. For one thing, this game has left monochrome behind for full, living color--your striped snake stands out nicely against the different level backgrounds, which include desert, beach, forest, and swamp environments. He'll even roll his googly eyes around to look at the nearest pellet, which helps you navigate the most difficult of the game's 20 levels. Enemies and power-ups have also been added to the mix. For instance, you can eat a star to turn baddies into tasty treats for a short time or grab a heart to reduce your snake's tail size. If these newfangled additions aren't your cup of tea, you can simply play the game in classic mode, where you can choose from three different board sizes and try to avoid running into your tail for as long as you can.

The best thing about Snake Mayhem will probably be its low price--the producer told us that it'll go for $2 on Verizon Wireless when it comes out later this month. In all, this game's looking like a better value proposition than most of the other applications on deck right now. We'll know for sure in the near future.