CRG Reviews: Snood

''I've played this puzzle game a whole lot when I was a kid playing my Game Boy Advance. I figured the best way to revisit it is to make a review of it.''
 * Name: Snood
 * Publisher: Destination Software
 * Developer: Gravity-i
 * Platform: Game Boy Advance
 * Released: 2005
 * Genre: Puzzle
 * Players: 1-2
 * ESRB: E

Review
DISCLAIMER: Before playing this whimsically delightful puzzle game on my GBA, I had no frickin' idea it originally started life as a PC game in 1996 until years later. That said, this review will be strictly based on the Game Boy version.

When I was a little kid, my go-to video game experience was getting out my purple Game Boy Advance SP, finding some games, plugging up the charger, and play the day away. One of my favorite games on this system was Snood, a cute puzzle game with entertaining mechanics.

Snood probably wasn't the first game of its kind, seeing as how Puzzle Bobble game out many years earlier in Japan, but it's a great take on the color matching mechanic. When you match three snoods of the same color, they fall off the board, taking any other snoods in their vicinity underneath them. I didn't get that at first, but when I did, I got hooked.

The individual Snoods are very cool, and I love their opening and closing cutscenes. My favorite snood is Numbskull. His cutscenes were no doubt the funniest.

The game's music is very catchy and will get stuck in your head if you're not careful. I think my favorite song is the menu theme. It just seems so upbeat and fits the tone of the game itself.

I found the graphics to be somewhat decent. Since it's a puzzle game, the graphics don't have to be all that special. The cutscenes are very well rendered and are one of my favorite parts of the game.

I love a puzzle game that manages to be amusing, challenging, yet still makes me say "just one more time" whenever I lose, especially after my character gets crushed to death. There are a ton of game modes so you can keep going back to the game looking for something fresh.

Key components

 * Graphics- 7.5
 * Gameplay- 8.3
 * Controls- 8.5
 * Sound- 9.1
 * Entertainment- 8.3
 * Replay Value- 9.2

Final score and final words
And the results are...................

8.5 (Solid)

Snood has come a long way since its inception as a PC game admired by many people, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. We hope that this isn't the last we've heard from Snood. -Joshua Garriga (a.k.a. ComicReadingGamer)