If you're an 80s baby like me, you would have had phones way back before they used touchscreens. Those days, you can't swipe or tap your phone to activate anything, however hard you try. The only directional buttons were up, down, left and right. So, really, the only decent game on those phones is Snake. Well, for all you people who are nostalgic for that type of gameplay, Nimblebit has come up with a more modern RPG kind of Snake. It is called Nimble Quest.
Nimble Quest plays a lot like Snake. Your character moves automatically forward and you command it to turn by swiping on your screen. This time though, you can choose from quite a number of different classes: mage, warrior, archer, etc, and each of them has their own unique ability and attack pattern. Even better this time around is that there are enemies to be killed in addition to walls around the area taht you might hit. So, there are more ways to die this time, but trust me, it's way more fun for such a simple control scheme.
Nimble Quest is not as simple as a game of Snake. Along the way, you can collect special powers like a shield, bomb, potions, and the best thing in the world, you can pick up more heroes. Yes, along the way, you will encounter more heroes and when you save them, they will join your party to make your snake longer and more powerful. New heroes are unlocked when you go further into the game.
This is a wonderful twist to the game of Snake because it changes such a simple structure to a full blown RPG with leveling systems, classes, powerups and party members. Oh, did I mention leveling system? Playing a specific character and killing enemies will give XP that you can accumulate to level up and gain special bonuses, only up to level 3 though. However, when a character levels up, it carries over to the actual game no matter which character you choose to lead. For example, if you choose the mage and you find an archer along the way, that archer will already be level 3 if you had leveled him up previously.
Just like in Snake, the game ends when the head of the snake, in this case the leader, crashes into an enemy or into a wall. In Nimble Quest, the leader can also get attacked and die when hit points drop to zero. The same goes for the enemy. Taking out the leader will vanquish their entire snake.
Not much to say about the graphics. If you are familiar with Nimblebit's previous work, you will be much at home with this one. The sound effects are good, but I do wish for more variety after hours of playing it. I found myself turning off the sound and listening to the radio instead.
Since this is a free-to-play game, I can tell you that yes, there is an in-game currency and a premium currency that is very rare. The in-game currency is used to level up the powerups you pick up on the battlefield, while the premium currency is typically used to gain additional bonuses before you start the each round, speed up the leveling process and to unlock new characters sooner. It is definitely NOT a must to buy any premium currency with real world money. Nimblebit has always got the freemium model just right.
Nimblebit has taken the simplest of games and transformed it into something magical and so complex. This definitely deserves the highest of praises. I highly recommend this if you have not tried it. It is, in my opinion, one of Nimblebit's best games and a work of creative genius.
