Snowmen Story, a delightful battle of good & evil snowmen
by Paul Wilks
Jun 21, 2012 12:18 PM –
Install
Snowmen Story is a delightfully fun game where you have to throw snowballs at snowmen, fireworks, buildings, skiers and even Santa! The story goes that a multi-dimensional portal has been opened between a world of good snowmen and world of evil ones. You get to play an evil snowman as he creates icy havoc on the good side. It’s simple to play and features superb graphics and sound.
Price: Free, plus In-app Purchases
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Cool graphics!
- Great sound!
- Fun gameplay!
- Challenging!
Cons
- One location, one mode, limited time… it perhaps needs to grow and provide more options.
Features:
Snowmen Story is a visually immaculate snowball-throwing romp in a peaceful snowman world. You’re an evil snowman and you have to take out as many good snowmen as possible. There are various other items to hit- a Santa with flying reindeer, cottages with breakable windows, fireworks, cats, birds, Christmas trees and loads more.
Controls are easy. On the left hand side you have a thumb-stick which moves the aiming circle. On the right hand side there is a firing button which throws the snowballs. You have a very precise 1 minute and 21 seconds to score as many points as you can to make it onto the generic local leaderboard. Points can be scored in a variety of ways, although from my efforts it seems just hitting the snowmen scores you the most.
The environment is packed with little things going on; fireworks which go off when hit, skiers, Santa flies by with some reindeer which can also be hit, windows can be broken, trinkets on the Christmas tree can be broken and so on… in this way, there’s lots to explore. With many of these, if you hit them, you earn a key and there are 23 keys to find. On this basis, it’s quite a challenge to find all the keys in just 81 seconds. You can make an in-game purchase for $0.99 of an additional 1 minute to be added, so it’s pretty clear you’ll need this to complete the game properly. There is another in-app purchase, again of $0.99, to remove the banner advertising.
Watch on Mobile
Graphically the game is superb and the sound and music is also top-notch. I guess the only issue is longevity. If you were to remove the ads and unlock the extra minute, the game will have cost you $1.98. As much fun as it is, I’m not convinced that there’s enough to keep you coming back to play the game more. There’s just one location, just one mode and once you’ve found all the keys I cannot see why you’d play the game again.
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Snowmen Story – Loading screen
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Snowmen Story – Menu
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 1
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 2
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 3
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 4
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 5
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Snowmen Story – View of world (panning from left to right) 6
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Snowmen Story – Hit fireworks to set them off
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Snowmen Story – Take out reindeer
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Snowmen Story – Leaderboard
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Snowmen Story – In-app purchases
Fun Factor:
Undoubtedly! Throwing snowballs at jolly snowmen is great fun, and finding the hidden keys is challenging and enjoyable. However, I felt that, like the fireworks you can set off, the enjoyment is all over very quickly. It’s pure brilliance for a short while, but when the sugar-rush dies down you’ll move onto something else.
Addictive:
Snowmen Story will certainly be addictive for a little while and definitely if you’re determined to find all the keys. You’ll quickly realise that you’re going to have to pay for the extra time if you want to discover them all, however, and you then have to decide whether you think it’s worth it. My concern is that, because the game feels so short, many people might not bother.
Graphics:
The graphics are great, fully of delicious cartoony detail and lots of animation. It’s a busy and vibrant little town you’re throwing at and the visuals are superb.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The sound too is detailed and very good. The things you throw and emit all kinds of different sound effects, meaning the game is rich with both colourful graphics and immersive sounds.