Nokia Snake

The first mobile games for lovers of old school technology.

If you groan at the sight of the adverts for new games, with smooth, almost photo-realistic graphics, storylines to match the biggest Hollywood blockbusters, and the ability to play and compare scores against millions of other players online, then going back to old school mobile games may be more what you're looking for. It doesn't get much more old school than the Nokia version of Snake, complete with just two colours and four buttons to control.

Gameplay

The premise of Snake is very simple: steer your snake around the screen to collect the apples, avoiding the edges of the screen and your own ever-growing body. It sounds simple, but given that each apple you eat adds an extra "block" to your snake, the more successful you are at the game, the harder it becomes. There are only four directions that you can move in, but combining them quickly is still hard, even without the tiny buttons on the Nokia handset.

If you're looking for a challenge, try some of the different levels. The gameplay remains the same, but some of the walls move and obstacles are introduced. It can be a mind-bender dealing with a snake that exits one side of the screen only to reappear on the other seconds away from destruction.

Strategy

The key to being successful at Snake is to think quickly and plan your next moves early. At the start of the game, the apples could appear just about anywhere, so it's vital to have quick reflexes and be able to move your snake around without committing any silly errors. However, as your snake fills up more of the screen, you need to think carefully about how to move the head so the body won't block you later on. A common practice is to fold your snake back on itself in layers, reducing the spaces that apples can appear in out of your reach.