In a nutshell...

The classic serpent-steering slither ‘em up is back for N-Gage, with psychedelic 3D visuals and puzzles to solve.

What’s it good for?

Simple to pick up and fast-paced, it’s ideal for passing a spare few minutes on the train or the toilet.

Judgement time...

The classic Snake series is back, but in this N-Gage update the monochrome top-down view has been ditched in favour of eye-popping 3D visuals and bright colours.

If you’ve seen the updated version of Snake that came preloaded onto the N95, this is very similar, both visually and in terms of gameplay. Snakes Subsonic has you guiding a slithery serpent through a series of levels in which you have to “eat” point-giving powerups. Avoid the various obstacles (including your own ever-growing tail), munch them all before the time limit expires and you’ll move on to the next challenge.

The 3D arenas often steer you up walls or round edges, tilting the entire screen as a consequence, and there are tiles that speed up your snake when you hit them and even enemies to avoid (or even shoot with a rocket), so this is a far cry from the old-school versions.

Is it fun to play? Yes, in small doses it is, but beyond that we found it frustratingly tricky. However, this was mainly due to the controls being a little small and fiddly on our N95, rather than the puzzles or gameplay being particularly taxing. The game often forces you to change direction quickly, you see, so when your thumbs are struggling to find the buttons it makes everything twice as hard. N81 owners should find things a little easier.

Basically, Snakes Subsonic is a pretty amusing evolution of the old Snake formula. It’s not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, and as N-Gage games go it’s a little basic - but if you’re looking for some quick thumb-bashing session fodder it’s certainly fit for purpose.