A simple diversion best played in short spurts, yet this Puzzle Bobble clone clearly looks like unfinished freeware.
With a name like that, how could you possibly pass it up? Obviously, hundreds of thousands of people didn't, as evidenced by the huge amount of downloads the initial computer game attained. If you happen to find this Game Boy Advance port, you shouldn't pass by the aging phenomenon, either, if all you care about is solid playability in your gaming purchases... and nothing else beyond that.
If you thought Tetris and Breakout were incredibly easy to grasp, meet Snood, which blends elements of both of the aforementioned games into a cloned Puzzle Bobble-esque package. The concept is as elementary as matching color-to-color, resulting in one of the most easily approachable games on the GBA. However, as the puzzles become increasingly complex, you'll need to rely on more precise aiming and wall-ricocheting to proceed. The flow largely depends on your accuracy, and the more Snoods that are removed, the lesser the chance of the play space decreasing in size. Ultimately, Snood's formula is very forgiving initially, which makes it incredibly adaptive for any player.
Releasing soon after the GBA's launch, Snood could also be mistaken as a Game Boy Color misfit. That, or a work-in-progress prototype with several flaws developed by an amateur development team. From the primitive visuals to the glaring glitches, you just might ponder how long this raw meat was stewing in the pot. Thankfully, the visual quality of the game barely impacts the solid gameplay mechanic, but nonetheless, this should be one of the last GBA games you'll want to display solely for graphical bragging rights.
The Game Boy Color similarity continues to resound via Snood's audio functionality. It's questionable to say that the background music is poor in quality; perhaps it's just what the developers intentionally wanted in the final product. Or is it because they were simply inexperienced with GBA technology? It's difficult to know. What's certain is that these tunes are so cheesy and catchy, so random in their execution, that they're bound to either annoy you eventually, or provide reason for you to keep playing, conversely. They might be contributory to the quirkiness of the package as a whole, but that's for you to decide. There are even small dialogue clips thrown in, good for a laugh or two, but that's where the line's drawn.
As mentioned before, there are quite a few bugs strewn about. As strange as the game abruptly slowing as if it was trudging through tar, to extreme as it freezing up altogether. These nuisances usually occur if you've been playing for extended periods of time, and effectively render the endurance mode nearly impossible to complete. A few other gameplay modes are available, including a 2-player link option, and seeing that these are mostly truncated, you should be able to complete them before the game crashes on you. These, however, only present slight variations to the table, and end up feeling slightly tacked on.
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In the end, Snood's all about an inherent pick-up-and-play diversion. It's a li'l puzzler lilted with simplicity, but it downright fails to showcase the GBA's technical abilities.