Flametail

Genre: Arcade / Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

Flametail is an Arcade-style game with light puzzle elements first released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010, and later grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when the Nintendo 3DS released. This game, which is played sideways in “book mode”, takes the core concept of the classic game Snake and reimagines your snake as a starship with a flaming tail trying to burn down nearby blocks before a line catches up to the ship’s location.

The presentation here is descend but nothing special, with some okay pixel art visuals and an energetic but forgettable soundtrack. The result is that this game has a retro-style look but isn’t especially memorable.

When it comes to the gameplay, there are some fun mechanics at work here, with flames gradually spreading to any block you’ve touched, any block that those blocks have touched, and so on. The game doesn’t automatically make you move, so there’s little need to worry about getting trapped because you were too slow to react. The only way you’re likely to get trapped is if you fail to think ahead.

Instead, failure will come in this game if you stick too close to a bomb after lighting it and then get caught in the blast when it explodes, when you leave blocks without burning them and they reach the bottom line on the screen, or if you allow your tail to touch the bottom of the screen.

This latter part is a bit frustrating, as you only have an indirect effect on the length of your tail, and can’t easily change it after the fact. At best, you can create a path for burning blocks to burn through your tail quicker than it may have done otherwise, but if your tail is close to reaching the bottom it is likely already too late for this.

While this may sound nerve-wracking, in truth Flametail is probably too easy, as the lack of a time limit or the game forcing you to move means you can take the game at a leisurely pace, contrary to the urgency that the game’s flaming theme may insinuate. Players can play a limited time mode, but even in this mode the game still only progresses when you do, and you’re simply trying to do as much as possible within the time limit. As a result, this mode will often have players incentivized to push into the top part of the screen, where they can’t see ahead of them, making it more likely that the player will be trapped by dead ends they can’t see.

Suffice it to say, Flametail has its fair share of issues holding it back from greatness, alternately being far too easy or unfairly difficult. However, for the $5 price tag, this may be worth a look. This game takes a classic title’s core gameplay and reimagines it to create something new and interesting. That’s something worth checking out.

tl;dr – Flametail is an Arcade-style game with light puzzle elements that builds on the gameplay of the classic game Snake to create a game about a spaceship with a flaming tail setting fire to blocks it touches. It’s an interesting gameplay idea, but it’s overall far too easy (unless you want to push things in timed mode, then it becomes unfairly hard). While not without its flaws, it still may be worth a look for the $5 it costs.

Grade: C+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Talissa, Eli Goodman, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Ilya Zverev, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}