Snap Together

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Snap Together + Pool Together Bundle, along with Pool Together)

Snap Together, released on Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a Puzzle Game where players are presented with three-dimensional objects that have been segmented into multiple pieces, and they are tasked with reassembling those pieces to recreate the object. If that description sounds familiar, it’s because I just copy-pasted my description of another 2023 game, The Shape of Things, which featured the same core premise.

While the core gameplay may be similar, the presentation is quite different. The Shape of Things favored a calm, relaxed atmosphere with bright, soft colors and a soothing soundtrack, but by contrast Snap Together takes place in a dark room with objects that are often poorly-lit (the images from Nintendo.com, like the one above, don’t seem indicative of the overall experience with the game), with the gameplay backed by an upbeat but forgettable synthesized soundtrack. Between the two, I much prefer The Shape of Things.

Snap Together has two difficulty levels and not much more than that in the way of options. On easy difficulty, objects are cut up into horizontal slices, with each slice rotated in some way, with players only having to rotate each slice back to match the rest of the object. This mode is pointless – the piece will stop, make a snapping noise and highlight the matching object when you’re rotating a piece and it fits with an adjacent piece, meaning you don’t even need to pay attention to the orientation of the pieces, just start on one end and keep rotating the piece next to it until you match with the end in question, then move on to the next and repeat. You could probably do this blindfolded and be done in a half a minute.

On Hard mode, in addition to these cross-sections being rotated, they are also shuffled in order, meaning players need to figure out the order and proper orientation of each piece. This is a far more compelling task than Easy mode, though it’s not without its own problems.

As mentioned before, this game’s 3D objects are often poorly-lit, making them difficult to make out well. Your selected piece is also highlighted with a surrounding bright green border, which can make it harder to determine if your piece is close to lining up with an adjacent one. And on top of this, the camera controls feel cumbersome, in part because objects are close to the ground, making it difficult to see the bottom parts, especially if those parts are smaller than the parts above them.

The one area where Snap Together has a clear advantage over The Shape of Things is its multiplayer mode, which The Shape of Things lacks. Here, players compete to piece together the same object before anyone else, There’s also an unlockable Tournament mode, which not only has multiple rounds, but also has attacks you can gain access to that let you interfere with other players. Overall, I’m not sure this multiplayer mode is pretty lacking in options and features, and I’m not sure it will appeal to many players, but it’s nice that it’s included, all the same.

I suppose if you’re looking for a multiplayer Puzzle game where players compete to try to piece together an object first, Snap Together might be somewhat enjoyable, though its $8 price tag seems a bit too high given how feature-poor this game is. However, the real problem this game has is that The Shape of Things offers the same kind of experience, but absolutely trounces it in every way – better presentation, better music, better controls, more interesting mixing-up of objects, smaller price tag… the only reason you would want to get Snap Together instead of that game is if you are specifically looking for a multiplayer experience. And even that seems like a pretty weak justification for buying this game.

tl;dr – Snap Together is a Puzzle Game where players must reassemble 3D objects by manipulating each of their pieces. This gameplay is very similar to what we saw in The Shape of Things, only with worse controls, less originality, a far worse presentation, and a higher price tag. To its credit, it does have a multiplayer mode the other game lacks, but unless that feature specifically is what interests you, you’re much better off going with The Shape of Things.

Grade: C-

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