Drop everything and download: SNKRX

What’s it all about?

The most famous snake game is Snake, found on ancient Nokia phones. If you love that, knock yourself out – there’s a serviceable freebie take for Android and iPhone. But surely technology and mobile games have moved on since 1997?

Well, yes, hence SNKRX, a game so cool it doesn’t have time for vowels nor even an easily pronounceable name! What it does have is loads and loads of shooty bits. You’re tasked with controlling a snake of bolt-on components with upgradable abilities so you can take on pill-like enemies within claustrophobic battlefields.

Is it any good?

Imagine Snake meets Geometry Wars with a dash of tower defence, Roguelite upgrades and Dota Auto Chess auto-attack. It’s eye-popping stuff as your little wriggler scoots about, annihilating adversaries – especially when you bolt on enough extras and have five or more components.

The controls are a perfect fit for mobile – just prod the left or right half of the display to direct your auto-slithering string of death. And there are loads of upgrades to mess around with.

It’s admittedly opaque at first – you get dumped into this minimalist universe and have to figure out things as you go. But the slowish pace oddly manages to combine (eventually) frantic blasting with meditative zen-like movement. It’s rather lovely – and a whole lot better than Nokia’s ancient effort.

Where can I get it?

SNKRX is available for Android (Google Play, £2.09) and iPhone/iPad (App Store, £2.99). There’s also a version for Windows (Steam, £2.09), but this game feels better in your mitts.