"You've got the Snakes." If my doctor said that to me, I'd be feeling pretty worried right about now. But this is merely Nokia's promotional slogan for their N-Gage version of the legendary Snake mobile game. Possibly the most played game in the world, considering the vast amount of Nokia users who had the game on handsets such as the 5110, 3310 and 3330. But this is more than just a simple remake of a classic; indeed, this version has been revamped 100%. Built from the ground up to suit the N-Gage platform, while also taking complete and utter advantage of the N-Gage's 3D gaming power, Bluetooth multiplayer and N-Gage Arena functions to make this a whole world away from the original Snake. And not forgetting one of the best things about it - it's free! Who's going to say no to that?!

In development even before the launch of the N-Gage, Snakes has been perfected to the last. For those of you who are not familiar with the Snakes ideal (you should be ashamed!) you take control of a snake, navigate around the screen, sometimes through a maze, collecting food pellets to score points and make your snake grow longer. Beware not to run into your own increasingly long tail however, or it's lights out. Nothing major has changed from the basic game but Nokia and IOMO have put some interesting twists into Snakes. Your snake now has more abilities than ever before, ranging from speed boosts to sharp turns. Boost does exactly what it's meant to do, giving your snake a burst of speed; the amount of boost is measured by a gauge in the lower right hand corner of the screen. It slowly recharges itself over time and can be replenished by collecting the red boost pellets throughout the levels. The sharp turn is executed by holding down key 2 whilst turning, especially useful on the later levels where sharper turns are required to progress.

Your snake can collect food pellets to grow but is not limited to this. Aside from the boost pellets, there are point pellets, which appear in a line of blue glowing squares on the level grid. The idea is to follow these power lines and collect all the pellets along the way. Upon completing a line, another one appears. The more lines collected, the higher your score multiplier. Miss one pellet though and you lose the multiplier. If you have time, collect the letters 'N', 'G', 'A', 'G' and 'E' to get bonus points. These letters are usually placed in harder to reach areas, such as in between walls or twisting paths. Beware of the obstacles, as walls can take a significant amount of energy from your snake, which results in a shorter tail; if your snake becomes too small it dies. Some walls can be penetrated while others are solid and can kill instantly. If you have suffered damage, find some green food pellets and eat them to make your snake grow longer and have a higher resistance to damage. Extra lives are found in the form of a snake icon, usually also in a hard to reach area, although it's worth grabbing these because you only start with three lives and chances are you will lose them at some stage!

The very first thing that hits you upon beginning a new game of Snakes is the graphics. The worlds pulsate and glow, alive with colour and neon lighting, a little reminiscent of Tron. The maps are coloured with different shades of bright red, blue, green and yellow and these can become dazzling when the game is running at top speed, like boost is active, and boy does this game really move! The snake itself is very nice, simply designed but very smooth looking. Food pellets upon consumption can be seen sliding down the body of the snake, right to the tail. When the camera flips overhead, the snake can be seen moving very gracefully along the levels, meandering around the turns. The levels themselves change every few stages, starting off as plain square grids with little obstacles in your way but progressing onto hexagonal shaped grids with flipsides. To access the underside of the grid you must find a hole in the level, slither into it and watch as the camera flips under the grid to reveal the other side. Green and red flashing markers can be seen on most of the levels, indicating speed increase and decrease areas respectively, so use these wisely.

The sound actually takes up most of the space in this game, which goes to show how tightly they crammed this massive game into a tiny 1MB download! The music is a very distinct mix of strange beats and electronic sounds. There is a whooshing sound when you activate the boost and a sound also to notify you when your boost gauge is empty. There are only one or two music tracks in the game, which loop over, but to be honest, they sound great and the game really doesn't need any other music.

One of the greatest things about Snakes is how easy it is to get hold of it. It can be downloaded for free from the N-Gage homepage, or alternatively, distributed virally via Bluetooth. In simple terms, this means if you have a friend with an N-Gage and the Snakes game, he can open his game, navigate the menu and send the game to you, installing it wirelessly onto your game deck; the full game, free of charge in two minutes. Then you can start your multiplayer battles, anywhere, anytime. Nokia certainly stunned their audiences when they released a game of this quality for free, so now there is no excuse to let this one slither away!

The lifespan is average as there are around 30 levels in the game and some can be completed in a matter of seconds or minutes. It shouldn't take longer than twenty or thirty minutes to get past the first half of the levels but you will certainly find yourself having to repeat a few of them, as they get very challenging around level 12 onwards. It's very convenient that the game saves your progress and allows you to play a new game from any level you have unlocked, even if you have lost all your lives. When you've had enough of playing offline, simply connect to the N-Gage arena to access the global rankings. Upload your best scores from completing the game and compare them with the world's best Snakes players. Uploading your scores is quick and painless, just open the arena option from the main menu, then rankings and update. This allows you to connect and upload your own scores. You can then log onto n-gage.com and check your status on the Internet, or just check from your game deck.

The controls are very simple and the gameplay is extremely intuitive; it's most definitely pick up and play but in the later levels you will need to master the use of boost and sharp turns to advance. The default configuration uses the D-Pad to manoeuvre the Snake and the 2 key is sharp turn. The controls can be mapped to any key you like; I have boost set to key 5 for ease of use.

I must admit I have been bitten by Snakes; it's a timeless classic in any form, especially so on the N-Gage. Vibrating visuals, fitting audio, instantly playable and feature packed. In fact, if it only had half the levels and no arena/multiplayer features, it would still be a great title worth paying for. But it's free and easy to get your hands on. So will you catch the S-s-s-snakes?

Reviewed by Dan Whelan for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).