Mini Army

If you were to ask your average, non-gaming member of the public to name a mobile game, chances are they’ll say Snake.

It’s pretty much the granddaddy of mobile gaming, which can be seen by the sheer number of sequels, clones, and revamps that have flooded the market over the years.

Funnily enough, though, few people have thought to mess with the central protagonist. It’s as if it’s the titular creature that people love rather than the brilliantly simple eat-to-grow gameplay.

Mini Army puts a stop to that, reskinning the Snake formula to resemble a top-down shooter (though it's anything but).

There isn’t a reptile to be seen here, as you take control of a growing band of soldiers instead. As you run around each stage in single file, tapping the two virtual buttons to turn clockwise or anti-clockwise (which isn’t quite as immediate as we would have liked), you add to your number by running into enemy soldiers.

Run into heavy-duty opposition, such as a tank or a truck, and you’ll lose a member. Hit a solid object or the side of the arena and it’s Game Over, while medi-packs serve to slow you down.

One addition to the familiar Snake formula is a killstreak system, whereby stringing multiple 'kills' together quickly grants you a combo bonus. This comes in useful, as the whole aim of the game is to build up a high score and add it to the online table (thanks to OpenFeint).

Essentially, though, this is the same old Snake we’re all familiar with. While there’s nothing wrong with that, we can’t help but be disappointed that the developer didn’t take things further.

For example, when you're in line with your target it opens fire on your advancing squad. It turns out this is just a cosmetic touch, but it would have been nice if this had been turned into a genuine threat, forcing you to approach each target indirectly.

As it is, Mini Army is an overly simplistic reskin job – though a mighty attractive one courtesy of OrangePixel’s stellar art style. We’d love to see it take the formula further, as it's clearly onto something.