SnowRoll

There are all kinds of activities that can only be enjoyed during winter, at least if you are not swayed by the cold and the general lack of sunlight. Most of them have to do with snow, since it’s the element that best captures the essence of winter. Whether you like skiing or having random snowball fights with your friends, snow has many possible purposes and qualities.

SnowRoll is an arcade game in which you control a snowball as it goes downhill, while also trying to avoid any obstacles that might be in its way. There’s not much depth in the gameplay department, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of fun with the concept. It truly requires some training beforehand, especially since you only have to use two keys.

In short, you can either use the left or the right arrow to steer the snowball in the desired direction. Pressing both of them at once causes it to gain speed and move faster, while letting both go at the same time allows you to perform a jump. It may sound like a pretty basic formula - and it is -, but it’s quite difficult to stay on the track and avoid the incoming obstacles as well.

Speaking of which, there are trees and big rock boulders to watch out for, although they do not cause a loss right away. Instead, they take some of the mass off from the snowball, which is not really a bad thing. In fact, it gets easier to steer if you descend slower, which means that you might sometimes actually want to hit something, just to slow down and catch your breath.

The graphics are nothing to write home about either, but they are not bad either. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to see, except for the slope, a few trees and the occasional rock. It’s a shame, really, because a bit more variety would have made the game that much more appealing. Procedural generation would be yet another great idea, since things get repetitive after a few minutes.

In the end, SnowRoll is quite clearly not the type of game that keeps you glued to the monitor for hours on end. However, it can be a great way to test your reflexes and remind yourself what winter is really about.