Snowy, the white bear and former waiter, has reached celebrity status as the star of almost 10 games. He does a little of everything from restaurant management to solving brain-busting puzzles. (We bet he even does his own stunts.) In Snowy Treasure Hunter 3, he continues his platform-style game adventures and travels to a castle full of hidden treasures, ghosts, fools, executioners, Draculas, and other monsters.
Snowy, the white bear and former waiter, has reached celebrity status as the star of almost 10 games. He does a little of everything from restaurant management to solving brain-busting puzzles. (We bet he even does his own stunts.) In Snowy Treasure Hunter 3, he continues his platform-style game adventures and travels to a castle full of hidden treasures, ghosts, fools, executioners, Draculas, and other monsters.
Except for the cute star, this Snowy game brings little originality to the platform arena. The game splits into three episodes with each one having a different “guest star” playing the enemy. Bright-colored and Sly-looking fools appear in the first episode, wrestler-sized executioners come after Snowy in the second episode, and scary Draculas appear in the third. They’re not alone in hunting down Snowy. He runs, digs, dodges, traps and grabs for a tiring and adrenaline-pumping 85 levels.
The goal for each level requires collecting all gems and then making a quick exit to move on up to the next level. Snowy relies heavily on his pickaxe to break through the ground either to trap the bad guys or to reach an inaccessible area. Watch out when bad guys fall into the Snowy-dug hole as they can pop out after a few seconds. To get rid of them, stand over them while they’re in the hole. Don’t let your guard down or they might reappear elsewhere or their buds could be on their way to get you.
Snowy also picks up other supplies (he can only carry one at a time) along the way to help him out of sticky and rocky situations. Exploding pumpkins temporarily open doorways, jackhammers drill down rocks where Snowy can’t dig, and cages trap enemies. Look for big red question marks in the corridors to pick up a hint on the game play. On occasion, he takes a break from his adventures to write to his friends back home.
If you lose all of your lives and must start a new game, you can pick up at the last level you played. You’ll start over at 0 points and any gems you collect will need picking up again. At least you don’t have to start over on level one and fight your way back.
Thank goodness some levels don’t have monsters, so players can take a break from the chase to focus on collecting and exiting. These are my favorite levels as they let me catch my breath and restore my sanity.
Platform games aren’t my favorites because they make me too jumpy, but I found myself reeled in after playing roughly 15 levels. Snowy simply won me over along with the fine graphics and the lively music and sound effects. Though I dislike replaying levels too many times, I stayed patient and worked with Snowy to get through the tough levels.
Snowy Lunch Rush fans beware: this series more closely resembles Mario Bros.-style platform games than Diner Dash-style games. If Snowy keeps up the good work, perhaps we’ll see him star in another restaurant management game, puzzle or something completely different.
It’s no surprise that Snowy stars in many games considering that he’s irresistible. While he won’t disappoint Treasure Hunter series fans, platform gamers will most likely split in the middle with half wanting to go on adventure with the tough yet cuddly bear and the other half finding Snowy Treasure Hunter 3 less stimulating than the platform games they prefer. Try it and you might discover you treasure the time you spend with Snowy – it could last a weekend or a week or two depending on your platformin’ skills.
