Snapshot

Snapshot is a puzzle-platformer starring a robot named Pic who is in possession of a magical camera. When Pic photographs certain objects, they are captured within an image and can be placed at another location in order to progress through levels.

By panning the camera with the mouse, you may discover objects that you cannot reach physically, but you can take a photo of them. Your camera can take three images, and if you want more than that, you can try and grab two objects in one picture, or just dump them in a safe location and pick them up later.

The keyboard and mouse controls generally work fine. Navigating Pic using the WASD keys, cycling through images using QE, and panning the camera and using photos with the mouse. However, for some reason rotating the pictures can be troublesome. You carefully rotate slowly, then just as you are about to get your image rotated straight, it suddenly jerks and spins far too far.

Each level is split into three sections and each level introduces it's own concept. The first section is usually really straightforward and aims to teach you how to use the concept. The second section is slightly trickier, and the last is the hardest.

The aim of each level is to reach the end, but there are optional sub-goals to achieve too. Each level has a certain quantity of collectible stars, a collectible item, and a target time to beat. This adds longevity for those gamers who are completionists and love speed runs and secrets. Achieving these goals is easier said than done though, not just because of the strict time limits and difficult areas, but because this information is not displayed on the HUD. So while you are playing, you have no idea how long it has taken, or how many stars are remaining, meaning it is all guesswork during a level.

The initial levels will ease you into the game mechanics so they may be as simple as capturing a couple of crates and placing them so you can reach higher ledges. As the levels progress, you are expected to make more complex manoeuvres. You will need to rotate images to position them correctly (such as a diagonal spring to launch you to hard to reach areas), place objects whilst falling, and even capture objects whilst in motion (capture a rolling snowball then release it in another direction to knock over an obstacle).

Some of the solutions can be a bit obscure when the solution requires the use of physics, so you may need to use a falling rock to propel you upwards. To do this, you need to capture the falling rock, then drop it from a higher position so it picks up speed before capturing it again, then finally deploying it below Pic but rotating it so it fires upwards, sending Pic flying through the air.

Death is introduced early on, mainly caused by spike pits which forces you to restart the level. On some levels it can be all too easy to die, which makes these parts feel a bit of a chore when you have to replay them.

There are red grates which mark areas where photography is prohibited. There's a few ways around this depending on the level. You may need to place an item on a switch to remove the grating, use momentum of an object to knock the object from its current position, or physically push it away with Pic.

There's a surprising amount of content with plenty of ideas to keep things fresh. There's some really clever levels and some really frustrating levels too which gave me a mixed experience. Even though it's a good game, I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. It's a well made game, but it just doesn't capture your attention as much as it should.