Parents' Guide to Snail Bob 3: Beyond the Sky

It's a shame when a potentially fun game is ruined by greed, which is exactly what happens in this arcade-ish puzzle game. In Snail Bob 3: Beyond the Sky, you have to help a friendly gastropod get from the starting point of each level to the portal to the next level. To do this, you have to not only tell Bob when to stay still and when to move, and in what direction, but also hit switches and buttons to help him get around while avoiding some hazards that even his hard shell can't protect him from. He can even, when he has the right shell, do some special moves, like jumping.

But while this could've been a pleasant-enough and mentally challenging puzzle game, it gets the fun sucked right out of it by having way too many ads. Some, of course, are by choice. You can watch an ad after you complete a level to get an even larger reward. But it also runs video ads randomly, including between rounds, even if you just told it "no, you don't want to watch an ad to increase your reward." There are also static ads that run constantly along the bottom of the navigation menu. Oh, but there's an ad-free version (imagine that). More important, though, there's an off button on your phone and tablet, one that you can hit instead of playing any of the annoyingly greedy Snail Bob 3: Beyond the Sky.