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Roogoo Review for Xbox 360 (X360)

Roogoo Review for Xbox 360 (X360)

Puzzling Appeal

For most games to be truly successful a lot of thought and care often needs to be put into their overall presentation. It is equally as important for a game to have adequate graphics as it is for it to look appealing to the player. Imagine if God of War starred a tutu-wearing ballerina instead of Kratos and instead of ogres, you were cutting stuffed animals in half. Even if the game had some of the best gameplay in the world, most gamers still wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. Unfortunately, this will most likely be the same fate that befalls Roogoo.

Roogoo screenshot

Roogoo is an interesting puzzle game to say the least. The basic concept of the game is not unlike the shape sorting blocks that most will remember from their infancy. These were blocks with a different colored shape on each side, requiring children to learn basic shape and color recognition to insert the proper pieces. Instead of maintaining the block shape, Roogoo uses flat and round platforms with different colored, shaped holes with which to catch falling pieces.

While this may sound like a pretty basic gameplay concept, the game is actually quite challenging. Initially you will start with three different shapes, working your way up to a grand total of five. The game begins easily enough with a tutorial describing the basic gameplay mechanics. Pieces of different shapes and colors will fall from the heavens, and it is up to you to guide them safely to the bottom of a stack of platforms. You achieve this by spinning these platforms and using the bumpers, so the falling pieces match the shapes on the platform were they will land. If you are successful, the piece will either proceed through the hole or create stacks that eventually drop through. However, if the pieces land in the incorrect holes, you will lose them and your lose meter will fill. When the lose meter fills entirely you will be forced to replay the level.

Roogoo screenshot

Roogoo does an excellent job of slowly introducing new concepts that will affect this core gameplay. Holding the A button will allow you to make the pieces drop quicker, giving you a better chance of beating each level’s par time. Some platforms will naturally drop pieces faster than others, making timing the spinning platform fairly challenging. A few more levels into the game, some platforms will begin to flip end over end, swatting away improperly timed piece drops. In some later levels, certain platforms will also come equipped with shutters that will continually open and close, making proper drop timing all the more difficult to accomplish. Pieces will also begin to come more frequently in random spinning waves and in stacks to keep the gameplay varied and difficult. Even if you manage to keep pace with all of these mechanics, the game throws another curveball at you. Butterflies, bats, and other random creatures will begin to pick up your stacks of blocks. You will then need to align overhead platforms so the pieces can properly ascend.

Another potential hazard comes in the form of enemies. There is really only one type of enemy in the game, besides time, and those are the Moomoos. These creatures will perch themselves on your platforms and stacks, forcing you to remove them before you can proceed. To destroy these baddies you will need to drop your blocks quickly so the falling piece smacks them in the head. This doesn’t sound difficult, but it can become so when balancing all of the other things going on at the same time. Most Moomoos are fairly docile, but in later levels they begin to carry knives that they use to dice your falling pieces. To eliminate them, you will need to find the one that isn’t spinning their blades and slam them in the head with a piece. With every successfully defeated enemy, another will cease their slashing, allowing you to continue to successively knock out these enemies until all are dispatched. This can be incredibly tricky and results in quite a few lost pieces.

Roogoo screenshot

Speaking of Moomoos, this brings me to my only major problem with the game. The mind-numbing story and infantile visual approach taken by this game takes away from an otherwise excellent title. The gist of the storyline reads like a children’s book, complete with every other word sounding like the stereotypical noise made by a baby. In a not too distant galaxy, the planet Roo is in trouble. Falling meteors (pieces from the game) that somehow normally bring peace and beauty to the planet begin to be consumed by King Goo and his followers. This transforms King Goo into King Moo, and his followers into Moomoos. You, as the purest Roogoo left, are then tasked with trying to collect these meteors and restore planet Roo to its former state. Standing in your way are Prince Moo and the rest of the Moomoos, who are trying to consume the descending meteors.

Roogoo screenshot

This kind of baby-talking gibberish is hard to stomach in anything but miniscule doses and unnecessarily alienates many gamers who would otherwise enjoy the title. Most people will likely take one look at this title and write it off as nothing more than a game made specifically for children. This is truly unfortunate, since the game is quite excellent as well as decently challenging. Although the game seems to be visually directed towards children, I believe it to be far too difficult to appeal to that audience. This game ends up feeling somewhat like another Viva Piñata in the sense that the visuals look too childish for most adult players, yet the gameplay is probably too difficult for many younger players. Ultimately, this sort of confusion usually results in some great games that not many end up experiencing.

Thankfully, if you wish to avoid being continuously subjected to the storyline, you can always just stick to the game’s multiplayer. The multiplayer options here are somewhat limited, only offering race and party play modes. Races have you and a friend going head to head, trying to finish each level before your opponent. Party play mode is fairly interesting, having you and up to three other friends controlling alternating platforms. The goal in this mode is to attempt to mess up the least, earning you points for correct piece placement. Unfortunately, party play is only available for local multiplayer, leaving two-player races as your only option for online play. While I would have liked to see more options here, the included ones are definitely fun.

Even though this game utterly fails at attempting to appeal to most gamers, Roogoo is still one of the best puzzle games that I’ve played in a long time. The single-player campaign is fairly long, well-paced, and full of entertaining challenges that will draw you in and keep you playing. The multiplayer options, while limited, are at least fun to play and add a decent amount of replayability to the title. For ten dollars, Roogoo is quite a bargain, as long as you can look past its unnecessarily childish-looking exterior to the exceptional puzzle game fighting to get out.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.4 Graphics
The backgrounds and objects in the game look decent, if not a little generic. Although, the overall childish visual approach to this title is sure to turn off many gamers. 4.2 Control
The controls work rather well and are quite responsive. 2.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music in Roogoo is fairly repetitive and the sound effects are underwhelming. 3.8 Play Value
A lengthy single-player experience, as well as some limited multiplayer offerings, will keep you entertained for a good eight to ten hours at the least. 3.8 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • The new puzzle game features more than 45 puzzle levels with single-player, two-player split screen, and party game modes.
  • Roogoo introduces bonus challenges and stages as the game progresses with new shapes and characters.
  • Roogoo on Windows-based PC includes high-end and low-end versions on the same disc to ensure PC compatibility with system requirements.

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