Joystiq hands-on: Roogoo (XBLA)
Heard of Roogoo? Don't worry if you haven't. It's fallen a little under the radar, but our recent hands-on with this XBLA title has us hankering for more. Describing the game's premise does it little justice, simply because it seems like something that would barely entertain a three year old. However, under the game's cute exterior and almost-mindlessly simple gameplay lies a lot of depth and fun.
Roogoo follows one of the cardinal rules of the puzzle genre: inexplicably, things are falling from the sky. Blocks of various shapes will descend from above, and players must rotate platforms to allow these shapes to continue their journey downward. We're certain you've played with preschool toys that are similar to this: star goes in star, triangle goes in triangle, box goes in box, etc. The shoulder buttons rotate the platforms, and the A button lets you accelerate the falling piece.
As we warned, this description does little to make the game sound very entertaining. Trust me, I had the same reservations as you're probably thinking when approaching this title. However, things get surprisingly (almost embarassingly) difficult later on. Enemies will spawn in holes, and can only be knocked off by accelerating blocks on their heads. Blocks won't only come down faster, but they'll come down more than one at a time, forcing players to look at multiple levels of play at the same time. Jumping to one of the later levels had us reach miserable failure in a matter of seconds, as we collapsed under the overwhelming weight of colorful children's blocks.
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In addition to the single-player puzzle experience, there are a variety of multiplayer modes which we also got a chance to try. In a competitive mode, players must rush to complete their puzzle faster than their opponent. However, they can pick up stars that will spawn enemies in their opponent's puzzle. There's also a cooperative mode, which will undoubtedly break friendships. In this mode, players must take turns rotating each of the platforms. You must pay close attention to which Gamerpic appears: screw up, and both you and your partner will be penalized.
The art is cute as a button, which helps mask how utterly devious this downloadable title actually is. We had a lot of fun with the game, but we do have a few reservations. Even with multiplayer modes, and 45 levels, we're still concerned that such a simple game might be a tad expensive at the planned 800 Microsoft Points ($10 US). Don't overlook Roogoo -- you should definitely give it a try when it comes out on Live Arcade in the next few weeks.
