Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Roogoo (Xbox 360) artwork

Roogoo (Xbox 360) review


"It’s an extremely simple concept, but it has an addictive quality to it and is easily accessible for the hardcore and casuals. As you progress through the forty-five single-player levels, various obstacles are introduced to makes things a little more challenging."

The Xbox Live Arcade is a rich source for quirky puzzles games, but for every gem, there’s a lazy-and-unimaginative cash-in. Thankfully, Roogoo fits into the first category. Rather than trying to rehash Bejeweled-style formula like so many others have, developers SouthPeak Interactive have (literally) put their own spin on Roogoo that sets it apart from the majority of the arcade’s puzzle catalogue. As one of the Roogoo, it’s your mission to save your world from the corrupted king by ensuring life-sustaining meteorites can reach the planet’s surface. It’s not much of a story, but it exists merely as a context for some excellent puzzle gameplay.

Using the bumper buttons, you need to spin platforms to allow the falling meteorites to safely reach the bottom level. Each platform has a square-, star-, and triangle-shaped hole that allows a meteorite of the same shape to pass through; you need to match like-shaped holes and meteorites so they can reach the bottom. Any that you fail to match up will drift into the depths of space and the games up if you lose too many.

It’s an extremely simple concept, but it has an addictive quality to it and is easily accessible for the hardcore and casuals. As you progress through the forty-five single-player levels, various obstacles are introduced to makes things a little more challenging. More shapes are added to the mix which makes things a bit frantic, in addition to more deliberate nuisances like enemies blocking holes and open and closing flaps, which require good timing to ensure the meteorites reach their destination safely. Contrary to the cutesy, colourful visual style, the second half of the single-player missions will really start to test you. You’ll need lightning quick reactions to survive, and if you want even more of a challenge, every level has a par time to beat that adds to your score bonus.

Unfortunately, the camera is a niggling problem which can add some artificial challenge. It’s locked at quite a distant from the action, and when you’ve got shapes falling everywhere and a load of enemy blockades to deal with, it’s frustrating to lose easy shapes because of the camera. If it’s all getting a little too much you can change the difficulty setting from challenge to casual, but it all starts to get a bit too easy. Some sort of middle ground would have been nice.

Once you’re all done with the single-player, local and Live-enabled multiplayer are the only things left to keep you occupied. It takes the form of a split-screen race contest to see who can complete their meteorite stacks the quickest, and if you’re playing locally, party play provides an interesting twist where players are responsible for the same stacks and alternate turns after each platform. It’s a fun mode that’s more co-operative in nature than the race mode, and it makes sure every player is awake! Live multiplayer is a similar affair, although at present, there isn’t much of an online community, so it might be difficult to find matches.

Camera issues aside, Roogoo delivers a polished and addictive puzzle experience that’s quite a bit different from most games on the market. It may rely too much on the same selection of environmental backdrops and looped background music, but if you were looking for a good mind-boggler, those things probably weren’t that important anyway. 800 Microsoft points might be a tad too much for most considering there isn’t much to fall back on after completing the single-player, but if you’re looking for your next puzzle fix, you could do far worse than Roogoo.



PAJ89's avatar
Freelance review by Paul Josua (June 14, 2008)

A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.

More Reviews by Paul Josua [+]
Gemini Rue (PC) artwork
Gemini Rue (PC)

Gemini Rue is an adventure game that doesn't care to hide its influences. The title screen – set to the sight and sounds of the rain-stricken planet of Barracus – evokes the feeling of a grim, desperate dystopia that takes a cue from the likes of Blade Runner and Cowboy Bebop.
Cthulhu Saves the World (Xbox 360) artwork
Cthulhu Saves the World (Xbox 360)

On occasion, the tributes to its inspirations are a bit over-enthusiastic and the frequent fourth-wall breaking can be obnoxious, but the vast majority of this game is well written and funny.
Who's That Flying?! (PC) artwork
Who's That Flying?! (PC)

The story begins with you – Guardian of Earth – standing trial at the Galactic Council of Space Justice for allowing the planet to be invaded. It isn't particularly deep - it doesn't need to be - but the trial scenes that intersperse the levels are well-made and humorous.

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Roogoo review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Roogoo is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Roogoo, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.