Roogoo is a colourful, fantasy themed puzzle game designed for the PC and Xbox LIVE arcade. It’s developed by Spidermonk entertainment and published by SouthPeak Interactive. To give a brief overview, Roogoo is a fantasy told puzzle game which relies on quick thinking and quick reactions to succeed. The game’s idea and storyline is a unique one, the only familiar aspect of the game that you’ll find here are the children’s multi-coloured shaped meteors and holes. Similar to what you played with as a child, you have to match these blocks with the corresponding shaped holes. The twist to this though (no pun intended) is that these holes are on many layers of disks and you have to turn to match each one sequentially. The concept is a lot simpler than it sounds but it’s also a lot more creative.

Gameplay:

The concept, as mentioned above, has you matching different shaped blocks to their matching holes. As they fall from the sky you must turn the current disk round so it will fall through the right place, then move the next disk and so on until it falls safely to the ground. Sounds really boring don’t it? Well… it isn’t. As the game progresses, slowly more variables get added in to the game. You’ll be seeing more shapes and holes as you complete each few levels. So instead of just three blocks falling from the sky, there will be four and then five different types. This means you have to turn each disk round that extra one more, and it means you have another set of blocks to collect. And then the next mission may increase the speed, and have multiple blocks heading down at the same time, when these combine your multitasking skills get put to the test. You’ll be facing other threats as well, threats in the form of opposition. One of these threats is the enemy of the Roogoo. “Who are the Roogoo?” It will make a little more sense if I explained the story behind it. The Roogoo are the race of aliens you’re trying to save, and Roo is the planet you’re trying to save, and guess what… the Roogoo live on Roo, at least they used to. Roo survives as a thriving, happy, colourful planet by having these special meteors drop on them; it’s the planets source of energy. But one day, the king of Roo, ‘King Goo’, then consumed these meteors to start building cities, this was until his greed became too much and he started transforming into the corrupt and evil ‘King Moo, leader of the Meemoos’. The Roogoos living in the cities were also tainted by the consummation of meteors and also became corrupt; however, a few Roogoo survived and are tasked with saving the planet Roo by guiding the meteors to the planet’s surface. The fact that there’s a little back story to this game was a bonus, as I know many Xbox LIVE arcade games introduce you with what seems to be a very inventive and intriguing design, but they don’t tell you what it’s about. It’s nice to know what you’re stepping into to play, even if after the introduction you’re not going to give two hoots about it. The Meemoo aren’t just part of the back story, they play a part in the game also, not only do they defeat you when you lose too many meteors; they also become a hassle while playing. As you‘re guiding the meteors down the Meemoo will jump on some of the holes and block the entrance for that shape, the only way out of this is to press ‘A’, which speed the rocks up, and knock them off the disk. These become a real challenge when you have to guide multiple meteors down. As well as the Meemoo, you’ll have other tasks to tackle such as matching the shapes backwards. Sometimes the shapes you’ve already dropped get picked up by butterflies and taken a few levels up. Things like this break the relatively basic gameplay up, and make things a little trickier and interesting to play Upon first sight or read of this game you’ll think that this is a title aimed at just the younger generation, but this is where you’re wrong, it’s actually a game anyone can play and enjoy. The options in difficulty levels, the attractive and bold theme and the simple but addictive gameplay will provide enjoyment to the widest of audiences. It’s just hard to think of any problems for this title, albeit being a little short. It could be beaten, depending on your skill and learning curve, in a single sitting. However, the length lies in the amount of modes you can play with. You have the basic Single player which progresses you with a strung together campaign, this very slowly gets harder and harder as you go on, then you have the co-op multiplayer where you control every 2nd disk throughout the campaign forcing you and your partner to work together, and added to that you have the competitive head to head mode where you race to get the most amount of points. To top this all off, you can play it all on LIVE, that’s if you can ever find anyone. The gameplay in Roogoo is solid and succeeds in everything it aims to achieve; even the slight problem of a relatively short campaign could be fulfilled through the option of download content in the main menu.

Graphics:

Roogoo is a colour barrage, bold and bright colours, contrasting the typical good and evil view of the traditional fantasy story. With the Roogoo you’ll be seeing vivid and almost florescent colours, reminding you a little of something out the Moomins or Care Bears. Then we have the Meemoo, which give off the dark and grim variants, and their cities also match the inhabitants. Let’s not give the game too much gratitude though, this is nothing that’s visually jaw dropping in graphics and effects, an Xbox could run this, but the interest is in the artistic visual choice and the effort put into detail. It may seem like the standard Xbox LIVE arcade game style, but I honestly couldn’t imagine it looking any different, it portrays the story and theme perfectly, even if we’re a bit bored of the innocent baby look of arcade games.

Sound:

The soundtrack is a memorable one, and every song fits in with the overall theme. One or two of them are even quite catchy. However, the one or two that are catchy are probably the majority, the music becomes extremely repetitive, you’ll be hearing the same tune in repeat several times and it may drive you insane. But the limited soundtrack is understandable for an arcade title, if you think about the budget you’d be given for that type of game. The effects are plentiful, and uplifting. A good break from all the explosions and gunfire from your typical Xbox collection.

Longevity:

Roogoo has a relatively short, but addicting single player campaign. It could quite possibly be beaten in one sitting, or two. But the game becomes more challenging and entertaining when you play with an extra person. There is no limitation on the number of modes, coop adds a different type of strategy to the standard formula, and it makes it a lot harder as the game forces you and your partner to work together. The head to head adds some extra features, like an attack bar when you’ve built up enough power, and of course a head to head is competitive and so therefore can never really be ‘completed’. Both of these modes can be played on Xbox LIVE also, this would be best for an arranged game as you’ll rarely find many games. However, even with all the gameplay additions and setting changes it can get very tedious as the core gameplay mechanics do stay the same. In the end all you’re doing is twisting some disks in sequential order; this is not the kind of game you would spend three to four hours playing. On top of all this you have the possibility of future download content which is a nice hopeful addition for loyal players.

Overall:

With Xbox LIVE arcade games I tend to take this stern and unforgiving view that they should all be free, but every now and again, I’m proven wrong and they are worth the 400 to 800 points they charge for them. Some are just ports, others are ports with a bit of next gen coating and quite a few are poor crossovers that shouldn’t be allowed on arcade, but once in a blue moon you see a developer who sends out a LIVE arcade game which is original, interesting, involving and just generally clever, Roogoo happens to be one of those titles, I just can’t think of many genuine flaws to pick up on. It’s Different, pleasant, fun and one more reason to purchase those gamer points.