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RooGoo Review

by GaryTun

Info

RooGoo the square peg in a round hole premise to a whole new level. Help the Roogoo defeat their enemies, the evil Meemoo, in Roogoo  a new and innovative action-based puzzler. Players must swivel, roll, and boost their way through the levels, guiding meteors in the form of shaped blocks through a series of rotating disks as a means of saving planet Roo and the entire Roogoo race.

No of Players: 1-2
Released:2008

Review

All is not well in the land of the RooGoo.

Corrupted by the cosmic power of the stars, some of them have mutated into the evil, power hungry MeeMoo and it’s up to the player to help restore the  planet to order.

Each stage consists of a central, invisible pillar which has a number of platforms around it. In each  of these platforms is a variety of different shaped holes such as stars, squares and circles and it’s the player’s job to rotate these to make sure that the falling comet shapes pass through the appropriate hole. Successfully guiding enough of these shapes all the way down to the bottom  will clear the level, leading them on to the next.

RooGoo is a simple concept and during its initial stages seems quite serene and sedate. However this pace is deceiving and the game soon becomes much more frantic and challenging with the introduction of more shapes, greater numbers required in order to pass the stage, longer pillars to negotiate and the introduction of the corrupted MeeMoo’s. These nasty little critters sit on some platforms and block the holes, only able to be cleared by the player speeding up the shapes as they descend so that they knock them out of the way. Naturally the faster the blocks move, the greater the chance that the player will miss the correct hole. Later, Butterflies (of all things) further challenge the player by attempting to steal their blocks.

Alongside the single player mode which features around 40 levels, there is also online multiplayer and a local co-operative mode to extend the games lifespan.

RooGoo’s simplicity may also be its undoing for some people as it doesn’t offer that much variation. However those who love the idea will probably not find themselves tiring of it until the are done There’s no denying that the puzzle slice of the Live Arcade pie is already quite bloated, with any new foray into the genre facing some stiff competition.  But its 3D visuals, bright style and cute characters means that RooGoo just about manages to stand on its own two feet and is an entertaining purchase if you haven’t had your fill of puzzlers.