In addition to continuing to play the fabulous Little King's Story at a delightfully leisurely pace and hunting for more treasure in Treasure World whenever I get the chance to drive around new areas of town, I've also been checking out a few puzzle games that have released recently. Two of these that I've been looking at are Roogoo Attack! and Roogoo Twisted Towers, for DS and Wii respectively.
Now I'm probably the least affected by "kiddie" of anyone I've ever met, but Roogoo made me do a double-take—the game is literally shape-sorting, like the toys my little boy would play with when he was still a mere year old. That said, Roogoo isn't something a one-year-old could handle; it's a game of reflexes that most babies I've met simply don't have.
Despite being classified as a puzzle game, there's really no puzzling to be had here; it's purely about rotating the shape-sorter wheels (using shoulder buttons, or Z and B on the Wii) that your stack of shapes is heading for into the correct position so that they continue on their journey to the bottom. As you progress in the game, it'll throw a few twists at you, from butterflies who'll carry your stacks back up to hatches that open and close and even things other than blocks to stack up, but it's always about keeping those reflexes going.
It turns out to be a good bit of fun, something I honestly didn't really expect. But then again, I've always liked a bit of a reactionary element in my puzzle games (e.g. Meteos), and the Roogoo games are purely that. You get into a kind of rhythm as you go, and it's pretty catchy. It helps that it's generally adding new gameplay elements as you go, too, gradually ramping everything up.
Now, if it turns out you're a huge fan of Roogoo, you might consider getting both DS and Wii incarnations. While they share the same core gameplay concept, they are slightly different, and if you've got both of them, you can unlock bonus levels in each. If you're not that nuts about it (or just want to get one), though, definitely go for the DS version. Apart from not being portable, the Wii version also has some really awkward and bizarre concepts like catching butterflies with the pointer... while you're still playing the basic game. It's not necessary, mind; a sharp player won't need to use it. But it's still just weird that it's there in the first place.
If you're not sure if you'd like Roogoo, you can give it a spin yourself via the PC demo. I think they're pretty fun little diversions, though. Definitely more fun than I expected to have from shape-sorting.
Now I'm probably the least affected by "kiddie" of anyone I've ever met, but Roogoo made me do a double-take—the game is literally shape-sorting, like the toys my little boy would play with when he was still a mere year old. That said, Roogoo isn't something a one-year-old could handle; it's a game of reflexes that most babies I've met simply don't have.
Despite being classified as a puzzle game, there's really no puzzling to be had here; it's purely about rotating the shape-sorter wheels (using shoulder buttons, or Z and B on the Wii) that your stack of shapes is heading for into the correct position so that they continue on their journey to the bottom. As you progress in the game, it'll throw a few twists at you, from butterflies who'll carry your stacks back up to hatches that open and close and even things other than blocks to stack up, but it's always about keeping those reflexes going.
It turns out to be a good bit of fun, something I honestly didn't really expect. But then again, I've always liked a bit of a reactionary element in my puzzle games (e.g. Meteos), and the Roogoo games are purely that. You get into a kind of rhythm as you go, and it's pretty catchy. It helps that it's generally adding new gameplay elements as you go, too, gradually ramping everything up.
Now, if it turns out you're a huge fan of Roogoo, you might consider getting both DS and Wii incarnations. While they share the same core gameplay concept, they are slightly different, and if you've got both of them, you can unlock bonus levels in each. If you're not that nuts about it (or just want to get one), though, definitely go for the DS version. Apart from not being portable, the Wii version also has some really awkward and bizarre concepts like catching butterflies with the pointer... while you're still playing the basic game. It's not necessary, mind; a sharp player won't need to use it. But it's still just weird that it's there in the first place.
If you're not sure if you'd like Roogoo, you can give it a spin yourself via the PC demo. I think they're pretty fun little diversions, though. Definitely more fun than I expected to have from shape-sorting.