Back in 2008, SouthPeak Interactive released an interesting puzzle game for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PC called Roogoo. The game was quite popular and now a Wii edition of the game entitled Roogoo: Twisted Towers is available in stores. This story-based puzzler does have its great points but may only hold on to your attention for a limited amount of time.

Gameplay

You play as Roogoo, a boy from the Planet Roo. The planet has been decimated due in part to corruption caused by the Prince and Meemoos and it’s up to you to stop them. In order to do so, you will need to collect different shaped meteors that fall from the sky.

It’s a long way down for that circle meteor

The shapes fall from the top of the screen and you must rotate platforms that contain the various different shapes. As the meteors fall, you move the platform either clockwise or counter-clock wise using the B and Z buttons on the Wii-mote and Nunchuk. If the shape on the platform matches the meteor, the piece will fall through and continue down. If it’s not a match, then the piece falls off the map. Once you lead enough of all the required shapes to the bottom of the level, you’ve completed the stage, but if you lose too many shapes, then you’ll have to start over again.

The block stages vary as you progress. Early on, you will only have to deal with 3 shapes but as you progress, you will have 5 shapes dropping down. Also, the levels are not strictly leading the pieces falling from top to bottom as that would be pretty mundane. Thankfully, there will be plenty of objectives and obstacles as you advance. The evil Meemoos will also try to get in your way so you’ll need to use your meteor pieces to knock them off the platforms. To do so, you have to quickly press the Z or the Down-button on the Wii-mote to hit them. There are other obstacles including dirt that will need to be drilled by shaking the remote and timing your drops as some holes will have flippers that block them.

The story mode is fairly fleshed out. You will play through a plethora of different levels both in design and requirements. On top of the regular platform levels, there is a fair share of Sky-Diving and Boss Encounters along the way.

The Sky-Diving sections are cool but seem extremely out of place. In these stages you control your Roogoo as you would a on rail-shooter. You can spin him around in a circle as you shoot enemy Meemoos, avoid bombs and other obstacles and collect as many shapes as you can. These are certainly fun moments as they can be quite challenging having to deal with all that is required of you.

One of the key additions to the Wii version was the inclusion of a Hammer and Net in most stages of the game. The Hammer is used during certain levels while the Net is used in every stage of the game to collect things. Some levels contain Butterflies or other objects that can be collected which act as multiplier bonuses. The Net also allows you to collect fallen meteor pieces which does become helpful in the later stages to avoid failure. While the inclusion of this ability is nice it as well acts as a distraction. When you are already spending your time focusing on the platforms, trying to collect Butterflies or your missed pieces is not something you will think about too much.

The only other gripe with the Story Mode exists with the sometimes problematic camera angles. You never see which pieces are coming down so you typically have to make sure you are ready to quickly rotate the platforms correctly. Also, the camera does tend to change angles in some situations. As you approach the last platform and in levels where the situation doesn’t strictly have you going down a vertical plane, you might have some issues reorienting yourself. If you are playing on a harder difficulty, this could be the difference between success and failure. Once you get used to the changes and have mastered the clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations, you should have too many problems.

Graphics and Sound

There is a great variety in the environments you will encounter. You will spend time playing in an underground cave, in the snow, in the sky and a few other spots. There is a lot of good use of colors with nothing that looks washed out or out of place. The Skydiving levels are also quite fun to look at especially in those encounters when you will have planes fly by. The game isn’t meant to be a marvel to look at as the platforms and shapes are fairly limited, but it still manages to feel good.

With a limited soundtrack, the music can get repetitive quite quickly. Thankfully, the music isn’t that pronounce as the game’s sound effects tend to take more notice. You will hear a lot of cool sounds from Meemoos and the Meteor pieces, especially when you hit the former with the later.

Roogoo won’t win any awards for looks, but it’s still not an ugly game.

Value

For those who own the DS game Roogoo: Attack, you will be able to unlock bonus content for both games. In game, there is the ability to play the story with a friend. One of you will be responsible for moving the platforms while the other acts as the Net and Hammer to collect or defeat enemies. The other multiplayer modes include a Split-screen race to see who can get all their shapes to the bottom first and a Party Mode. There isn’t much to talk about in the Party Mode as there is nothing really worth playing more than once. The Idea of having each person control a platform is only fun for so long. The Sky-Diving section does have its moments, but it too will only be fun for a limited amount of time.

Conclusion

Roogoo: Twisted Towers will surprise most people as it is not strictly a puzzle-only game. The story will be entertaining for younger gamers while the puzzle action will satisfy everyone. It is disappointing that the multiplayer options were not more enjoyable, but for those looking for something to distract them on the Wii, even for a short play, this should do the job.