The assault on the puzzle genre continues with the release of Roogoo Attack! on the Nintendo DS. Based upon the franchise on PC, XBOX Live Arcade, and Nintendo Wii. Roogoo Attack! lets you take the puzzle game on the road this time.
One of the most baffling things about Roogoo Attack! is how clunky the game can run sometimes. This is not immediately obvious, but when a high number of blocks are falling, or spinning the islands, or especially the skydiving stages, the game seems to chug along at a slow pace. There really is not a whole lot going on in the game to really warrant this kind of struggle out of the system. Backgrounds are static images and the game only uses the most basic of polygon shapes for blocks and enemies. There have been many fully 3D Nintendo DS games that have run at a smooth 60fps, so it is pretty confusing and lazy to see such a simple game struggle with far less effects.
The music is toned down in this game, and not rhythmically, but literally. The sound effects sound fine, but the actual in game volume seems much quieter then normal. Not that anyone will probably mind as the music is either the same or similar to its counterparts. Which means even the DMV would be ashamed to play it.
Gameplay in Roogoo Attack! follows its brothers in a simple premise of falling block shapes, additionally identified with a color following downward through round floating islands with matching holes in them for each shape. The goal is to spin these islands around to match the blocks with the appropriate hole. Unlike the Wii version, the DS lets you use the L and R buttons or, thankfully, the D-Pad. Which will make a world of difference in getting the blocks lined up. The DS version also fixes the camera problems of the Wii version by having a more straight and lined up vision of the playing field. Occasionally, Roogoo Attack! will mix things up by having hens and snowmen fall. Which requires you to stack them in a proper order, such as nest, egg, hen or bottom, middle, head of a snowman. It's not much but it does add something. The skydiving levels can be played with the D-pad or the stylus, though the stylus controls are pretty awful. Also like the Wii version, if you communicate wireless with the two games turned on you can unlock additional levels. You get more levels per area on the DS game, but the levels you do unlock tend to be shorter and not as polished as the Wii versions.
Roogoo Attack! fixes a few of the problems that plague the Wii version, but at the end of the day, even with the basic concept working it still just isn't very fun. The basic nature of the game is to simple, even for a free flash game. It can be a decent time waster, but you certainly won't want to pay full retail price for the title. It would have made a lot more sense as a DSi Ware title, even if it came at the cost of cutting levels. Especially on the DS, there are a lot of other, and much better choices in the genre then the simplistic and boring game offered here.
