NYCC 09: Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! hands-on

When we first got our filthy mitts on a demo of Xbox Live puzzler Roogoo way back when, we noted its deceiving looks in comparison to its addictive and surprisingly complex gameplay. Nearly a year later and we're back in the same position, though this time we're playing Wii and DS iterations Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! (respectively).

Checking out a demo of each before this weekend's New York Comic Con, we walked away smiling once again -- childish looks and throwaway story aside, Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! look to be shaping up very well.
Core mechanics from the original remain firmly in place (shapes fall from the sky, fit shape A into hole A, rotate board, rinse and repeat), but a variety of new distractions have been added for owners of the original worrying these are just more of the same. In some respects, they are more of the same -- but in a comfortable and familiar way. Cutesy, soft-colored shapes and characters dot the landscape of each title as in the original -- they taunted us with their eyes, as shape after shape fell by the wayside, laughing all the while. (While we may have been successful on some of the earlier levels, a SouthPeak rep showed us her mad Roogooing skillz by demolishing a level late in the Wii iteration that would have left us fumbling over controls and red in the face.)

But you're here to read about additions. So what's new for these versions of Roogoo and, more importantly, do they actually add to the fun of the games? A lot and ... maybe. The addition of minigames to the Wii version left us scratching our heads a bit -- one had us waving the Wiimote all over the screen to catch butterflies, another had us rotating the Nunchuk's analog stick to line up our parachuting character while shooting oncoming enemies. Neither left us wanting for more (but may help to bust up the potential monotony of 100 straight puzzle levels).

The DS iteration also brings with it the massive amount of levels, though it lacks the minigames coming to the Wii. And in a move we've seen few developers attempt, owners of both new versions of Roogoo will be able to wirelessly connect their DS to their Wii and unlock at least ten extra levels. From what we saw of each game, we're not suggesting anyone buy it the second it's out at your nearest brick-and-mortar (another "April release window" from SouthPeak). That being said, for $20 on DS and $30 for the Wii, you could do yourself a lot worse.