Stats time!
Play Time 7h 17m
Global Score 12,754,166
Completed Adventures on Easy 0
Completed Adventures on Medium 1
Completed Adventures on Hard 0
Total Shots 12,540
Global Accuracy 94%
Global Catch Accuracy 43%
Most matches in a row 21
Biggest Chain Reaction 4
Total Ankh Coins Collected 828
Rank- Observer of the Firmament
I got Luxor 3 from Gamestop for about 2-3 dollars. It was a bargain considering that this game prided itself on the fact that it has over 100 levels to complete. It looked like my kind of game and I spent hours going to many different Gamestops as I tried to buy as many Wii games as possible. This was one of my winners as the game was pretty fun and had the kind of gameplay style that I could easily get behind. If the gameplay was no good then 100+ levels would have been very dicey.
There are a few modes to play here, but Adventure Mode covers them all so let’s start there. There is a brief plot and it involves the Egyptian gods being taken down be Set(h?) so the hero must save them all. Set is firing energy balls at each of the gods so we have to shoot them down before they can invade the pyramids. Rinse and repeat for the 100+ levels. The plot isn’t a major factor here to be honest. It’s like playing a game of Pac Man or Galaga and getting a little bonus plot. It’s not necessary, but it’s still fun to have.
There are 11 worlds and each one has 8-10+ levels. The bulk of the levels are comprised of the mission that I already mentioned. There are balls that roll towards the goal and you have to match 3 or more of the same color. Whenever you do this, the balls will explode. Rinse and repeat until they are all gone and you must not let them get past you. You can grab various special attacks after getting enough matches like a lightning bolt or a bomb. They are extremely handy so grab them whenever possible.
In each level there will be a statue until you’ve collected the 4 needed in each world. You don’t need to get them and I’m not sure what they really do yet, but at the very least they open up bonus levels where you can grab some extra coins, which are good for buying new power ups or changing the look of the balls. At the end of the game it’ll be nice to see all of my statues lined up. I made a great effort to grab as many statues as I could throughout the game since it’s pretty easy to do so. Why not right?
Some levels will be called Onslaught Mode. Typically there will be one per world. It’s the same as the standard level except for the fact that statues will rise up to block your shots so you have to be very strategic about how you tackle the level. It’s not bad, although I definitely prefer the standard stages. You’ll find that the standard levels are almost always the best ones in the game.
There will also be one or two puzzles in each world. These are the least enjoyable to be honest and the more that I see puzzles in my video games…the ore that I realize how out of place they are. Puzzles just aren’t fun if you ask me. Luckily, you don’t have to actually beat them in order to clear the world so you can just skip them. That’s good since the puzzle levels could have gotten old very quickly. There were actually one or two that most people thought were literally unbeatable due to a glitch until someone proved them wrong.
Finally, there’s the boss level at the end of each world. Basically, you have to survive for 3-4 minutes as an infinite number of balls are shot at you. Survive until the end to win! These levels are cool and they can definitely hold their own against the standard versions. There’s only one per world, but at least they do give you a sense that the level has more weight than the others. That’s what a good boss level should always do. Surprisingly the final world has no end boss so the game just ends rather abruptly…it was odd, but not a negative I suppose.
The soundtrack is amazingly good. There is a steady flow of intense opera music that will attack you from all sides as soon as you start the game. It is dramatic and it is epic. This helps you to realize just how high the stakes are for this particular adventure and I was not expecting anything like it in this puzzle game…or any puzzle game for that matter. Even fighting games like Super Smash Brothers would have a tough time trying to match the grand scale of these themes. (Although Smash Bros can pull it off)
I also enjoyed the graphics in this game. They’re fairly clear and that’s good since everything happens so quickly once the level begins. You can change the color styles of the balls that you are shooting by spending your hard earned $$$ in the game so that’s always an option if it’ll help you focus. Of course, if you can deal with the default color, then I’d recommend it so that you can spend your money on better endeavors like powering up your super attacks. Trust me, those will end up helping you out quite a bit more than a color change.
You can really tell that a lot of effort was put into this game and I can admire that. Each world took me anywhere from 30-60 minutes so that’s a 10+ hour game right there. The replay factor is also alive and well in the sense that you can keep on using your money to buy equipment. It’s not a game that I see myself going back too and it’s not quite as addicting as other classics like Pokemon Shuffle or Pac Man, but Luxor gets the job done.
Overall, I definitely recommend this game to all gamers. It’s the kind of game that you can easily play for hours and hours. The 100+ levels is a great bargain considering that the game sells for 1-2 dollars. It’s true that this is the kind of game that you could picture playing online for free, but 1-2 dollars isn’t going to hurt you and now you can play it on the big screen. The Wii remote controls are actually pretty smooth and they don’t tend to go chaotically out of control on you either since your movements are fairly stable the entire time. It’s definitely still one of my least favorite control schemes and I’ll never get into motion based controls until we’re in the virtual world, but it works well enough and isn’t too detrimental to the game. I’d be hyped for a Luxor 4 if they ever went ahead with it.
Overall 7/10
Roogoo is a game that I had never heard of before and I was surprised to see that it won an award from E3. It must have been before my time since I only started keeping up with E3 in detail last year. I don’t own a whole lot of puzzle games and I typically just go with a game of another genre, but the cover intrigued me. (As well as the 2 dollar price tag at Gamestop) Knowing that you really can’t go wrong with a 2 dollar game, I ended up purchasing it and I was ready for epicness! (My journey of buying the game was long and arduous as I left it the first time to do some research on Youtube. What sold me was the Airship mode and then I went back after the weekend was over)
There is a plot heavily concealed within the video game, but it’s almost impossible to decipher. There is a quick cutscene at the very end of the game and one at the end of the first world. Beyond that, you have to try and figure out what is happening and the little text bubbles at the beginning of a level do not help. They are all tutorial based with only one of them referencing the fact that you have to save the world. We know that the hero is on a mission of global significance, but that is about all that we can understand. Perhaps…that is all that we are meant to understand at this point in time!
Either way, the plot isn’t quite as important as the gameplay. This is especially true for a Puzzle game where it is easy to mess up and make the puzzles too easy. Just as dangerous is the possibility of making the puzzles too long and tedious. Roogoo does a good job of steering clear of this although the game is definitely on the easy side. I never lost a shape level and only lost a flight battle once. (I’m not even sure if you can lose in Roogoo since I let the timer go and then I still got to play. I believe that it revolves around getting too many of them in the wrong shapes, but I didn’t go and prove that theory. Not this time!
There are two forms of gameplay in this game. The shape levels and the airplane levels. I shall talk about the Airplane levels first as it was the best part, but unfortunately, there are very few of them in the game. You get to control a pilot and you move around as if you are the rim of a soda cup. You can’t go in the center and you can only go around the rim. It’s a very unique way to play. This game is pretty easy for the most part, but I did manage to lose once so maybe I was underestimating it. You mostly just have to collect jewels and survive until the finish line, but there’s also the occasional boss or minion that you’ll want/have to defeat. I really would have loved another 10+ Airplane levels, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The other mode is the Shapes part. In this one, you have to make the shape go through the shake on the bottom. For example, you are given a square. Then you’re taken to a wheel that has several shapes. You must keep on turning the wheel until the hole on the bottom matches the shape that you are holding. It takes a lot of dedication and time since there are around 80+ levels of this. It’s pretty intense when you think about it. After all, you’ll likely lose the round if you end up dozing off. The levels get more complicated as villains try to obscure your view or steal puzzle pieces. You can fight back by capturing them in a net or just knocking them out so we can tell that the main character is definitely a fighter.
One of the complaints that I would have had is the low difficulty level of the game, but that’s actually not an issue since the game has two harder modes. Roogoo mode and I forgot the name of the other one. I can definitely see how this game might get harder so you’ll definitely find a nice challenge in this game when all’s said and done.
You don’t need to worry about replay value because this game is definitely a long experience. There are 10 worlds and they total in about 90 levels. That’s definitely a huge amount and you can’t even compare it to the Casper game for the Wii, which had around 5-8. After you finish the 90 levels you can try beating them on hard mode or buying the DS version to unlock a few bonus missions. The replay value may not be insanely high, but definitely high enough that your two dollars were well spent.
The graphics aren’t exactly outstanding, but this is the Wii and I doubt that the game had an incredible budget at its disposal like Super Smash Bros or Skyward Sword. The game looks decently good, but nothing will stand out. The graphics are terribly average and maybe a little less so, but they’re definitely view able and it shouldn’t hurt your overall experience.
The soundtrack is essentially blank or it may as well be since I can’t recall a single tune. That’s never a great sign for a game. Now, there is one big thing that kept the game from getting a 7 or higher. That is the fact that there are only two modes of play. It gets tedious after around 60 levels of placing the objects in their correct shapes. Having 90+ levels is certainly a good thing because it increases the length, but there should have been more ways to play or at least a better way of dividing up the shape and air levels. There are only around 10 or less air levels and the puzzles got the other 80. At least make it a 50-30 level split since that would be a lot more fair.
Overall, Roogoo is a fun game to play. It’s best in short batches of 5-10 levels since it can get a little repetitive if you play all of them at once. There are 11 worlds, but the amount of levels inside differs from world to world. It’s currently going for around 2 dollars at Gamestop so there is really no reason not to buy it as soon as possible. I recommend it to all puzzle fans and I would also recommend that action gamers give it a shot. It’s definitely not going to be the next Titanfall or Call of Duty as far as quick mainstream games go, but it can be pretty fun if you give the game a chance. How many games can say that they have over 90 levels? A little more plot would have been nice though.
Overall 6/10
My stats for the game!
PS3 Trophy% 73%
All Battle Gear, Mugic, and Secret Areas have been discovered.
Monsters that I’ve obtained. (Health and Level)
Dractyl 30 Level Max
Owayki 43 Level 2
Arias 30 Level Max
Ario 26 Level 2
Malvadine 22 Level 1
Sobtjek 26 Level Max
Maxxor 40 Level 2
Siado 15 Level Max
Bodal 33 Level Max
Iparu 36 Level 2
Rellim Watermaster 14 Level 2
Intress Natureforce 43 Level Max
Aivenna 26 Level 2
Frafdo 8 Level 2
Najarin 28 Level 2
Tianne 26 Level 1
Prince Mudeenu 27 Level 2
Illexia The Danian Queen 43 Level Max
Wamma 45 Level Max
Mallash 19 Level 2
Raznus Assimilated 36 Level 2
Odu Bathax 28 Level 1
Hammerdoom Chantcaller Assimilated 31 Level 2
Rothar 56 Level Max
Lore 11 Level 2
Dardemus 40 Level Max
Barath Beyond 43 Level Max
Ulmar 16 Level 2
Nauthilax 53 Level 2
Magmon 40 Level 2
Borth Majar 39 Level Max
Nivenna 31 Level Max
Khybon 33 Level Max
Takinom 33 Level Max
Chaor 58 Level Max
Lord Van Bloot 55 Level Max
Blugon 30 Level Max
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