With Microsoft’s new practice of removing “underperforming” titles from Xbox Live, in other words games that critics and gamers alike want nothing to do with, some have put forward the notion that this may provide a motivation for the design of more quality titles. If SpiderMonk’s Roogoo is any indication that the new procedure is working, then the future definitely looks bright for the Arcade, as this unique and challenging puzzle game deserves to stay on the shelves of the Marketplace for some time to come.

I don’t know about you, but this reviewer is always excited to see what kind of riveting narrative can be woven around the art of manipulating falling shapes and colors. As expected, Roogoo doesn’t really aim to construct any kind of cohesive plot, and why should it? On a planet called Roo, there exists falling meteors that give life to the world. However ,its ruler King Goo begins to horde the meteors for himself, causing him to take the corrupted form of King Moo. It’s up to the player to prevent the King’s son, Prince Moo, and his henchmen, the Meemoo, from taking the meteors for themselves and restore life and beauty to the planet Roo. Like I said, it’s a puzzle game story, but Roogoo actually possesses quite a bizarre yet adorable presentation reminiscent of Katamari Damacy, and that’s not bad, despite being odd.

Although Roogoo is very cute and adorable, it is deceptively so, hiding challenging gameplay that puts an original spin on the age old puzzle game cliché of falling geometry. The meteors mentioned earlier happen to be the pieces of the puzzle, coming in shapes such as squares, triangles, and stars. These meteors must pass through a series of descending circular tiers that contain holes whose shape corresponds to those of the falling pieces, and look strangely familiar to those mechanisms we all used to squeeze Playdough through as children. The tiers can be rotated left or right by hitting either of the bumpers on the 360 controller so that the shapes may pass through the correct slot. The A button is also used to speed up the pieces, which will come into play when bypassing the many obstacles the game throws in your way.

Once enough pieces of each type of shape has passed through all the tiers, the stage is over. The player is then rated on how many pieces were accumulated and the accuracy in which this was done. Now that may all sound pretty simple, especially with only using three buttons on the controller, but more meteors and other complexities are soon added to make Roogoo a challenging and extremely addictive puzzle game. No matter how many times you fill up the game’s “lose meter” and see all your work come literally tumbling down, Roogoo keeps you wanting more, even if it means discovering a new way to incorporate the word “meemoo” with F-bombs.

The game starts out easy enough with just three different shapes, but quickly adds others and begins to drop more than one at a time, forcing you to juggle the pieces to ensure each goes into its appropriate slot. Eventually, a myriad of obstacles are put in your way, such as enemy meemoos blocking shape slots, lids that will seal slots, and even tiers that will flip completely upside down. The fact that Roogoo continues to throw in new obstacles and enemies over the course of its lengthly campaign keeps the gameplay challenging, but most importantly fresh, an aspect that most puzzle games don’t get right.