I just beat Roogoo and thought I would write up a short review about it. Roogoo is a puzzle game that’s different than most puzzle games I’ve played. It’s interesting that a concept so simple hasn’t been brought to life before now. That may be a good thing, however, because who knows if anyone else could have delivered the way Spidermonk have with Roogoo.

It’s hard to explain exactly how to play Roogoo. In it’s simplest form, Roogoo requires you to rotate platforms so that the falling blocks fit into the correctly shaped holes. Think of a baby’s toy and you’ll get the idea. Don’t let that fool you into thinking this game is easy. The game gets very difficult as you progress through. Spidermonk have done an excellent job of teaching you as you go. Very similar to the way you learned different strategies to advance in Portal, Roogoo gives you bite-sized challenges early on and then requires you use several of your new abilities at once. This well crafted difficulty curve keeps you advancing through the game, while still challenging you with each new level.

Roogoo also looks great for an XBLA game. Sure there aren’t a lot of things happening on the screen at a time. The areas you visit are visually appealing and the 3D models are highly polished. It’s obvious that Spidermonk cared a lot for this game. This is definitely not the shovelware that appears on XBLA from time to time.

The single player game is well worth the 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and will keep you busy for at least three to four hours, if you’re a fast learner. In addition to single player, the game also supports multiplayer for up to four people local and over Xbox LIVE. I have yet to try the multiplayer, however. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that there are many people playing Roogoo on Xbox LIVE. I haven’t been able to find a multiplayer match available and I have tried several times over the past week. According to Major Nelson, the game didn’t make it into the top 10 of Xbox LIVE Arcade sales last week. Buku Sudoku is selling better than Roogoo! This is a real disappointment because Roogoo is one of the best games to come across XBLA in a long time. It’s the best I’ve played since N+ (which was a fantastic game).

Hopefully my comments on Roogoo can sway a few people into at least giving the trial version a shot. If you like puzzle games at all, you will love Roogoo . Maybe we can get Roogoo into the top 10 this week by word of mouth. If you love Roogoo, give it a shout out in the comments. Also, if you want to play some multiplayer, add me to your friends list. I’d love to give it a whirl.

Score: 800 points / 800 points

How We Score

One of the more original aspects of the game is controlling the drones. It’s a concept we’ve seen before in games like Ghost Recon, but they feel a little more offensive in Frontlines. You get drones such as mini-helicopters or mini-tanks that sometimes have guns and sometimes just detonate. Being able to take out the enemy from the safety of a remote console proves to be a blast (pun intended).

The pacing on this game also works well. It seems like just when you start to get bored, it moves onto a new map or the battle takes a new direction. Frontlines borrows from all of the great FPS titles out there, but does of a good job of combining them. This game has already been out for a week. I’ve thought about delaying this review even further until I had a chance to try the multi-player, but I’m having too much fun on the single player campaign.

Score: $40

The graphics are nice and the story is decent. The ending, however, was awesome. That made it worth it for me to play through the game (I am a hardcore Lost fan). Gameplay, replay value, and length are all pretty weak. There are also some pretty annoying and frustrating sequences in the game. I feel sorry for anyone who paid $60 for this game. This game can probably be beaten if a day if you dedicate a decent amount of time to it. It does have appeal for Lost fan, but that’s it.

As a side note: a gamerscore whore might want to rent this too. You get get a lot of achievement points for not a lot of work.

Score: $15

In a word: Absolutely!

To put it bluntly, Burnout Paradise is the best arcadey-racer you have ever played. The creators made a pretty big gamble on this one, and it has paid off in spades.

If you’re an avid gamer, you probably already know about the controversy surrounding Burnout Paradise. To get everyone else caught up: Criterion opted for an open-world experience with Paradise. Instead of choosing your car, event and location from a menu, everything is done by driving to different places within Paradise City. To change your car, drive to a junkyard and choose a car you have unlocked. Want a new paint job? Simply drive through one of the many paint shops. If your car is a little banged up, drive through an auto-repair shop. It’s these fundamental changes that have garnered much criticism from fans and journalists alike, the main gripe being, “It takes me 5 minutes to do what used to take me 10 seconds in a menu.”

While it is true that you do have to spend time driving in order to accomplish the basic tasks, this does not become a problem, at least it hasn’t for me. If you’re having fun, who cares if you have to spend a few extra minutes getting from A to B? Driving there can be just as much fun as the event you want to start. Personally, I can’t think of any other gaming experience that lets you have constant, uninterrupted fun the entire time you’re playing. There are no loading screens once you’re past the main menu and into Paradise City. Every single traffic light is a different event, giving you plenty to do for days. Even multiplayer is jump in/jump out, keeping you where you should be: in the game and having fun. On top of the five event types (Race, Road Rage, Burning Route, Stunt Run and Marked Man) you have many other things to occupy your time in Paradise City. Smash through some of the 400 shortcut fences. Climb to the top of a parking garage and drive off one of the ramps at the top. Maybe try to get the fastest time on a street with Road Rules. Sometimes you may be told about a specific car that you must take down in order to add it to your collection. There is a lot to do in this game so trust me, you will not get bored in this virtual city.

Once you want to start an event, beginning is as easy as pulling up to a traffic light and spinning your wheels (Left Trigger + Right Trigger). There are 120 events in the game, consisting of the types listed above. All events that require a “finish line” (Race, Marked Man and Burning Route) will end at one of 8 destination locations, all corresponding to a direction on a compass. How you get to the finish line is completely up to you. Even the in-game narrator (DJ Atomica) will be quick to point out that following the car in front of you isn’t necessarily the best idea as your AI opponents don’t always know the best way to get to the finish line. The HUD will help you get where you need to go, but it doesn’t account for any shortcuts and those shortcuts become more important as the difficulty ramps up later in the game. But learning the ins and outs of Paradise City is just another part of the fun.

In the technical department, this game is no slouch. The graphics and sounds are exactly what you’d expect from the seasoned veterans at Criterion. All is delivered without a hitch, even though the game is constantly streaming the world around you. The online features will give this game legs long after the single player experience has been exhausted – and that alone will take quite some time. The game is packed full of features and it has all been polished to near perfection. If I have to complain about something, it would be the lack of split-screen multiplayer. Fortunately, if you’re a Burnout fan, you probably already have a copy of Burnout Revenge or Burnout Takedown lying around your house to satisfy your split-screen needs.

In summary, if you’re a fan of arcade-style racers, you will love Burnout Paradise. If you aren’t a fan or you haven’t played a Burnout game yet, you should definitely give it a chance. This game might just be different enough to get you hooked. The game is non-stop enjoyment from the time you start your car until the time your wife tells you you’ve been playing 360 all day. The visuals and sounds are a shining beacon of what these next-generation consoles can do and the overall experience is unmatched by any racing game I have ever played. I enjoy racing games, specifically the Burnout series, but I must say this about Burnout Paradise (with emphasis): This is the best racing game I have ever played.

Score: $50 / $50

How We Score

The play centers around you, the hero, undertaking missions to save your kingdom (and help others while doing so). Most of these missions are simple “defeat Enemy X” or “Go to town Y”, although a few come in multiple parts. When you are fighting an enemy, your view changes from a map to the combat screen. The purpose of combat is to match different types of gems, coins, stars, or skulls in groups of three. If you’ve ever played Bejeweled, you’ve played the combat portion of the game. The four different types of jewels will give you different types of mana, the coins will give you more money, the stars more experience, and the skulls will do damage to your opponent. Play alternates (on the same field) between you and your opponent, which can make strategizing for the future difficult (particularly when you’re up against a boss character or another human). To keep things fresh, you also have an array of spells that you can cast with your collected mana that can alter gems on the playing field, force your opponents to lose turns, heal you, or an array of other things. Combat ends when one player is out of hit points.

The graphics on this game are sharp and bright, with the colors on the gems vibrant and the artwork during cutscenes well done, if a bit cliche. Cutscenes are simple 2d representations of the characters with text appearing at the bottom of the screen, so if you’re hoping for gorgeous pre-rendered cutscenes, you’ll be disappointed.

Sound is nothing to write home about. There aren’t that many sound effects, and you’ll be hearing the same themes during combat again and again. They are definitely well-done, but after a while they can get repetitive. Of course, this being an XBox game, you can always use the Media Player to listen to your own music in place of that in the game.

Control is simple– you’ll highlight the gem you want to move or the place you want to go to and press “A”. Spells are selected from a list with your left bumper, and you are always given a prompt with what button you need to push when. You do need to be careful that you don’t have an itchy trigger finger, though… if you move two gems that won’t create a combo of three or more gems, you’ll lose five health.

The gameplay is great if you’re a fan of Bejeweled or games like that. The factor of having a second person adjusting the gems adds new challenges, and you’ll never be wanting for new things to do in-game… aside from many repeatable missions, you have the ability to forge magical items, tame bestial enemies as mounts, capture humanoid enemies for new spells, and play in one-on-one bouts against any enemy you’ve beaten before.

Overall, I’d gladly pay $25 for Puzzle Quest (it’s current price on XBox Live Arcade is 1200 Live Points or $15). It’s a great game and well-made.

Score: 1200 Points / 1200 Points

How We Score

LEGO Star Wars: TCS is essentially a compilation of the two previous releases of the game, containing both trilogies on one disc. However, Traveler’s Tales, the developers of the LEGO Star Wars games, didn’t just copy and paste both games together. They updated some aspects of the gameplay in the first trilogy to match that of the second. They also added some new missions, a handful of characters and completely changed the achievements (for the better).

The controls in the game are simple enough that most who are old enough to play a video game will be able to handle it. The camera is completely controlled by the game, so only one thumbstick is required for movement. The actions are easy to manipulate and only require two buttons most of the time. To simplify things even further for younger players, the characters will automatically dodge or block (based on the character) as long as you continually mash the attack button. The graphics have been polished since LSW II, but they are nothing spectacular. I did notice that there are frame rate issues from time to time but they do not make the game unplayable at all. Co-op play really makes this a great game for the whole family. Also, this game is the first to allow online co-op, which is a very nice addition.

So now that you have some of the technical details of the game, lets get on to the important stuff. The LEGO Star Wars games have always been fun, but this release takes it a few steps further. The second half of the game is definitely stronger than the first, but that’s to be expected given the source material. That being said, it’s still a blast to play through all six episodes, even multiple times. The characters really bring the game to life with plenty of humor and silly antics, and the game even pokes fun at the movies from time to time. (See the Achievement: Shoot First.) There’s enough variety in the levels that you’re never bored, and you rarely feel any repetition. They’ve also hidden enough stuff in the game that, if you’re like me, you’ll have hours and hours of gameplay searching for the next Power Brick or trying to collect more studs so that you can buy that one character that you really want to play as. (For me it’s always Boba Fett.)

Besides the weaker first half and the occasional frame rate issues, I don’t have much bad to say about this game. The game offers plenty of entertainment for young and old and will still be fun after multiple play-throughs. The cut scenes will frequently have you laughing out loud, and the settings and characters will bring back fond memories, given you’re old enough to remember the original trilogy. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a must buy for any Star Wars fan, but will still be enjoyable even if you aren’t the biggest fan. I give the game a $40. It’s not the best game of the year, but at $40, you’ll get you money’s worth.

Score: $40 / $50

How We Score