Remember back when you were a toddler and your parents would bring out those cubes (or various other ones shaped like houses, barns or whatever) with holes to stuff colourful shapes into? Remember the joy when you finally got the hang of it and heard everyone in the room clap and cheer? Perhaps not...most of us were probably a bit too young to remember it. Even so, I think that mastering Roogoo Attack! would have a similar feeling to the joy of finally figuring out that a triangle shape fits into a triangle-shaped hole.

Roogoo Attack! takes this simple concept and transforms into a game - if you delved deep into the hardest level then it would probably feel more like trying to slot the shapes while your sister has stolen the shape cube and is running around with it. Luckily, the game introduces all its twists and turns piece by piece. There are multiple floating islands with holes in them, shapes fall from the sky and it's up to you to twist the islands so that the correct shape falls into the correct hole - anyone who has played the Xbox Live Arcade Roogoo games should be right at home. Twisting the island is done by a simple tap of the D-pad or shoulder buttons and you can speed up the shapes with a press of the A button.

To keep things interesting, Roogoo Attack! continues adding new things to the gameplay, like having "toll" islands (where you need a certain number of shapes before they'll drop down), collectable stars which increase the number of shapes in a pile, extra shapes, colour matching, moving covers (you need to time the shapes so they hit the island when the cover is open) and juggling with hens and snowmen. The preview code contained 6 worlds (there will be 10 in the final product), each containing around 10 levels, and the last level felt as fresh as the first. Up until that point the difficulty curve is a solid upwards line - the game gets tough but all the previous levels prepare you for it. There are also some extra levels if you own the upcoming Roogoo Twisted Towers! on Wii, which are every bit as fun as the standard levels.

Triangle fits on... star, right?

I also got to test out the game's multiplayer Race mode. Like the name suggests, 4 players try to complete levels (all the levels in the preview code were selectable in multiplayer) as fast as they can. Power ups can randomly appear which will allow you to place enemies and obstacles on your opponents' screens, as well as mess up their shapes and colours to confuse them. It's a lot of fun and all levels can be played through single-card play.
The game explains most of the little gameplay twists but frankly it isn't needed - the graphical cues explain everything without the need for words. Each world has its own lovely background, but you'll be spending most of the time looking at the shapes and circular islands.As expected, the graphics are simple and colourful and the DS's two screens compliment the gameplay extremely well with much less empty screen space than the console versions.

Roogoo Attack! is shaping up to be an extremely fun puzzler - if the last four worlds keep up with the gameplay tinkering and difficulty then it'll certainly be a really enjoyable experience. Each level also has two optional goals - completing it within the time limit (you can still continue the level and progress if the time runs out) and getting 100% accuracy, both of these should provide a great incentive to come back to perfect each level. Be sure to keep an eye out on the games release in a few months.

- Dean Jones
N-Europe Staff Writer