Impressions: Noby Noby Boy and Halo Wars
Recently, both the PSN and Xbox Live received a nice update to entice gamers into checking out the latest releases. Games such as Noby Noby Boy, may bend your mind while straight-out making you laugh and Halo Wars could be the RTS to finally raise the bar on the consoles. Here are impressions of both games for a sneak peak before you buy.
Halo Wars
Ensemble Studios (RIP) have been working long and hard on the latest entry into the Halo universe with Halo Wars. The studio has been developing the game for four long years. As many of you already know, Halo Wars is a real time strategy (RTS) game unlike its predecessors.
Of course Halo Wars is Microsoft’s attempt at milking the Halo franchise for all its worth. Remember Halo MMORPG? Many were worried that the game would be a sub-par cookie cutter game with Halo trimmings. However, due to the strong RTS pedigree of Ensemble Studios, it looks like Halo Wars might be a solid game.
The game is much more basic than your traditional RTS with less emphasis on resource management and defensive strategy. One could say that Halo Wars is a dumbed down RTS for those who have never played one before. The game limits the way you can micro-manage to build your army as well as resource management.
Conclusion
Experienced RTS gamers will tell you resource management is the key component to strategy in an RTS and the lack of such an element is blasphemy. Gamers will have to understand that the many RTS games (End War) may have to take a different approach on the consoles due to the controls and nature of the audience. Veteran RTS fans may be frustrated by the lack of ability to key map commands for on the fly executions. However, newcomers to the genre may find the game intriguing and somewhat challenging.
Noby Noby Boy
This game is crafted by Keita Takahashi, the brilliant mind behind Katamari Damacy, which was hailed for its originality and creativity. Noby Noby Boy is one of those bizarre games that are hard to describe without getting a few eyebrow raises from others. One has to play the game to truly understand the madness behind the game.
The game is about a boy that can stretch and eat anything from people to bushes and bunnies. He wants to help a girl who lives in outer space, who looking down on the planets throughout the solar system. There is also a space squirrel that reports back to the girl in space on how much the boy has stretched. Did I loose you yet?
As the space squirrel reports back to the girl, she is able to grow and stretch to connect to other planets so they become connected via her. There is an online component where the effort to help stretch the girl is a collaborative goal of the PSN community throughout the world.
Conclusion
It is suffice to say that the game is bizarre and fun at the same time. One could argue that the game is confusing at first because there are no clear cut directions on how to progress throughout the game. However, after spending a few hours playing the game you will realize that there are no rules around how the game is suppose to progress. For $5, this game is a definite buy if not just for the trophies.
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27 Responses to “Impressions: Noby Noby Boy and Halo Wars”
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February 22nd, 2009
…
its a shame that Halo Wars isnt as good as I thought it was…
well… onto Empire Total War…
or Dawn of war 2…
or World in Conflict Soviet Assault…
or Red Alert 3…
or End War…
or Starcraft 2…
February 22nd, 2009
DoW 2 is awesome.
February 22nd, 2009
did you play it SW!!
this is just typical sony fanboyism…
February 22nd, 2009
giantbomb.com/quick-look-noby-noby-boy/17-256/?linktags=home,home-topspot
this was sooo funny…
hahahahahahh
February 22nd, 2009
Noby noby boy… wow that looks/sounds crap
February 22nd, 2009
It’s great that Halo Wars is the highest rated RTS title on game consoles and continues to improve the genre for game consoles… “Ensemble has nailed console RTS controls”, “the solid multiplayer, both online and off, is a ton of fun.”
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/955/955576p3.html
well… dwh… people were saying the exact same thing about the FPS genre games when they first came to consoles… looks like they have made some progress over the years.
“Of course Halo Wars is Microsoft’s attempt at milking the Halo franchise for all its worth.” Blizzard did it with World of Warcraft, Konami’s doing it with MGS… the point is crossing genres can have very positive effects for gaming in general.
February 22nd, 2009
It’s great that Halo Wars is the highest rated RTS title on game consoles and continues to improve the genre for game consoles… “Ensemble has nailed console RTS controls”, “the solid multiplayer, both online and off, is a ton of fun.”
xbox360.ign.com/articles/955/955576p3.html
well… dwh… people were saying the exact same thing about the FPS genre games when they first came to consoles… looks like they have made some progress over the years.
“Of course Halo Wars is Microsoft’s attempt at milking the Halo franchise for all its worth.” Blizzard did it with World of Warcraft, Konami’s doing it with MGS… the point is crossing genres can have very positive effects for gaming in general.
February 22nd, 2009
What is up with the rainbow colored walking penis? Did your dragon get it cut off dwh?
February 22nd, 2009
ummm thats Boy from Noby Noby boy carl…
also… there are good RTS on consoles… Battle for middle earth 2 and End War and Red Alert 3…
thing is… RTS arent as simple as FPS… which is VERY simple compared to an RTS… just the amounts of micromanaging… I still play DoTa and Im always surprised by how much people can micromanage their heroes…
Yeah Mike is a little too harsh… so far the reviews range from great to meh… but Id buy it…
February 22nd, 2009
“For $5 this game is a definite buy if not just for the trophies. ”
I definitely bought it for the trophies. You can get a Gold Trophy for just eating the words “NOBY NOBY BOY” in the manual or credits.
Even though I didn’t think I was enjoying it, I do feel strangely encouraged to play more. It is kind of a pick up and play for 15 min kinda game.
If you can spare £3.19 (or whatever your dollary equivalent is), it is worth a look for sure. Better than Super Rubba Duck (which I bought too, that should have trophies).
February 22nd, 2009
Sorry, that doesn’t look remotely human.
I loved BFME2 on 360 ( and I’ve played my fair share of RTS’s on PC since C&C in ‘95 )…
RTS and FPS is different (though not necessarily more “complicated” to make, depending on the titles you are talking about), thing is… quality RTS titles on home consoles are still a rarity and it’s good to see more of them coming for those of us who do not have pc’s to run them properly and don’t care to spend more on one anytime soon.
Beyond this… one of my favorite and most played games on the Jaguar (yeah, I went there) back in ‘94 was an RTT called Cannon Fodder (right up there w/AvP and Tempest 2000). So maybe Halo Wars should really be rated as an RTT (subgenre of RTS) title because of it’s lack of rmm, I don’t care as long as it is fun to play. I wish I could talk about Herzog Zwei (another example of a well executed RTS console game – for it’s time on Genesis) more, but I never really got into it.
I look at this now as akin to Civilization (
TBS I know, but still). Even though Civ was “dumbed down” in Revolution, I still enjoyed it thoroughly on 360, as I’m sure many did on the PS3 as well.
Many still argue FPS plays better on a PC and will usually have better graphics, control, more options, etc.
It will be the same with RTS console games, with or without resource micromanagement.
February 22nd, 2009
Ive heard about the awesome CIV 4 stories in Rebel FM… it makes me want to buy the game right now…
I had the same kind of experience with Rome Total War… I craved for more depth… hopefully the new total war will have that… I liked the base building in Age of Empires… but I dont want to do the same thing every level… thats why Total War series rocked..
also heard about an oldie called Freespace… its supposed to be really good..
anyway… again… its a shame that Halo Wars didnt get universal praise… because this is one of those games that could get some of those FPS assholes into RTS…
ohh well.. more DoTa for me…
February 22nd, 2009
I think buy the nature of it’s name it will get some FPS guys into RTS… even if it isn’t on the scale of RTS to MMORPG that Warcraft did, it will still be a significant number.
February 22nd, 2009
I wonder if Demigod will capture the qualities of DotA…
February 22nd, 2009
WHY the hell dont people in here play MMOs?? seriously… WHYYYY!!!
they are so much fun… Id buy WoW… but when I pay $15 a month… I feel the need to use every single minute of my free time to play that MMO… to get the most bang for the buck… its not really healthy…
Im glad we are having a mature conversation…
BOOBS!!!
February 22nd, 2009
not Demigod… NO WAY IN HELL!!!
Ill tell you why… ahem…
its called League of Legends… made by a group of modders and some of the warcraft team… people who invented DoTa…
its still a long way away… theyre supposed to hold beta this year… so dont put too much hope into it…
do you play DoTa anymore?? the new heroes add a LOT of strategy and fun into the game…
February 22nd, 2009
I haven’t, I just surfed over it and Demigod and was wondering. There is not enough bandwidth over here to play MMO’s properly, and when I am back in the states there will not be enough time between all the games I will be playing. Right now I’m still playing FFTWotL (just killed Argath for the second time -PSP version only), I just had my wife get the Genesis Collection, and I will probably fill my first month back with all things Fallout 3.
February 22nd, 2009
ok…
CARL!!! me.. you… WARHAMMER ONLINE!!!
Ill show you my fucking dragon…
February 22nd, 2009
Puff lost his manhood… last seen in noby noby boy
February 23rd, 2009
Is that a bunch of men standing on a large heart covered penis?
Noby Noby just looks a smidge weird… As for Halo Wars. You’ve gotta beat Supreme Commander : Forged Alliance to get into my good books!
February 23rd, 2009
Did anyone check out Flower yet? It’s not too bad. The controls and visuals are really solid. It’s a great game in short doses; it can’t really hold my attention for very long though.
I’m waiting until I’m inebriated to try out Noby Noby Boy. I think that seems like a perfect fit.
February 23rd, 2009
Dare I take the Barnabe recommendation and risk it with Flower?
Find out in the next episode of Gamer.Blorge.
February 23rd, 2009
I do love a good cliff hanger.
Just keep in mind – I’m recommending it as a game to play in short spurts. I actually think the $10 price tag is a little bit high.
February 23rd, 2009
So is Noby Noby Boy the new LBP this year.
February 24th, 2009
Looks like Mike was right on target about Halo Wars…
arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/02/a-spartan-strategy-ars-reviews-halo-wars.ars
February 24th, 2009
said the same about Civ Rev, I still love the game and the fact they brought it to consoles.
February 24th, 2009
“So is Noby Noby Boy the new LBP this year.”
or the new Katamari.
It is nice though that you categorize a psn title up there with a full release title.