Noby Noby Boy

Noby Noby Boy Review

Is weird and wacky enough?

Katamari Damacy was a breakthrough title in that it brought some of the weird and quirky titles from Japan in front of the eyes of the rest of the world. The game blended massive scope and unique gameplay mechanics with a visual style unlike anything else around. Katamari's creator, Keita Takahashi, is back with Noby Noby Boy, a PlayStation Network exclusive title.

Since the game's first announcement, and especially its first media release, people have been wondering just what the hell it is. Unfortunately, I'm still wondering that myself.

Let's start with the controls and interaction, as that's most of what the game is about. You control BOY, a worm-like creature with a face on one end and two hands/feet on either end of his body. The left analog stick controls his head, while the right stick controls his rear end. Holding L2 (for the head) or R2 (for his butt) will hunker down and grab whatever he's on. If it's a moveable object, he'll grab it, which can cause him to swing around if it moves on its own.


L2 and R2 will also cause that part of his body to jump, where repeatedly tapping the button will make that part fly. L2 will also cause BOY to eat any reasonably-sized object in front of him, which then runs down the innards of his body in a snake-like fashion and continues to pile up until he's backed up to his head. Eat anything beyond that and the stuff he's eaten will evacuate from his rear. In other words, if you eat a bicycle, you'll eventually poop it out.

One interesting bit about this is that depending upon what you eat, these bits can be combined in BOY's stomach (or whatever he uses to process and digest these objects). So if you eat a man and a bear, a bear-headed man could pop out of his butt. Many times these objects coming flying out though (digestive issues, I assume), so you might not realize that you've created something new and just assume it was one of the wacky characters that popped up in the level when you eventually notice it.

Perhaps the most interesting bit about the formula is that you can stretch BOY to grow in length. By moving his head and butt in opposite directions, he'll stretch apart and greatly increase in size, allowing you to eat more stuff before pooping things out. It obviously makes controlling him more difficult as his rope-like body requires more care with every segment of length, but it can also lead to some pretty funny situations (like you getting wrapped up in spinning contraptions).


Now, after reading through my control description you might say to yourself, "Self, that sounds like a lot of functions assigned to the L2 and R2 buttons." Well firstly, you should watch that sort of conversation in public as people will think you're cookoo for Cocoa Puffs, but you'd also be right -- especially with regards to L2. As I mentioned, that button makes you grab objects, fly and eat. Using it to toggle between grabbing and flying is easy, but getting BOY to eat can be a pain. Half the time, you'll tap the button to eat and he'll take off in the air. Then you need to make him drop to the ground and try again.

The control issues don't end there. The camera is fully adjustable, but it's not as intuitive or easy-going as it could be. Holding L1 and tilting the controller forward and backward zooms in and out, while holding L1 and R1 and tilting left and right will pan it around. Tapping L1 and R1 will perform quick shifts in either direction. While this works well, it's difficult to keep control over BOY while you're toying with the camera.

And there you have the gameplay. You might say to yourself, "Self, I know we stopped talking like this, but what's the point?" Really, there isn't one. You just do, for better or worse. While there isn't any particular goal in each level, you'll increase a running total of how far you've stretched BOY as you play (shrinking him doesn't subtract from your total). If you're signed in to the PlayStation Network, you can then submit your current total to GIRL. GIRL is just like BOY (a two-ended worm with a face on the opposite end of her butt), except that she's HUGE.

In This Article

Noby Noby Boy Image

Noby Noby Boy

In Noby Noby Boy, the wormlike Boy stretches around and swallows everything in his world to help him expand. Start on Earth and explore the galaxy with the help of all the other Boys playing online!
Platforms:PlayStation 3, iPhone
Developers:Bandai Namco Games
Publishers:Bandai Namco Games
Features:Number Of Players, Online Leaderboards
Release Date:February 19, 2009
Noby Noby Boy Review
Noby Noby Boy Review