“Noby Noby Boy” for the Playstation 3 is was a damn hard game to describe, and the iPhone port might be even harder. The original game was “kind of” a 3D platforming, exploration game where you play Boy who goes around a small panel of earth with lots of strange objects and cute caricature of people and cows, or what-not. You stretch, and eat any object, growing bigger to eat bigger things. When you eat too much you poot it out your back end…you can fly, kind of… And why do you do all this? Well, there’s one vague goal: Help girl grow bigger, so she can stretch out across the universe. The only other goals are to experiment, have fun, and play around. It was actually a lot of fun, and worth the 5 dollar cover.
“Noby Noby Boy” for the iPhone is even more abstract and aimless. Instead of being in a section of the world, Boy is a black void and you can play with him by stretching him around and having him grab onto the random objects you can pop up on the screen. The goal of growing Girl is still there, and it’s actually the same girl as the one on PS3 (right now she’s reached Jupiter). It’s a fun little time waster, but there’s no “deep” story or far reaching goal to compliment the gameplay. It’s just an interesting little toy you can play with when bored.
The graphics of the original “Noby Noby Boy” are still pretty much all there. It’s cute and brightly colored, complimented by charming music. But unlike the Katamari port that came to iPhone, “Noby Noby Boy” doesn’t try to be the same game. It’s an iPhone exclusive through and through. You don’t control Boy, you play with him. You can use your fingers to flail him around and see how he interacts with the environment. You can create a giant robot on screen that will play the music on your iPod. You can update your facebook or twitter with how much you stretched girl. And there are a lot more little fun things you can do in game, instead of doing something progressive with your time.
So this is a recommendation for the app. I’m not sure if everyone will like it, but it’s a fun little toy and well worth buying for the 2 dollar asking price. Also consider this an endorsement for the original game. They might not be the most sensible games out their, but you will never play anything like them. That even goes for their sister games. They share a name, but they’re both wonderful bizarre in their own special way.
