Info:
Push the boundaries of your imagination in the latest game from the creator of the Katamari Damacy series! Control the main character, BOY, to play, stretch and interact with objects and characters in surreal worlds!
Players: 1
Released: 2009
Reviewed March 2009 by Keith Murray
When is a game not a game? It’s a good question and no coincidence that the person asking is none other than Keita Takahashi, creator of the much loved Katamari Damacy on the PS2. His latest title, Noby Noby Boy is the title posing the question.
Noby Noby Boy involves no real objectives or stages, nor any sense of progression. Every time a player logs into the “game�? it randomly generates an area with certain objects and themes to play in, an almost virtual play set if you will. The avatar is the titular BOY, a curious character who is a face, two balls connected together and not much else. With manipulation of the SIXAXIS, BOY can stretch, eat objects and move up and around the stage.
With stretching being the only true progression in the game, it becomes fun trying to get people, animals or even fish to come along for the ride. Surreal doesn’t begin to cover just how off the wall all this is. If the player becomes bored of the area that has been generated for them, they can go back the house, and choose to generate another area which might suit them better.
As length is gained, this can be reported to GIRL. Now, while this might sound like a cue for the kind of double entendres that would keep Viz character Finbar Saunders guffawing with laughter, there is a purpose behind it. Each time the player reports their length it’s added to the overall size generated by every player who logs into the PlayStation Network. As GIRL grows, she will stretch to different planets, thus providing players worldwide with an incentive to continue. As of writing this review the cumulative length generated has reached the moon with the promise of more planets to come. It’s such a unique an interesting premise and so simple in its execution that it’s remarkable that nobody else has thought of something along these lines before.
That there is nothing much else to do bar this is reflected in the slight pricing of this title. Bar scouring the randomly generated areas for a particular guest appearance by a certain well known character, all the player does is stretch, report, stretch, report. Hopefully in the future either new content will be added or even some form of cooperative play will be included as there is potential within the concept, even if is ultimately on the slight side.
So, is Noby Noby Boy a game or not? If enjoyment and working towards a collective goal is part of the remit then yes. More importantly, the PlayStation Network is once again home to the more interesting and diverse concepts. Long may this continue.