NOBY NOBY BOY
Noby Noby Boy was released last week exclusively for the Playstation 3 Network. As many other game sites have pointed out, the game is lacking in a clear set of goals. When I first saw the videos I was baffled with such questions as, “Why would you want to stretch Boy?” and “What is Girl’s Purpose?” Well, I hope to answer these questions and more, while detailing my experience with Noby Noby.
REVIEW
Egmont made me buy this game. I would not have bought it any other way. Katamari Damacy? Awesome game, but it had a point. With Noby Noby Boy you are buying a random level generator, and a physics engine which allows the main character to stretch until he flies out of the planet he is on. Noby Noby Boy is most accurately described as a toy. You play with it, put it down and later become interested in it. I’ve played it for about 8 hours so far and so I feel confident I can give an accurate review of the game. I’m impressed with how many items/characters are in the game. The game was a really small download, and a really cheap price (5 USD) so you would not think there wouldn’t be much content; but you’d be wrong. After many attempts, I still have yet to re-find my favorite level which was made up of a bunch of dice. That being said, the game can become a little monotonous, as it is very repetitive. And the only benefit of any single person growing Girl is limited: they can achieve a higher rank in the world rankings. One of the problems that this game will probably face is that after two weeks I’m afraid not many people will come back, and the gap between the planets will take too long.
TIPS FOR CONTROLLING BOY
- Noby Noby Boy’s controls have a steep learning curve. The basic controls are kind of outlined in the in-game tutorial (In the form of a quiz where you guess the controls) but I’ll outline some important tips, as the tutorial is very much incomplete.
- If you hold down L2 most (but not all!) of the way, Boy will keep his mouth open allowing you to eat to your heart’s desire.
- Press and hold Square to get to start recording a video.
- Hold triangle to vanish and come out of Boy’s chimney, a whole Boy again–this can be helpful if your butt falls off and you can’t find it.
- While in the air, let go of the joysticks to stop gliding and to drop down fast.
- Pressing L3 when stretched out makes your head smaller, R3 makes your butt smaller.
- Holding L2 will allow Boy to do some heavy lifting.
- Holding Right and Start will show a window which has your current length and your cumulative length. (Like most the other menus you keep playing while its up)
- Holding Right and Select will allow you to see the demo that was presented at TGS. Hold Triangle and L2 to eat the shapes.
- Pressing Triangle and L2 while in manual allows the 2d Boy to eat words.
- If you make both ends of Boy move in the same direction, he goes faster; both in the menus and in the real game.
OBSERVATIONS
- The current length appears to be the distance between the head and the butt. While stretching increases this length, it’s more important how actually far the head is away from the butt at the time. Egmont disagrees with me on this.
- As you report more and more to the Sun, it causes the levels to increase size, and new features to appear such as hills, bells, towers, etc..
- It appears that each time you move a new theme appears i.e; Planet of the Apes, Witches/Magic, Japan, Egypt, Rainbow World, etc.
- Stretching is best done by flying up, and then holding the joysticks in opposite directions. Then let one side fall down while keeping another afloat.
SECRETS & TRICKS
- If you hold L2 + R2 when you are contracted and press R3 or L3, the cumulative length will increase in defiantly. With this trick, Mars will probably be reached in 4 more days. (From the GameFaqs Message Boards)
- Eat a person and an animal or a person and a vegetable and leave them in your stomach for awhile. They will become slightly digested and form together to create a combination.
- For the Prince Trophy, go to the moon and keep searching until you find a level in which there is 50 Princes running around.
- You can loop through the clouds and bring them down.
- Shrink just your butt to make your head bigger so you can eat larger items.
FAQ
Q: What is the purpose of this game?
A: Just to stretch, shrink, and have fun. Boy’s growth can be reported to Girl causing Girl to grow through the universe reaching new planets. It’s just a fun time waster really.
Q: Girl’s Length jumped all of a sudden! What happened?
A: Girl’s length appears to be updated 3 times a day, and when you turn your game on you receive the last update. That’s why it seems the Girl will grow a lot in a short period of time. They probably did this to save bandwidth.
Q: How can I make my board bigger/ get more features?
A: Keep playing. The more you play the more you are rewarded.
Q: I can’t see myself on Girl’s ranking! Where am I?
A: Either you contributed too little, or you need to wait until the next ‘update’.
Q: My butt fell off! What do I do?
A: Either hold triangle to reassemble yourself, or eat it. You’ll be back to ‘normal’ in no time.
TROPHY GUIDE
For those people who want quick and easy trophies go here for the list.
Here’s a short guide for the ones that may seem confusing:
- For the ‘Eat Your Words’ Gold Trophy go into the instruction manual, find the words NOBY NOBY BOY and hit Triangle to eat the words.
- The Prince (Silver Tropy): Go to the Moon and keep searching, as said above.
- Unproportional: (Silver Trophy): Repeatedly stretch out and shrink using L3 to shrink all the way, until your butt grows really big. Holding down L2 when you are completely contracted seems to help register the trophy for some people.
- 765: Just keep (Left Analog) Right+Start screen up and go slowly. As soon as you hit 765 length, report to Girl.
- 10: Just keep moving, don’t open your mouth. The longer you are the more people will flock to you.
- Bye-Bye-BOY: Quit the game through Boy’s House.
- The Space Squirrel: Report to Girl.
If there are any questions/comments/corrections, please let us know below!
