Previews

Hands on with iPhone's Noby Noby Boy

Stretching the bounds of App Store entertainment

Hands on with iPhone's Noby Noby Boy
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| Noby Noby Boy

One of the few people who might qualify for the label ‘game design genius’, Keita Takahashi has an imagination that finds enjoyment in places where the rest of us don't even have places.

From his rolling-up-objects debut Katamari Damacy to current project Noby Noby Boy, it's clear he looks at the world through a different lens from the rest of us.

Released as a PlayStation 3 download last year, the stretchy Noby Noby Boy is primed to go live onto the App Store any day now.

So it was with excellent timing that we got some hands on time with the app.

Indeed, there is a reason to call it an app rather than a game, because, even more so than the PlayStation 3 version, Noby Noby Boy on iPhone is best described as entertainment. It contains no goals or missions, other than the ones you might create yourself.

As you launch the app, the screen fills with random blocky, coloured objects, between which a tiny Noby Noby Boy floats.

They are all physically modelled and so bounce off each other as you tilt the device. You can play with the 1cm long little fella, stretching him out manually or wrapping him around objects. The changing distance between his head and body is displayed in the top left of the screen.

The bulk of the app revolves around different ways in which you can use his stretchy nature. Basic editing tools mean you can chop him in half, and half again. The damage being repaired by a 'rejoin' button.

You can write things on his body, as well as playing with Noby Noby Boy using photos, web pages, or your live camera feed as the background image (iPhone only).

The sheer viral nature of Noby Noby Boy's oddness is another key point, as you can take a screenshot at any point and email it out to your bemused friends.

Slightly more complex is the ability to hook into Google Maps and stretch Noby Noby Boy across towns, cities, and countries, his exact length being measured out using real-time GPS data if you want to.

As with the PlayStation version of the game, his accumulated length can also be registered online and is combined to stretch out Noby Noby Girl, his planetary other half who stretches from the earth into the solar system as more and more players update their activities with their own Noby Noby Boys.

That's not all. You can use Noby Noby Boy as an analogue clock, his body being split in two to provide the hands. Of course, you can still stretch him around in his clock form, but once left to his own devices he reverts to tell you the correct time.

And music is an important part of the experience, with a characteristic themes provided, or you can play your own tunes using the wavy limbed Robot MP3 player, who hooks into your iTunes library.

Yes. Noby Noby Boy is likely to confuse as many people as he charms, but the world, and the App Store, would be a more boring place without him.

Noby Noby Boy has been submitted for Apple approval. Pricing is yet to be announced.
Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.