World of Goo (Review)

World of Goo (Nintendo WiiWare)

Rated “E” For “Everyone”

Imagine yourself in a world filled with goo. Now realize that there is a game about it. World of Goo has made its highly anticipated splash onto Nintendo’s WiiWare download service and has people crazed over its unique gooiness.

=====Background=====

In this world, a new corporation has started to rise and give change to the inhabitants. Goos are being used to create/recreate the world in a whole new vision.

Okay, the story isn’t really important. This game is about 2 things; goo and physics. It’s a simple formula that creates a great product, but mastering those things is the big challenge.

=====Gameplay=====

The gameplay is fairly simple that anyone can do it. Pick a moving piece of goo, move it around while watching it leaves lines to show how it connects with other goos, think if you want that connection, then release the button to form the gooey structure. That’s all you really do. Pick up goo, move goo, and build with goo. The ultimate goal is for your remaining goos to traverse your goo structures to reach a pipe and be placed in a vial. Collect the minimum number of goos and you have completed that stage.

Sounds simple? Well, it is. Now let’s add in physics. Yes, physics. You don’t have to be a physics major to understand how to make physics work for you. These goos have weight and when they’re only connected by thin strings of themselves, there’s bound to be some tension (or lack there of) between them. Without enough a good base to build on and enough support as you continue constructing goo, things start to…tilt…and fall. The game graciously let’s you retry levels or even snap back a move or two before your gooey failure. These simple ingredients add to a great challenge.

=====Difficulty=====

Physics aside, the game does serve up a lot of challenge. You start from simplistic level design and it just increases in difficulty along the way. You’ll have your goos needing to travel in a vertical direction AND a horizontal direction. That might sound simple, but once you add pits, spikes, fire, and a few other obstacles that eliminate your goos…that’s when you’ll understand how difficult a game could get.

Not only that, but you’ll be given different goos to play with later on. Removable goos, balloon goos, flammable goos, and a many more. They’ll be fun to mess around with since they each have unique properties, but it’s also an indicator of how much of a headache that level is. Create a structure of flammable goos to reach the flame to make a structure of nonflammable goos fall, but you’ve added too much weight on one side that the goos reach the flames prematurely and it burns all your goos after building that structure for 5 minutes after thinking of how to do it for 10 minutes…it can happen.

And if you even decide to tackle the OCD (Obsessive Completion Distinction Criteria) then you’ve definitely have a challenge ahead of you. Each level has an OCD to complete ranging from completing levels in a certain time limit, number of goos, or in a number of moves. If you thought it was hard enough doing these levels normally, then you have no idea what you’re in for with these OCDs.

====Presentation=====

Goo difficulty aside, this game is pretty and vibrant. Sure you’re working with just blobs, but the world of World of Goo has a unique style to it. Levels have their quirky little descriptions that let you know what you’re about to dive into. When you see it, it makes sense.

You’ll mostly be dealing with the color black, but other colors definitely pop when you see them.

The music is relaxing (good for when you’re sitting there thinking for a few minutes). Goos have a distinct noise they make when they’re moved around. You’ll most likely hate the sounds of your goos screaming and splatting when you’ve messed up though.

The humor of the game is great as they almost never take themselves seriously. Cut scenes are cute/odd along with the odd/cute story. And the helpful signs from the Sign Painter are great help and funny as he/she/it never takes themself seriously either.

=====Final Thoughts=====

It’s really hard to describe a game that there isn’t much to. Goo and physics, that can lead to just an infinite number of thoughts of what it could be. For that reason, I point to the link for the demo. You’ll get an understanding of what you’ll be working with.

http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/game.php?g=17

2D Boy really struck it rich with this title. World of Goo is very deceiving in its simplicity and a very much welcomed challenge for those that get into it. It’s a good representative of what WiiWare games can serve to the table. It’s easy to pick up and play and that easiness is what will hook you in when you can’t beat those difficult levels later on that you know you can beat. Add in the ability of multiplayer and you have a mess of goo on your friends hands and collective screams as you work together to prevent goo droppage and get your goos to their destinations.

Rated 5 out of 5

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