When I first heard about this weird little game called World of Goo, I was skeptical. "Yeah, you build bridges. What else?" was what I generally said in response to someone who told me I should play it. I would just tune them out after that. Then I watched an episode of Co-op (http://www.area5.tv/) where they featured World of Goo. After only a few minutes, I was foaming at the mouth.
I soon realized what all these people were raving about when I started playing it. You start out easy, just building a little tower up to the Pipe of Freedom, as I like to call it. Eventually, you have many different species of goo balls that can float, burn, drool, cling to objects, and even survive sharp spikes. The levels are incredibly clever and I'm wowed every couple minutes. Some of them are a bit hard to figure out with no real indicator of how to finish them, though. I found myself occasionally looking at walkthroughs on some of the especially tough levels. One cool thing in the game is the World of Goo factory, which is basically a place for you to build massive goo structures to your heart's content with all the extra goo balls you've accumulated. It shows where other players have got, and you can try and beat their structure in height.
I soon realized what all these people were raving about when I started playing it. You start out easy, just building a little tower up to the Pipe of Freedom, as I like to call it. Eventually, you have many different species of goo balls that can float, burn, drool, cling to objects, and even survive sharp spikes. The levels are incredibly clever and I'm wowed every couple minutes. Some of them are a bit hard to figure out with no real indicator of how to finish them, though. I found myself occasionally looking at walkthroughs on some of the especially tough levels. One cool thing in the game is the World of Goo factory, which is basically a place for you to build massive goo structures to your heart's content with all the extra goo balls you've accumulated. It shows where other players have got, and you can try and beat their structure in height.
One of the best parts of the game is its charm. It constantly kids itself and the gaming industry, using such devices as the hilarious "Sign Painter", who is probably inspired by GLaDOS from Portal, and a ingenious loading screen with messages like "Swapping time and space..." and "Debating games as art..". The music is also top-notch, with a soundtrack that sounds both epic and Danny Elfman-esque. It fits the mood of the game perfectly. The graphics, while 2-D, are great too. The art style is very unique, with the goo balls and the main gameplay objects popping out from the background. The creative juices of the two game creators ooze from every pore of this game.
SPOILER SECTION (SKIP DOWN A BIT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY):
Here are my succinct impressions of World of Goo from chapter to chapter:
Chapter One:
What a cool little game. Fun bridge building. Cool ending!
Chapter Two:
Cool new gameplay elements, those are some fat, ugly balls of goo! Two levels are incredibly frustrating, though. Now I'm doing more than build bridges.
Chapter Three:
What an interesting new mechanic: light fuses with goo balls! Two levels are incredibly frustrating, though.
Chapter Four:
WOW. Just WOW. They turned the game upside down. Instead of just putting goo balls together, you can shoot them! The creators also modified the art style and it looks even cooler. Look out Google! Here comes MOM (to understand this you really have to play the game)!
Epilogue:
This is HARD. The first level, especially. The others are pretty cool, but the last level is the easiest in the game. That's for lazy people like me. Nice ending.
A little piece about my scoring scale:
My scoring scale is pretty random. It's basically whatever words best describe the game. For example, Bioshock might be "Almost perfect", while Imagine Babyz might be "Not sophisticated enough for babyz". Let me know how you like it!
World of Goo Score: Pretty Freakin' Awesome!
Pros: Charming, smart gameplay, great music
Cons: Some levels too frustrating and some solutions a bit too unorthodox.
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