Imagine the Eiffel Tower made of a gooie substance! Add hundreds of people climbing up it, shaking the foundations, and you haven't finished building it yet. Add spikes, explosions, and a French guy shouting "vite!" Pressure, is the World of Goo!
Firstly, you might be under the impression that this game is, well, a game for a child. In fact this game is one of those rare games that could be for the whole family. It's akin to needing the excuse to see the latest Pixar film, when people know full well that you want to see it yourself. A beautiful, funny, and well scripted game. The World of Goo is so simple yet at times so complex, compulsive, and frustrating. So it's hello goo, and goodbye Plants Vs Zombies!
The problems started when I introduced the game to my nine year old son. After school and homework, he sat down to play, only he made the mistake of wanting to show mommy. I was in the kitchen, when the immortal words "Mommy come see!" came out. Not two minutes later my son was racing back into the kitchen with a tone of injustice, telling me how mommy wouldn't let him play.
There are some flaws, however, or maybe that's too harsh a word, but there are things that can be seen as potential weaknesses. First off, there is no multiplayer aspect. While the PC has always been a single player machine, I think that adding the ability of friends playing against one another would have increased the fun, and tantrums, tenfold! (There is a Wii version, but I am unsure if has multiplayer?)
Secondly, no World of Goo Editor. I mean come on? Was that too much a leap of faith? A lack of an editor, these days seems almost a travesty. However never fear, for the developers lack of imagination is the internet's treasure. People out there love this game and will go to the ends of the goo world to increase its gooiness.
-Link for Goo-d Will Editor, this comes in a Zip file and is for Windows. Download here! -Overview of World of Goo Editor: this is a fairly basic description of the window panes of the editor. Read here! -Basic World of Goo Editor Tutorial, which doesn't happen to be too useful to a novice. Click here to read. -Tutorial Video, very good instructions, download from megaload here at megaupload here.
The GooTool allows you to alter settings and play your created level at whatever stage of creation, a must! (Note, very useful if you want to change the screen size too!) GooTool Download here! Goo-ie Addins, other users levels, which you can view here. See how others have done it!
Unfortunately the World of Goo editor, Goo-d Will Editor, is not that easy to use. Remember; use the 2D-Boy forums to ask questions, as there are plenty of helpful residents there. I wish you good luck as you will need the determination of a Shaolin Monk to create your own level.
The world of Goo follows a simple principle, and to be honest I still have no idea what that is. Basically you are given goo balls, which can build simple shapes. The idea being that you have to rescue the Goo's by escaping the level and being sucked into a pipe. Where the pipe goes, nobody knows, but one would hope it would be to freedom. As you progress, you are given different Goo types to play with, each having their own special ability. Of course the problem is that you have to work out for yourself what that special ability is. How do I describe any of this to you, because it has become apparent, I know how good it is, but my words could never do it justice. Sufficed to say the World of Goo is that good!
What truly makes this game is the story, I did a course in novel/story writing, and even I was left clueless as to the plot and where it was going. The two main guiding forces come in the form of a Sign Painter and, of course, Mom. While the Sign Painter seems to be a bit of a helpful rebel, Mom seems to be the all loving but with a bit of a dark side to her. The story will both push and pull you, and you're left to find your way up. The sweet animations will draw you in while the goo's will drown you. The humor and light hearted tone also adds to the enjoyment and your obsession to know what happens next!
Oh yes, World of Goo is that good!
No, what truly makes this game is the puzzles, so simple and yet can be complex. While the early stages feel a little easy, it soon changes. As the amazing thing with the world of goo is the possibility of completing a level in different ways. Most levels will be straight forward, but now I think back, I find that actually I could have done it this way or that. Also some levels will require you to think out of the box and use goo's in impossible ways. I never really understood the whole out of the box phrase, but the pure compulsion to complete a level has hammered that nail home.
Oh yes, World of Goo is that great!
No, what truly makes this game are the animations, which comes in the form of cute and perhaps slightly crude sketches. The story being told in both these rough animations and text form. Crude is a tough word, as the hand drawn pictures lend themselves well to the whole World of Goo concept. Everything is funny, vivid, beautiful and such a joy to watch and play. At times you get the impression of the World of Goo being disordered, but it's a world you can't help but love.
Oh yes, World of Goo is that cute!
Does anyone know what OCD stands for? In the World of Goo it is the aptly named Obsessive Completion Distinction, which you might consider the challenge factor. The OCD is an award for doing extremely well, which normally follows three criteria. You can rescue a high amount of goo's, complete the level in a number of moves, or complete the level within a certain time limit. Trust me it's hard, as if some of the levels weren't hard enough, but so satisfyingly rewarding. As I said, you need to be very obsessive, have a compulsion, and a disorder. Oh and the World of Goo is that good.
The fun doesn't end when you complete the game. Apart from the fact this game will draw you back to the same levels, making you earn that difficult OCD. You have the goo tower, all those extra goos you rescued, go to the corporation of goo. This is a level with only one purpose, to build as high as you can go. This seems silly, but almost as addictive, while I didn't stay with this for too long I am proud to have built a 27.48m high tower out of 268 goos. Still ... there are risks in using goo to build your bridges... towers, and structures.
I can see this becoming a cult classic. It won't be have you played Portal? It won't be have you played Plants vs Zombies? It will be, have you Gooed?
Oh yes, World of Goo is that good!
P.S. In an internet report, one of the founders of 2D-Boy, Ron Carmel stated that roughly 90% of all copies of World of Goo were pirated. So out of a hundred players, a suggestion that 10 have bought it, just boggles the mind. This will be the one and only time I say this, so listen up! "Shame on PC Gamers!" The Sign Painter
System Requirements from "Readme.txt" System requirements are Windows XP or Vista, a 1GHz or faster processor (2GHz recommended), 512MB or more of RAM, a 3D graphics accelerator, and DirectX 9.
