Review: World of Goo (WiiWare)

Fri, Oct 17, 2008

World of Goo is a strange animal: An innovative, two-dimensional, physics-based puzzler, possessed by both adorable, cute graphics, and delightfully macabre writing and themes. World of Goo isn't the kind of game that specifically needs to be on WiiWare, but the Wii is certainly a good platform for it -- while there may be no motion controls, World of Goo's point-and-click interface could really only survive on either a Wiimote or a PC mouse. Either platform will serve you well; the PC version costs $20 and has leaderboards and admirably lax DRM policies (plus achievements if you go through Steam), while the WiiWare version is only $15 and allows for co-op gameplay. In either case, do yourself a favor and play 2D Boy's first major game release -- the World of Goo is a terrific place to play.

At first glance, World of Goo feels like Pontifex/Bridge Builder, another physics-based puzzle game concerned with -- naturally -- the construction of stable bridges through careful strut placement and weight management. Kyle Gabler, the primary designer behind World of Goo, explored construction physics in an experimental game called Tower of Goo a few years ago, laying the groundwork for the core gameplay of World of Goo. As opposed to Pontifex, where a structure can be carefully built and assessed before going "live," goo structures are constantly active, forcing players to approach them in a different manner. Crawling all around the goo constructs are additional balls of goo, whose mere presence on the structures will weigh them down in different directions. The game is played by picking up an unlinked ball of goo and dragging it near one or more joints in the structure, and placing it: The ball will turn into a new structural joint, and new struts will form between it and the existing joints, allowing you to build and extend your tower, bridge, linked chain, or whatever else World of Goo demands you build for a given level.

Building on to a live structure is a tricky business; putting together a tower frequently involves attaching a new ball of goo to one side, then quickly building onto the other side before the newly redistributed weight sends the whole thing toppling over. Once you've mastered that, however, World of Goo changes the game completely -- every new level contains different objectives, different building materials, and thoroughly strange new elements of the game world, keeping the experience fresh throughout. Soon, you'll be dealing with goo balls which can be removed and re-attached to their structures, inflatable "balloon" goo balls which can help hold up a sagging bridge or tower, flammable goo balls, stretch-and-launch goo balls, and more. The objectives, too, will vary greatly: You'll start by attempting to build your structures up to a certain point, but World of Goo will throw new challenges your way, requiring you to build horizontally across long gaps, or navigate your goo balls through treacherous spikes and gears, or even launch them up into the sky.

The difficulty curve is mild, but it climbs fairly high: World of Goo's levels will start you off with puzzles that can be solved in one or two tries, taking you 2-3 minutes apiece, but by the end, players will find themselves trying again and again to solve some particularly brutal selections. The puzzles themselves aren't typically the difficult part; a player can typically take stock of the situation and assess the correct solution within a few moments -- and if they can't, each level contains a clickable sign which contains a hint (and some really hilarious extra comments) from World of Goo's mysterious "sign painter." The difficulty lies in the execution, trying to maintain the bouncy, unstable goo structures in increasingly perilous environments. The result is that the harder levels feel like the end of a game of Jenga, where every possible move will result in a catastrophic collapse, but the next move must be made, nonetheless. The feeling of "Yes -- so close -- just a bit further -- no, don't tilt -- no, wait -- argh!" will hit you again and again, and it can lead to a certain level of frustration.

World of Goo does allow you to hit the "undo" key a few times; every few moves you make will supply you with a "time bug," which will revert the playing field, when clicked, to the move before last. Unfortunately, of course, this will sometimes merely illustrate that you were hopelessly screwed several moves ago. World of Goo also allows you to give up and come back on occasion, supplying you with a limited number of level skips: These are earned a few at a time, every time you enter a new chapter of the game, and can also be replenished by going back and solving any levels you skipped previously. Make no mistake, World of Goo becomes exceedingly tough near the end of the game, but these elements of forgiveness will keep the game moving, preventing any ragequits. Getting through the puzzles using level skips will probably last you 5-6 hours for your first playthrough, though you should expect 8-10 hours to beat them all.

These elements, by themselves, make World of Goo a unique, quirky, and thoroughly enjoyable little puzzle game. So, it's really just gravy that the game's aesthetic design is so marvelously realized. World of Goo's feel is something of a cross between Tim Burton and Jhonen Vasquez, presenting a world that delights in its own dark undertones and impending dooms. The game's story centers around the World of Goo Corporation, a global industry which harvests the ubiquitous goo balls for any number of purposes, selling them to overenthusiastic consumers who squeal "LET'S GO SHOPPING!" and purchase WoG Corp. products to inject them directly into their faces. The goo balls, meanwhile, remain boundlessly optimistic, hurling themselves gleefully towards their unknown (and probably sinister) fate without question or hesitation. I won't spoil the story for you, but by the end of the game, you will have seen the rise and fall of this corporation, and learned the ultimate fate of the goo balls -- and, subsequently, the world. The entire journey is scored by some really excellent music, ranging from Burton-esque tunes that sound like they're out of Nightmare Before Christmas, and inexplicably epic movie-quality dramatic orchestrations.

To top it off, the writing is brilliant for its fourth-wall game theory humor; something a long-time cynical gamer is sure to appreciate. Following a level which mimics Gabler's original Tower of Goo game, the narrator tells us "the goo balls had a sense of deja vu, like they had done this before... but it was so much more experimental back then." The game's bonus level, in fact, challenges players to build the tallest goo tower they can, because "There might be some kind of meta-game up there!" On the Wii, it should be noted, this bonus level utilizes the WiiConnect feature to compare the height of your tower with other players' around the world, giving you a semi-real-time indication of who's built where.

World of Goo is a fantastic offering, and one you owe it to yourself to play. If you like physics puzzlers, you will not be disappointed. If you're not much of a puzzler, admittedly, World of Goo may not be for you, but that's a real shame -- you're missing out on some of the funniest and most creative art and writing since Portal.

2D Boy, achievements, digital download, Hands-On, Humor, Nintendo Wii, PC, Physics, Puzzler, Review, Steam, WiiWare, World of Goo

This post was written by:

Jesse Henning - who has written 474 posts on GameCyte.

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3 Comments For This Post

Maxgxl Says:
October 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
World of goo seems to be a nice adventures game.Some graphics included in the game are totally fantastic.Love to play this game as early as possible.
Goji Juice Goodness Says:
February 12th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I don't know who thought of Goo in the first place, but it was a great idea!

~Goji
World of Goo Says:
May 2nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I love this game/ The bEST!

world-of-goo.co.cc/

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