World of Goo

Developer: 2D Boy
Steam Release: Oct 2008
Hours Played: 4.6
Similar To: None
Rating: 4/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

The intriguing World of Goo is a physics-based puzzler that tests your ability to link together sticky balls to grant them freedom. To reach that freedom, which comes in the form of an open pipe, you must create extra links in a chain. The balls themselves exist in a network or a little community joined by strands which the balls travel along. You drag and drop a ball to move it to a desired location but this can only be fully executed if connecting lines are highlighted. Stray too far from the pack and no lines will be visible meaning you won't be allowed to make a connection. Many is the time where you'll need to construct an intricate tower to reach a pipe that hovers tantalizingly overhead, while on other occasions you'll need to somehow cross a large gap. Needless to say 2D Boy have not made your journey, through its 48 levels, a simple one.

BALANCE & PACE

Obstacles such as saws, spikes and propellers will pop your goo instantly while many can be lost to the abyss. Some goo-balls are asleep and need to be woken up and, of course, there is a target amount of balls you need to rescue to complete a level. The biggest draw though is in the assortment and variety of goo which amounts to 12 types! Black goo is fairly standard but you get green which can be detached; white which have four lines or "legs"; clear which have only one; red which catch fire... and so it goes on. You also have other curiosities like beauty goos that can be ground up into smaller ones, helium filled balloons to raise things and time bugs to go back moves. Thankfully, no time-based elements apply so it's a game where you can think things through at your leisure.   

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

World of Goo is a small download and if it can run on my ten-year-old laptop then it should run on most systems. Like their later offering, Little Inferno, the designers have kept things simple when it comes to options - there aren't any! This means you're stuck both with the default resolution and the music - which isn't such a bad thing. It has a pleasantly racy and shuffly opening tune with an additionally odd soundtrack accompanying levels such as a salvation army-style brass band; a catchy spy-theme number and bouncy circus-music. However with it being such an odd and unique game, the quirky music suits the mood perfectly. To add character, some balls will squeal in delight as if they've swallowed some of that helium from the balloons.

PROGRESS SYSTEM

World of Goo is divided into four unlockable chapters of 10-12 levels in each with an epilogue that has four, making it 48 altogether. The home-page features a silhouetted planet with hills jutting out with each representing the chapters. Hover over a hill and the chapter name pops up but you can only access it if it has been unlocked. Entering a chapter takes you to a weird landscape with globs representing named levels set out along a path. On completing a level, you get a stats page and the offer of uploading the information to a leaderboard but good luck on finding that information later on let alone locating any sort of leaderboard. Just completing levels seems to be reward enough but you do get a kind of sandbox zone called The Goo Corporation where you're welcome to build a tower with the surplus or excess blobs that you rescued. 

CONCLUSION

By now World of Goo, along with other titles by the same designers such as Little Inferno and the Human Resource Machine, has garnered something of a cult following. All are highly original titles with unique mechanics and ideas to set them apart. You could even argue in favour of their timeless qualities. World of Goo can be compared to bridge-building / physics-based simulation type games where the ability to keep towers and structures optimally balanced is a required skill. Personally, as I embark on Chapter 3, the game has pitched its difficulty at the right level as I've only had to peek at two walkthroughs which I think is fine as far as immersion goes. My only complaint would be that for a game that proudly presents stats at the end of levels, the lack of high-score or best-time charts is a bit of a letdown.