World of Goo

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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We've discussed this game before - I think it's a game of the year, period. My review is full of the sort of sloppy joe kisses I usually don't do
What makes World of Goo really special is its charm; it is clear from the outset that every element of the game has been approached with love and care. The goo balls are well animated and have a great selection of sounds, the variety of goo balls each having its own look. The game's plot is fairly basic but engaging in its cartooney feel, as you battle the World of Goo Cooperation with the help of the ever-present Sign Painter and the mysterious MOM.

This basic and charming look extends to the game world, each of the 5 worlds having its own typical look, with a simple aesthetic that is used very effectively. Music is the final cog in the machine and it is dead on, being popularly compared to Danny Elfman's work for Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands, and effectively underlining the game's engaging look.

As ecstatic as I am about this "breath of fresh air" game, it is not without its flaws. My biggest peeve is with the unskippable cutscenes; even if you already played a level through, it will show the same cutscene it did before (not every level has a cutscene, thankfully) and it is unskippable. Doesn't sound too bad in principle, but as annoying as unskippable cutscenes normally are this is ten times worse, as World of Goo encourages you to replay levels to perfect your goo-saving score for the Obsessive Completion Distinction flag (and Steam-related achievement). The cutscenes put a major damper on this.

Smaller niggles are occasional interface problems (selecting the right goo ball can be a pain which is at times just a part of gameplay but another strike against the OCD fun) as well as resolution problems, and the fact that the game is rather short. Like Portal, it can be finished in a few hours, but (like Portal) this doesn't hurt the game's value all that much, because it's just that much fun. Still, the European retail release has an extra world (which I hope will also be available for download as a DLC) and you can't help but feel a level editor wouldn't have hurt the game. One final point is that I played the PC version and found the mouse interface to work great, but I can't blindly recommend the Wii version as I don't know how well it works with the Wiimote.

So have you played it? What do you think?

Sadly, this game, released by a 2-team indie dev team without any DRM, has seen massive piracy. The 90% is highly inaccurate (their method of measurement doesn't work), but it's still clear this game was pirated pretty bad - and it's the last game to deserve that kind of treatment.

I don't want a piracy discussion here, but this game does deserve moe sales and positive word of mouth. Try the demo, it is like liquid sex.

Trailer (game isn't actually this hectic, but I love the trailer)
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I bought this game off of Steam, and simply adore it. I emailed the developers and thanked them, and got an actual, non-form letter back from one of them.

In a gaming world full of shitty sequel and mass-produced shit, this is simply wonderful.
 
I would have picked this game up on Steam when it was first released had it not been pulled from there a few days afterwards - due to regional distribution crap. Via Steam, the game won't be available here until March next year.

Then the economic recession came and hit hard, so this game is on "wait and see" status until further notice.
 
Brother None said:
Still, the European retail release has an extra world (which I hope will also be available for download as a DLC)
Click to expand...
Huh?
http://2dboy.com/2008/11/11/world-of-goo-coming-to-wiiware-in-europe/
Q: will there be an extra chapter for europe?
A: no. everyone will get the same version of the game.
Click to expand...

Also,
Unkillable Cat said:
Via Steam, the game won't be available here until March next year.
Click to expand...
Q: will the pc version be available in europe too?
A: yes, at the same time as the retail release, hopefully late december. it will cost 19.99 euros and will be available in retail stores (to be announced), through steam and other digital downloads services, and on amazon.de (an incorrect price is currently listed).
Click to expand...
It's reasonable enough to expect the release date to go a little over the edge, but all the way from December to March?
 
I just tried the demo and although I like the graphical style and think that it is a breath of fresh air compared to all the "let's make this look as realistic as possible for immersion's sake" crap we see nowadays, I can't say I like it. Why the fuck won't these goo balls behave and stay still for just one friggin' moment? What's with the goddamn chipmunk noises? And what's the friggin' point of this game anyway? Looks like a ADHD jello version of The Incredible Machine to me, just with less (much less) construction material. It's fun for a couple of minutes, but then it hits me: this is just killing time. And for what?

Again: great graphical style, but the point of this game just escapes me. Get them goofy balls to reach the pipe? Yay. Wow. That'll motivate me to drag my arse through eleventy hundred levels of ever growing difficulty. Sure.

:roll:

I think not.

Now that game you linked us to once, that one where Tannhauser got his avatar from, now that was fun and art and original and worth several prizes. This is just boring, meaningless crap with lots of nice cosmetics applied to it.

:roll:

Ha! Wat do you know? That sounds just like FO3 to me.
 
i BET you helping this poor company makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, karn. ill order it anyway.
 
First, I thought this was a typo, and BN meant to say, world of Go.

:P

Second, I agree, this game needs more MOE sales!!

MOE!

Edit to add: how big is the demo, I've got no space on this rig.
 
My initial impression was that it's a good game, but the sparkle had faded by the time I finished the first three levels. After forcing myself to finish chapter one, I started trudging through the first few levels in chapter two, hoping it'd get better. Spoiler alert: It didn't.

It's a lot like those popcap games that are meant to be played in ~10 minute increments and then put away.

When I'm gaming, I have two requirements. It either needs to completely immerse me in the experience; or it needs to have an online component that allows me to interact with friends in-game, to compensate for the lack of immersion with light-hearted fun and some social interaction. World of goo provides neither.

It's a great casual game, but it just isn't up my alley.
 
I tried the demo last night and have seen that it's Lemmings + Incredible Machine...except they took out all the fun gadgets out of IM but kept all the worst parts from Lemmings.

I think I'll give this a pass, thanks. Braid looks more interesting.
 
I sense a conspiracy, why else are there World of Goo(wiiware) ads everywhere here?
 
I played a game similar to this called bridgebuilder. After playing BB, I can't really see the novelty to WoG. Played it for a little while, saw it as merely average.
 
Looks like they updated their piracy result with some number crunching.
It's a shame they got hit so hard by piracy. I guess some people are averse to paying for the type of gameplay they can get for free from a million flash games.
Support independent developers dammit!
 
:crazy: They're either crazy or like playing victim

Here's why:

It's a CASUAL GAME with NO DRM

Basically it takes just ONE 65MB Exe file to install with NO DRM whatsoever. They didnt get hit by piracy they got hit by their own stupidity.

The pirates of this game are not people on torrents and such. They are CASUAL gamers (read YOUR MOM) who got the file via Yahoo Messenger and sent it to others at work.

They have the numbers because these 'casual pirates' (which imho are just people who dont even realise they should pay for it or that its not free) submit their score after each level.

How do i know ? A lot of my moms coworkers play it.

:clap: a measly serial number would have eliminated 90% of their ... faux piracy woes.
 
radnan said:
Basically it takes just ONE 65MB Exe file to install with NO DRM whatsoever. They didnt get hit by piracy they got hit by their own stupidity.
Click to expand...

Stupidity? They made a conscious decision not to include DRM just to see if it impacts piracy rates, and according to their comparison to other piracy numbers from companies who do use DRM, it makes no difference - there's always a 90% piracy rate.

Also, don't tell me you're seriously trying to blame them for people stealing their games. You can't blame 2DBoy that moms suddenly don't mind stealing just because it is digital.
 
Maybe I'm just cynical from all the news in years past about the record companies, but I just hate when companies bandy about with piracy rates without showing their sales rates so there can be a point of comparison.

Statistics have shown that record companies have benefited from piracy (not that I condone it) because it allows people to become more obsessive about music and thus buy more CDs and digital tracks (because the people who pirate the most buy the most music), and also it helps word of mouth spread about new albums and new bands. Record companies even use the statistics from peer to peer to determine which up and coming bands they should sign and what types of music they should develop. And you know what since the record companies have begun selling songs ala carte on iTunes, amazon, etc. (which was what the market was clamoring for) the piracy rates in the U.S. have dropped precipitously.

I'm not accusing the World of Goo developers (just the way they PR this), but most games would have a drop in piracy if they just put out a demo. And to say that every pirate would have bought it is crap, not to mention that plenty of pirates end up buying the game because they want to support the developer or for the multiplayer. How do they keep track of those statistics?
 
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