2D Boy’s World of Goo for WiiWare is a title that seems to be happily treading the fine line between game and toy. While there are definitely the rules and objectives in place that define a game, nearly all of the gameplay is derived from a wobbly physics engine that appears to reward improvisation as much as it does any kind of traditional engineering acuity. I got to play around with World of Goo a little bit for the first time during Nintendo’s recent media summit, and its addictive qualities were almost immediately apparent.
While both the gameplay and the visual style of World of Goo bear a certain tangential resemblance to Loco Roco, saying it’s derivative would be selling World of Goo extremely short. In each level you’re presented with a pile of goo balls–semi-autonomous little building blocks that are both what you’re trying to rescue, as well as the means by which you’ll rescue them. Your job is to get a certain number of goo balls into a tube that’s on the other side of some kind of obstacle, which you do by building simple structures out of the goo balls.
When you grab a goo ball and move it away from the other goo balls, strands of goo form between them. If you let go of the goo ball, those strands will hold their shape. Since everything–some might say the whole world–is made of goo, your goo-based structures have a little bit of give to them, which can cause overly ambitious or poorly balanced structures to topple over on themselves.
There are other considerations when building your goo-towers and goo-bridges, such as the number of goo balls you need to rescue in order to complete the level, versus the number of goo balls you can sacrifice to build the structure itself. If you place the goo balls further apart, you’ll use less of them during construction, though the longer the strands between the goo balls are, the less stable they are. It may sound like a giant planning nightmare, and at higher difficulty levels I could see it becoming just that, but the fundamentals are intuitive enough, and the learning curve seems fairly gentle.
As promising as a lot of the WiiWare stuff that Nintendo has shown off so far is, World of Goo is the first WiiWare title I’ve seen that demanded an immediate and extended play session, and it’s the most compelling justification for the WiiWare service I’ve seen yet. The gameplay is unique, the visuals are charming, and I just can’t wait to get really gooey.
26 Comments
Gooey you say, hhmmmm…..
Kinda hard to understand unless you have seen a video.
I’ve preordered the game for the PC and played the first chapter.
So much fun and the art style is great, makes me feel warm and gooey inside.
A great edition to WiiWare.
*addition
I thought those were boobies for a second.
interesting concept.. i like
Wiiware is shaping up. Now, if they’d let you run things from the SD card (using some kind of swap system) and made bigger / cheaper cards, that would be good.
Sounds really cool.
That actually sounds pretty neat!
The art style looks cool!
Just pre-ordered. Impressions to follow.
i’m wondering if they will offer a demo version to try it out somehow
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-A_JfkzPwww trailer of the game
I played Tower of Goo and hated it.
Mmkay.
Finished the first chapter. Assuming there’s going to be player-made content, this game could be amazing. I enjoyed the pre-order demo, and I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys physics based games.
what about a zune link? for the podcast.
Sounds pretty cool. I’ll definitely download.
The way you guys were talking about it on the podcast last night got me excited.
So, did Roman Dirge art direct this game or is it just a huge ripoff of his style?
I don’t know about LocoRoco, having never played it, but the game that comes immediately to mind reading this is Lemmings. It would be good to see that kind of classic gameplay revived.
WiiWare is shaping up to be a very nice service! I hope it doesnt get bloated too soon.
I am praying for a sequel since the “Tower of Goo” (Freeware-Indie-Game, if you care for short’n’sticky pleasure)
and I can’t wait to get my hands all gooey!
You might also take a look at “Bridge Builder” (for free as a Demo-Version) if you like both of the above…
And to the Bomb Squad: Simply booombastic!!!
Keep going!
I remember playing it at a very basic “indie” form on the pc a long time ago, this looks even better
From what you describe, this title seems moderately interesting, at best.
I enjoy puzzle games and I am not quite sure this game fits the description of your typical puzzler, but I will not be buying it.
I own Loco Roco and will probably pick up Patapon as soon as I am done with God of War: Chains of Olympus.