Another one of those crazy ideas that succeed.
It's hard to find a truly original idea these days, between every first person shooter or RPG that does little to nothing in terms of bringing new stuff to the table we find a game that actually strikes us with innovation, out of the ordinary. Maybe the last big innovative idea was Portal, it was charming, simple and fun. World of Goo is all that as well, it succeeds in its simplicity, you have little ball-shaped organisms called Goos and they form structures of all kinds and shapes, it's up to you to go creating with its vast variety of Goo types, the goal is to reach the pipe located somewhere around depending on the stage you're playing and save as many Goos as possible, you lose Goos either from placing them somewhere in the structure you're making or through pits, though some types of Goos can be placed more than once, thus not making the placement definitive. The most common kind of Goo connects to other Goos to form a triangle, but as the game progresses other types will be available, and necessary, for each level the player faces. There's a whole lot of levels presenting all sorts of challenges, they're themed each in its own, the worlds they're grouped are separated in seasons, like Spring Summer, etc. The difficulty doesn't go easy on the player, it's not a hard game but it's tricky, some levels will require a few tries until you get the hang of it, sometimes demanding new approaches to this or that, at first glance, unsolvable stage.
As I mentioned Portal earlier for being a game that shares the general premise of World of Goo, like both having a simple gameplay system that allows complex puzzles, among other things, it's also clear that one of Portal's most eye-catching features also plays a massive role in World of Goo, the physics. Just as Portal imposed serious logical use of the two portals and speed momentum to go through the game, World of Goo requires a nice share of sensitivity when it comes to building structures, as you must know, you can't simply go building a straight horizontal column without gravity doing its magic of demolishing it to the ground, some goes for vertical structures, if you base isn't solid, it certainly won't go far up. Everything you find in World of Goo has been specially taken care of, the graphics aren't anything to rival Crysis, but they're charming, with a fixed style and great use of colors; the sound is basically the background music and effects, the effects are pleasant and the background music tracks are pretty well composed and addictive. This does only good to the Wii, since it lacks high definition and graphical prowess, when you have limited resources, you've got to make the best out of what you have, and that has been done. There's even a story backing all up, it's light and perfectly forgettable, just like it should be for a game like this, most bits from the story you'll catch from signs all over the levels written by some mysterious character identified as Sign Painter. Another thing that fits great on the Wii are the controls, it positively feels right playing with motion sensing controls.
Overall World of Goo is a game that should be experienced, its depth comes from the several imaginative puzzles the players encounter along the way, they should keep you busy for a while, when it's all done and clear and the single player doesn't quite cut it for you anymore, the metagame could serve you just right. It doesn't have multiplayer nor does it need multiplayer. The fact is, it's a nice idea and even if you somehow dislike in the end, you still owe it to yourself, in fact, you owe it to gaming, for games that aren't all about shooting virtual soldiers or wielding a sword, games like this are more than welcome, and let's just hope they keep coming.
