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REVIEW: WORLD OF GOO

Reviewed on Macintosh. Also on PC, Wii. Developed by 2D Boy. Published by 2D Boy

This cute puzzle game has you building scaffolding out of cute balls of goo. That’s it. You have to direct your little balls of disgustingly cute-but-still- rather-disgusting-if-you-stopped-to-think-about-it towards their doom in a vacuum nozzle at the end of each level. The catch is, you only have a set number of little dungy spheres with which to reach the top. You also have a quota of shitballs you need to suck up in order to complete the level.

There’s not much to say other than go buy this game. 2D Boy are former EA Employees (and isn’t everyone these days) who got together and made this charming game. Probably the only thing worth getting on WiiWare, its made a decent impression if not necessarily a large one in the sales charts. The developers offered the PC version with no DRM and all they got for their troubles was increased piracy. Which is a shame, because the game is brilliant.

A new breed of puzzlers uses physics as part of gameplay. World of Goo, like Peggle uses the physics as part of the game, unlike the shitfest that is Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts.
You can build your tower higher, but you also have to build your tower so it supports its own weight. It’s like reverse Jenga. Which means it is good. Because Jenga is shit.

Its quite a relaxing game though it does require some brainpower. It also makes an excellent contrast to the carnage of today’s shooters so is quite a nice way to unwind at the end of a hectic week (as my week has been). The graphics are pitch perfect and the jazzy music score is divine. There’s none of this unicorn shit here, just one fantastic little package.

I urge every reader of this site to try out World of Goo.

controller1.com rating 3/3

NOW PLAYING- MULTIBALL! MORE PEGGLE! NO MORE BANJO!

Possibly the lst time controller1.com posts about god damned Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. We’ve reviewed it. We’ve focus tested it and now we bury it. I post about it because it its now gone. The spectre of playing  it any more has lifted and now we can concentrate on the road ahead.

So I guess I’ve been dividing my game playing time between CoD WaW on 360 and CoD4 MW again on PC. Yes, I’ve got back to playing Modern Warfare. This is about the 6th time I’ve resumed playing it. Through a set of circumstances too circumspect to subscribe to in order to circumvent the circumference of, er, um. Basically, on PC, I’ve had to restart several times, so I’ve never reached level 55. I think the highest I got was about level 40 on 360 but on the current PC install, I’m at 35. I still don’t have any of the fancy guns like the Barret 50 cal or the P90 or the G3K. I still don’t have the three frag grenades perk which makes Wet Work such a ‘nade fest. I also don’t have my favourite perk, overkill- which gives you two primary weapons.

I’ve written way too many times about CoD so here’s some Peggle. Peggle
I am still playing Peggle. I’ve barely touched World of Goo so far and I’d like to play more of it. How do I break the Peggle hold? Are there Peggle interventions? Peggle Exorcists? Peggaholics Anonymous?
“Hello my name is George and I’m a unicorn.”

Prince of Persia is the last 2008 single player game on my pile. It sits worryingly unplayed. The little I have played was good, but not enough to suck me in. Maybe over Easter. Maybe not.