Video Games Suck - World of Goo

World of Goo has received universal praise. It has also been release on the Wii, so you would expect it to be a consolised piece of crap, but actually is it very good. World of Goo is a puzzle game, so for a change you do not blow out the brains of zombies / nazis / aliens, but your own brains by trying to solve the puzzles. It may just be a puzzle game but it fucking rocks (I borrowed this line from the Portal review of the Great Master of Game Review [TM] in order to make sure there is at least one mandatory "fuck" in this review). Now the formalities are out of the way, let's get to the game.

Graphics: The graphics resemble those of Grim Fandango. That is to say, they are really classy, stylish and nice. And they look pretty good too ..... for a 1999 game. Come on, who makes a 2D game with a resolution of 800 x 600 in 2008/2009! It is 'lazy developers using the lowest common denominator' time again it seems. Although the console in question here is the Wii, I blame the Xbox360 and PS3 for this because that's what we always do! But still, the graphics are stylish and nice and get the job done, so other than the low resolution, there is really not much to complain.

BTW why has the game not been released on the DS (or maybe even on silly new wannebe game platforms like the iPhone)? It would seem to be perfect for a touch screen interface. But I should shut up on this, otherwise World of Goo 2 might end up having an even lower resolution.

Sound: usually the first thing I do after installing a game is to turn off the music. Who ever decided that there must be music in games? Give me a Borg temporal transmitter so that I can go back in time and kill his mother before he was born! This game however has no option of turning the music off at all (great thinking guys!), so the only way to do without music would be to turn off the speakers altogether. If you have not played the game yet, however, you do not know if the game might throw audio clues at you (which you miss if your speakers are off - I add this for the retards among us). Since I did play it I can tell you there are none, so you can safely turn off your speakers and finish the game without a problem. I of course did not know this, so I was forced to listen to the shitty cheap game music ...... which actually turned out to be quite good and fitting for the game. The other audio in the game is really nice and funny too, so here again there is not much to complain.

Gameplay: This game consists of 40 - 50 or so puzzles: the purpose is the same most of the time: build constructions (bridges and towers mostly) with goo balls so that they can reach a pipe. That may sound boring, but shooting waves of enemies sounds far more boring, and who in their right mind would think Serious Sam is boring? Whoever thinks this game is boring has shit for brains. BTW there are a few levels where you can shoot balls, so even die hard shooter-gamers will find something to their heart's content. The puzzles start quite simple but get more complex and difficult and may require many tries before you get it right. None of the puzzle make you to throw the mouse into the monitor or jump off the roof, so I guess the difficulty level is about right (at least for me it was).

BTW has anyone noticed the green Goo balls have been ripped from Half-Life: Opposing Force?

Story: There is a story yeah, but who cares. All it does is add some humor, but not too much.

Breaking news: World of Goo 2 will actually be called Lego World of Goo. Some of the goo balls in this game resemble Lego blocks already, that gave it away!

Overall this game is quite good: 8/10