By RPS on December 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm.
To quote from the great prophet: IT’S CHRIIIIIIISSSSSSSSTTTTTTMAAAAASSSS!!!! What we really need is a really, really good game. In fact, our game of the year.
For the 12th game of Christmas, my true blog gave to me…
A satirical charming goo-based puzzle gammmmmeeee!
John: We already knew World of Goo was wonderful. Almost a year ago we’d played the first chapter when we pre-ordered it. A collection of a dozen or so beautifully smart, extremely funny, and ludicrously interesting puzzles. Just another three or four chapters in the same vein would have guaranteed greatness. What I don’t think anyone was expecting was the best game of 2008 that we received.
I don’t think anyone was expecting a game that reinvented the rules as it went along. The introduction of new Goo types was perhaps a given. But the way these made it feel like a fresh new puzzle game each time certainly was not. By the time I reached those solid brick Goos in chapter 4 I was giggling like a frighteningly mad person. I didn’t bother with the puzzle. I just played with the blocks, regressing to my infant years and just stacking them, delighted by the clicky-clacky noise they made. I think people were possibly expecting the game to go in a straight line from Chapter 1′s green hills, possibly via an ice world, fire world and then level in the clouds, to eventually reach the Epilogue’s super-hard challenges. Kudos to the person who guessed the green wireframe levels – I think you might be lying.
I don’t think anyone was expecting a game with so much story, so subtly told. It doesn’t matter, it’s not really relevant by the time you’re puzzle solving, but it’s lovely that it’s there. Explained by 2D BOY as being analogous to the experience of games development, that’s possibly not of much use to anyone else who’s playing. But fortunately they chose to be obtuse enough to allow you to weave your own meaning out of the messages of corporate control and the fight for independence. Or to just ignore it entirely.
I don’t think anyone was expecting to feel so elated. Well, perhaps there were hints. That moment when you attach the eye-balloons to the rickety structure of green Goos and see them float away, at the end of Chapter 1, lets you know it’s coming. It’s such a lovely moment, filled with optimism and hope. Which is, of course, quite cruelly dashed by the following levels. But then if you’ve reached the telescope, you know you get your moment. But it was constantly so uplifting. The combination of cuteness, funny noises and really gorgeous cartoons made for a safe, happy place. Then the unending smartness of the puzzle design within that world made it a place that respected your intelligence, and pushed you to do better. Throw in the perfect music and the bizarre sentiment that what you were doing somehow mattered, and the result is a game that has you feeling better about yourself and the universe after you’ve played.
I don’t think anyone was expecting a low budget indie game to be their favourite game of 2008. In a year when a substantial number of games stood out, I know for sure it was mine.
Kieron: I dunno. I’m more shocked that I called my game of the year as early as the first weeks of January. Doing the first preview for Eurogamer, I was reduced to excitedly babbling on blog because no-one else was online. I couldn’t believe that I was playing something so genuinely outstanding this early in the year. I mean… surely it was too early for such feelings?
I was having lunch yesterday with Julian Widdows, Producer over at Swordfish. Conversation turned to a game of his I loved way back in the early days of the 2000s. Hostile Waters. In my review, I dropped the line, “The first great game of the millennium”, not caring that it’d annoy the Millennium-date-fascists, just pleased that I could say something as ludicrously over-hyping as that, and know that it’s not over-hype, to know that you meant every word and you’d face up against anyone who said otherwise.
The best games are good enough to make you unafraid to embarrass yourself. And from those early days in January, I knew I’d found something worth bearing such blows. And, really, what I was amazed at from that preview code wasn’t that it had come so early in the year – what I was amazed at was the sheer joy of it. That undeniable rush of joy of discovery when you suddenly realise you’re experiencing greatness. The realisation that things can be as good as they are.
Sometimes I can’t believe that I’ve been a games writer for as long as I have – the next year will be my fifteenth. And sometimes, when I think back at what I felt at Deus Ex, at Hostile Waters and now at World of Goo, I can’t believe I could imagine doing anything else.
Jim: Last year’s favourite, Portal, and this year’s champion, World Of Goo, seem to have something in common. They might be nothing alike in execution or mechanical process, but they seem to share the same kind of attitude. They’re both essentially puzzle games, making use of our elastic sense of space, and they both reconfirm that the game-as-puzzle of videogames is alive and brighter than it’s ever been. Pure fireworks and car-crashes games are not. It was clear, inventive, and challenging in just the right kind of brain-flex way. There was no moment that you could use to doubt it, or to think that its creators hadn’t invested everything in making it as good to play as it possibly could have been.
The other thing that both World Of Goo and Portal share is an offbeat sense of humour, and a feeling of optimism. They seem to confirm that we want funny, and that we are happy for our funny to come from a strange place. Where Portal was a cute kind of black comedy, World Of Goo is a sort of elegiac cartoon. What is it an elegy to? Funny faces, puzzles, the seasons, lipstick, those green screens on old computers, helium balloons, pollution: a whole gamut of things that games otherwise fleet past. Rather than the dumb, sterile worlds that most games create for us, World Of Goo was rich and healthy. It’s the combination of these many elements that make the game so wonderful to play: the rising, life-affirming music, the wonderful depth the graphical style gives to a 2D plane, the little tricks of sound that trick you into believing the solidity and physicality of the goo structures you are messing with.
In short: it’s fucking wonderful, and we’ve already overstated all that other stuff that makes the game interesting. Let’s ignore them and remember just how satisfying it is to play. 2D Boy, you have done good. We salute you.
Alec: I like the bit where you glue a ball to another ball and make a big stretchy thing.
There was a strange week when both me and my housemate were playing Goo simultaneously, so its eerie-epic music was blaring excitedly from wherever you went in the house. Meantime, my then-young kitten was scampering bufoonishly all over all the place, chirruping like a Goo ball all the while. The place felt like some odd theme park, a wonderland of weird/cute noises. Even ruling out the cat, there are so few games that can create atmosphere beyond what’s happening on the screen. The sound and music adds so much to it, but crucially it works in perfect tandem with the wobbling, ever-changing visuals. There’s something so celebratory about Goo, even when it’s at its darkest, and it’s absolutely infectious. It’s a song of triumph for what games were, are and can be.
Admirably, though it pretty much perfects that Tim Burtonesque feel in the first stage, it doesn’t coast on it. Along with the general drift through new puzzle-types and the total visual shift of the later worlds, it throws hard surprises along the way. The level that stunned me the most was the Red Carpet one. Not because of the challenge, but the disorientating, exhilarating switch in mood.
Again, so much of it is in the sound. The clash of camera flash and cheer of an invisible audience, all overlaid with this pounding, off-kilter orchestral trance track: it’s dreamlike, absolutely pinpointing the mood of some new starlet greeted with the insanity of celebrity for the first time. Pointedly, the puzzle itself hinges on crushing transluscent Goos in the main Beauty Goo’s wake – are they innocent fans steamrollered by their idol’s success, or a legion of lackeys treated like nothing by their diva charge? It’s not, I suspect, trying to make some sneering jab at the nature of celebrity – instead it’s trying to set a scene, a one-off themed vignette that’s got nothing whatsoever to do with whatever it is the main plot chatters about. It punts you off to an entirely different headspace for ten minutes.
There is no reason for it to be there – it’s got nothing at all to do with anything. 2D Boy did it anyway, and it’s treating throwaway concepts so lavishly that makes Goo the most purely celebratory game of the year.
25/12/2008 at 12:40 Thomas Lawrence says:
Hurrah for Goo!
Truly, the only choice. Buy it if you haven’t already.
And yes, Red Carpet is the best level. Except for Blustery Day, that’s the best one too. And Regurgitation Pumping Station, that’s the best as well. Ooh, and You Have To Explode The Head, and Super Fuse Challenge Time, they’re the best too.
25/12/2008 at 12:55 Chris Evans says:
Great choice, certainly WoG is my game of the year :D
Gotta rush before grabbing lunch, but a great two part interview with Ron and Kyle from 2D Boy can be found here.
25/12/2008 at 13:23 nabeel says:
Lovely, lovely game.
25/12/2008 at 13:24 Duke Nasty VI says:
I bought this game last weekend, and it’s a fantastic game. Perfect for my EEE as well. It actually works quite well with the touchpad.
25/12/2008 at 13:39 Larington says:
Yeah, easily my game of the year, I couldn’t find fault in it.
25/12/2008 at 14:09 Gurrah says:
What a good choice. This game coins the term ‘game’ perfectly. It was so much fun and sadly ended too quickly… that’s what I get for making gaming my nr. 1 pastime activity.
25/12/2008 at 14:15 Pags says:
Only edged out as GOTY by L4D for me. Just magnificent.
25/12/2008 at 14:33 spinks says:
I love this game so much. Awesome pick guys, and happy Xmas!
25/12/2008 at 14:49 Bidermaier says:
I love great original music in my games. The first episode of WOG is epic in that sense. The tumbler level music was so great i had to stop the game. A bit like in the “The hairdresser husband” ending.
25/12/2008 at 15:05 Naurgul says:
World of Goo was a really good game. It truly exceeded my expectations by a large margin. My only concern is that it will take me too much time to achieve the OCD criteria for all the levels. Yay for goo! :D
25/12/2008 at 15:33 roBurky says:
The red carpet level is my favourite as well. The sound makes it.
25/12/2008 at 16:06 DigitalSignalX says:
If there was one game this year that was elegantly executed and has no faults… WOG would be it. Perfect in every way, but GOTY?
My heart still says Fallout3, which arguably has a whole crapload of faults, but remains in my heart the “OMG Wow this is why I like playing PC games” game of the year. I probably won’t be going back to play WOG, whereas FO3 will get many, many re-runs as the mod community warms up.
25/12/2008 at 17:26 Meat Circus says:
I love you guys. Proof if proof be need be. Let’s have babies.
Actually, aside from the fact that you made World of Goo, one of the most undeniably lovely games of ever, and one of my three personal GoTYes your GoTY, there is additional bonus love incoming for the fact that it’s not FALLOUT 3.
LOVE GET.
Yay for being pissed at Christmas. Happy Festivus, monkeys.
@DigitalSignalX:
I think you have already said in your own way why Fallout 3 cannot reasonably be a game of the year. It’s not reasonable, in any sensible way, for a game to be GoTY because of the potential it has when fixed by people who are not the original developers.
Don’t get me wrong here. I played 34 hours of Fallout 3, and yes, I enjoyed it. But Fallout 3 is just broken and stupid in so many places, and so many obvious ways. It would be a dereliction of duty to start throwing awards at Fallout 3, when it could and should have been so much better, had Bethesda not been so slapdash and invested a little more time and effort in fixing the dodgy voice acting, the poor dialogue, the wretched main quest, the broken leveling and the huge variety of Fallout 3′s other mini-fails.
25/12/2008 at 17:30 SuperNashwan says:
I didn’t like it. I think I may be broken.
25/12/2008 at 17:40 Real Horrorshow says:
Will never play this game.
25/12/2008 at 17:47 John Walker says:
Pray, tell us Real Horrorshow, whyever not?
25/12/2008 at 17:47 Saflo says:
Will never play this game.
Boo, hiss.
25/12/2008 at 17:48 Meat Circus says:
@John:
Legal reasons. Can’t talk about it.
25/12/2008 at 17:50 Meat Circus says:
Clearly “Blustery Day” is the bestest level not “Red Carpet”. Red Carpet enthusiasts are heretics and must burn.
25/12/2008 at 17:51 MetalCircus says:
I didn’t like it that much either. Does that make me silly?
25/12/2008 at 17:53 Meat Circus says:
@MetalCircus:
Silly? No. But you are now on The List. Be afraid.
25/12/2008 at 17:55 John Walker says:
Hey, Meat, why are you replying to your own question?!?!
25/12/2008 at 17:57 Meat Circus says:
You’re a very funny man, JOHN WALKER. I have proof made of science.
25/12/2008 at 17:58 Gap Gen says:
“Pray, tell us Real Horrorshow, whyever not?”
It’s the Real Horror – someone who will never in their lives experience World of Goo. Forget having your face clawed off by badgers or zombies singing Christmas #1s at you.
25/12/2008 at 18:14 StenL says:
I disliked it. Actually, I utterly hated it.
I found it aggravatingly hard, annoyingly cute and just not fun at all. Maybe it is some kind of mental retardation I have or maybe I am missing some important thingies from my brain, but I really don’t understand why anyone would like this Bridge Builder ripoff. Sorry, but definitely not Game of the Year for me. I would have to say that my favourite is either Space Giraffe or maybe Achievement Unlocked.
25/12/2008 at 18:19 Pags says:
THESE TWO SENTENCES ARE INCOMPATIBLE.
Once more, I’m inclined to agree with Meat. Blustery Day is the best level.
25/12/2008 at 18:21 StenL says:
Hey, Space Giraffe is the good kind of hard, the old-school hard, but World of Goo has that aggravating “shitty puzzle game” difficulty, where the failure isn’t due to your low skills, but that you haven’t found the one obscure way to solve the level.
25/12/2008 at 18:25 Pags says:
Would you begrudge Portal for the same apparent ‘failing’?
25/12/2008 at 18:28 StenL says:
No, because Portal was of just the right difficulty to me. If I have to spend over 45 minutes on one puzzle, the game is too hard. Portal was as close to perfection as any game has come for me. World of Goo isn’t even close.
25/12/2008 at 18:31 Ben Finkel says:
So here’s the thing. I tried the demo, and moderately enjoyed it, but decided I didn’t want to purchase it just yet – it didn’t seem as good as the other marvelous games I’d purchased this year – Sins of a Solar Empire, Mount & Blade, Left 4 Dead. This article may convince me to go ahead and purchase it, but do you really recommend this to someone who wasn’t awed by the first chapter?
Ben
25/12/2008 at 18:33 StenL says:
NOOOOOOOOO ! Buy Space Giraffe, Jeff Minter needs your money !
25/12/2008 at 18:37 MetalCircus says:
I am on the same side of the fence as StenL. Well, I don’t hate the game as he does, I merely only enjoyed it a little. I didn’t enjoy it as much as others did for the same reasons he stated. I found some of the later levels a little tedious for my liking – It started off quite well though. I enjoyed the first chapter. I wasn’t wholly pleased by the rest though – Shame because I wanted to like it because it seemed so unique.
It does bewilder me how much praise it’s accrued – I can definitely see the appeal, and understand why it’s fun, but I don’t really understand why it’s being called GOTY…
Worst part is, I feel stupid saying this, like I’m missing out on something, when thousands of other people loved it. Doesn’t help, also, when people scream at you for being an unintelligent philistine for not liking it, either.
25/12/2008 at 18:40 Pags says:
@Ben: The first chapter isn’t nearly representative enough of the game as a whole; the next few chapters are where the game really shines.
@Sten: It doesn’t seem like you have a fixed concept of what is ‘too hard’; it just appears you don’t like the game because you weren’t very good at it, not because you disagree with the idea of puzzle games in general – ie. trying to find an abstract solution to a problem.
25/12/2008 at 18:56 StenL says:
Yeah, I do like some puzzle games, I liked Bridge Builder, which World of Goo is a cheap ripoff of. Me being horrible at World of Goo is definitely one reason why I didn’t like it, but i wouldn’t compare the difficulty to Portal, which had a much friendlier difficulty curve that never reached as high as World of Goo, not even in the challenges and advanced levels.
25/12/2008 at 19:02 Gap Gen says:
Well, World of Goo contains bridge-building elements, but that’s about it. To claim it’s a rip-off of Bridge Builder is to claim that Portal is a rip-off of Half Life.
Portal only seems easy because you have played FPSs before, I’d guess. My dad has never played an FPS and finds Portal very hard. By comparison, I completed Portal for the first time in around 3 hours.
I thought World of Goo was fine. But then I am a research student in computational physics.
25/12/2008 at 19:05 John Walker says:
StenL, while of course you’re very welcome to express your dislike of the game, I think phrases like “cheap ripoff of” are both libellous and unjustifiably offensive. Think a bit more carefully about it.
I’m quite surprised that you found it so difficult. Perhaps watch some videos of solutions on YouTube and see if you can spot anything you might have missed.
25/12/2008 at 19:07 A-Scale says:
I won’t pay 20 for this game. I’ll pay 10, I might pay 15, but I won’t pay 20. As for GOTY, MGS4 gets my nod. There are a lot of contenders, but no game gives as much inventive gameplay, story and cinema styled greatness.
25/12/2008 at 19:10 A-Scale says:
And THAT is hyperbole. I am reminded of Dawkins, who calls teaching children religion “child abuse”. Libel, like child abuse, can be prosecuted under the law. Are you really suggesting that Sten should/could be sued for his statement? Come on.
25/12/2008 at 19:15 Pace says:
It’s Christmas everybody, stop being grumpy, I command it! (and A-Scale; this is a PC games site.)
25/12/2008 at 19:23 Larington says:
Theres an assumption thats been made here that everyone is going to like any one game. Just as it seems certain people here weren’t able to get along with WoG, I wasn’t able to get along with Space Giraffe, I found that so tedious to play that I didn’t even move beyond the tutorial whereas I completed WoG.
Personal taste and all that, I guess.
25/12/2008 at 19:24 malkav11 says:
If I could get past You Have to Explode the Head, I would probably like it better. Blustery Day and Red Carpet were both really, really awesome.
(And my frustration with You Have to Explode the Head is that I understand perfectly well what I’m meant to be doing – or at least I think I do – but I’ve never really quite gotten a handle on the basic construction physics of the game, so my towering structures inevitably collapse for no reason that I can perceive.)
25/12/2008 at 19:30 Pags says:
Lol.
25/12/2008 at 19:33 John Walker says:
A-Scale – No, clearly no one’s going to sue anyone over a mindless comment in a thread, but under libel law it is libellous. Stating someone ripped someone else off is very dodgy territory, unless it can be clearly demonstrated. (And there is of course a line between being inspired by, and ripping off.) I took more issue with the word “cheap”, as it happens. It seemed a strangely low insult. I’m sure StenL has intelligent things to say about why he doesn’t like the game. I’d prefer to keep things reasoned and reasonable.
It’s the principle really. Let’s not call people “cheap rip-offs” on Christmas Day, eh?
25/12/2008 at 19:45 Larington says:
@ John Walker: Aww bless, checking in on us on Christmas Day!
25/12/2008 at 19:47 Heliocentric says:
Narrative driven games disappoint me when they drive a player through a not fun section for the story. But when games are in a narrative straight jacket and will punish the player with horrific hours of very specific gameplay to forward a plot drive. But less about mgs4. World of goo was absolutely about how you play it, “plot” seemed more to be there more to justify your own actions. Game of the year i dunno but very much a game. A beautiful one which has born a company which will remain on my radar. I wish it had multiplayer beyond metagame. And i eagerly await new content.
25/12/2008 at 20:07 pkt-zer0 says:
World of Goo, annoyingly hard? Heh. What I find incredibly offensive is Portal’s inoffensive difficulty curve.
25/12/2008 at 20:13 Heliocentric says:
Do the people stuck in wog know it has level skip on the retry menu right.
25/12/2008 at 20:16 Candid_Man says:
After seeing the likes of Spore and Far Cry 2 on your list, I seriously entertained the possibility of you guys choosing Fallout 3 as game of the year.
I then remember how much (justified) praise you heaped on WOG, and after it not appearing in the earlier positions, my fears were abated. I’m glad I didn’t bet anything on my earlier expectations. Here’s hoping next year’s list will be more hit than miss.
Still, have a XMAS MERRY 08 or two.
25/12/2008 at 20:20 Saflo says:
Finding the inoffensive offensive. Merry Christmas.
25/12/2008 at 20:23 StenL says:
Yes, I know there is a level skip, I can’t bring myself to use anything like that in any game ever. Makes me feel like I am missing out on something. I have often just stopped playing a game because I haven’t been able to get some hard to get bonus item.
John, I agree that rip-off was actually quite a bit of an overstatement, I will strike that comment from the record. It is still very much inspired by Bridge Builder. Only has an obnoxiously cute, sugary theme draped over it.
25/12/2008 at 20:44 Matthew says:
Honestly, I’d love to buy this game but imo its too expensive. It’s US$20, which is NZ$35 over here. This to me is too mcuh for a so called “indie game”, especially one that seems rather short. Were it ever to go US$5 of even $10 cheaper, it’d be an instant buy, but until then I’m gonna have to wait.
25/12/2008 at 20:46 Devin says:
StenL: Use the level skip. It’s not cheating. Really, it isn’t. I think I skipped four levels my first time through, and I think I finished three of those levels within one or two levels of when I skipped them.
It was just a matter of skipping them because I was frustrated and then realizing a level or two later that I had just figured out the technique I needed to beat the earlier level.
I’m curious how far you got in the game? Certainly it does have plenty of Bridge Builder DNA, but the gameplay diverges quite far as you go. Suggesting that Chapter 1 is a re-themed Bridge Builder clone is a reasonable, if somewhat churlish, statement. Saying the same of Chapter 3 or 4 is absurd.
Aside to US commenters: British libel and slander law is very different from US libel and slander law. John is absolutely correct: that statement would constitute libel in a British court, but probably not an American one.
25/12/2008 at 20:53 Mogs says:
I’ve had a quick go of the first few levels of the demo & unless it gets significantly better, meh.
25/12/2008 at 21:42 dhex says:
i got stuck somewhere in act three (the big ole well-shaped level where you have to blow stuff up at just the right time) and never went back. i should, though.
puzzle games are hard.
“but under libel law it is libellous.”
to be fair under british libel law sneezing is libelous. :)
25/12/2008 at 22:45 Real Horrorshow says:
@ John Walker:
I simply do not like games like this.
25/12/2008 at 23:51 Gap Gen says:
I refuse to play this game as I hate indie developers, and prefer to give all my money to people who clearly appreciate it and buy nice things for themselves, like that nice Clifford B.
25/12/2008 at 23:56 Lou says:
In fact, our game of the year.
\o/
It really is. I am generally more into “serious”, story-driven games, but World of Goo really was my favourite game this year, too. By a distance. It’s so well designed from start to finish, it’s a real miracle. Sent down to Earth by an alien species that has deveoped games for thousands of years, and this was the pinnacle of their creations. That’s how good it is. It can afford to use a brilliant idea other devs would have made three games from in only one level, only to come up with something even better in the next one.
26/12/2008 at 01:03 Saflo says:
I simply do not like games like this.
Ones that are hilarious and fun to play? Yeah, I hate those.
26/12/2008 at 01:08 StenL says:
I tried so hard to like this game during the first few levels, but by the end of the first world, I was thinking that I would even rather play that Russian truck racing game. I did push on to the middle of world 2, but I just couldn’t stand it any more.
26/12/2008 at 01:15 Meat Circus says:
@Gap Gen:
Anyone who demands on being known by a juvenile diminutive, and then demands to not be known by it, and then acts in a juvenile and diminutive way that can only be deserving of said juvenile diminutive, is made of win in my book.
Cliffy B = MAN OF THE YEAR.
26/12/2008 at 02:35 Paul B says:
I only finished one game this year. That game was World of Goo. I actually enjoyed it more then Portal and it’s excellent in my opinion. And if you don’t agree, well… ….I know your mum does.
26/12/2008 at 03:14 undead dolphin hacker says:
I… found absolutely nothing exciting, interesting, or, gasp, “fun” about World of Goo.
Mindless puzzles, monotonous gameplay, obnoxious writing. But oh, it’s a satirical indie game with a cel-shaded art-school-reject theme. 9.8/10, A++++!!!!!!!1111“`~
26/12/2008 at 03:30 Real Horrorshow says:
@ Saflo
2D puzzle games, silly.
26/12/2008 at 03:37 john t says:
I don’t understand all the people that found it too hard. I got through the whole thing in a couple of hours, I only needed to look at a youtube video for one level to get past it.
And I usually suck at puzzle games.
Did you want to be able to solve all of them the first time through? It’s meant to be trial and error.
26/12/2008 at 03:39 Lh'owon says:
@A-Scale
Which he has never said, so your claim is technically libellous. :)
26/12/2008 at 03:46 cyrenic says:
Blustery Day.
That is all.
26/12/2008 at 05:07 JerkFace says:
I got WoG today via WiiWare and my girlfriend and I played it for hours. It’s so great.
26/12/2008 at 05:08 Muzman says:
(tedius off-topic boxingday nitpick time)
Are you sure about that?
I suppose if you really want to split hairs he’d probably not say ‘teaching religion’ is child abuse as such, as it’s possible to teach children about religion without the ‘abuse’ bit. But this is largely academic as childhood religious instruction (and religious instruction in general) generally presupposes that religious mythology is true.
(and for the record I don’t think his claim is all that hyperbolic and worth thinking about)
26/12/2008 at 06:26 woppin says:
I haven’t played world of goo so this is just a guess, but maybe the frustrating difficulty is somewhat akin to the difficulty of the monkey island games. Some people found the unintuitive solutions to ridiculous problems tedious and were easily stumped, whereas some enjoyed it and got through without too much trouble.
26/12/2008 at 08:20 Forceflow says:
If it wasn’t for RPS, I would never have played World of Goo. Thanks guys!
26/12/2008 at 08:24 Lou says:
Mindless puzzles, monotonous gameplay, obnoxious writing. But oh, it’s a satirical indie game with a cel-shaded art-school-reject theme. 9.8/10, A++++!!!!!!!1111“`~
Oh, a hobby cynic trying to tell others why they liked it. How amusing. Less hyperbole would be more convincing though – “obnoxious” writing? Better luck next time!
Wrong anyway. It’s all about the gameplay.
26/12/2008 at 10:15 Gnarl says:
This game had some beautiful sound. The music, the effects were spot on and I hope 2D Boy goes on to work the audio of other games.
26/12/2008 at 10:33 SuperNashwan says:
I haven’t played world of goo so this is just a guess, but maybe the frustrating difficulty is somewhat akin to the difficulty of the monkey island games. Some people found the unintuitive solutions to ridiculous problems tedious and were easily stumped, whereas some enjoyed it and got through without too much trouble.
Only speaking for myself but it’s the exact opposite. The solutions are great and the game constantly throws new things at you to reinvent and build on the puzzles, which in itself is quite incredible. What royally pissed me off was that even when you can see the exact solution, the execution has such a degree of randomness thrown in with stuff wobbling about out of your control that you can still regularly fail. For me, in a puzzle game that’s absolutely fatal, so I didn’t buy it. I get why people enjoy it and I have enormous respect for the sheer quality of everything else in the game, but it’s not for me.
26/12/2008 at 12:01 Lou says:
What royally pissed me off was that even when you can see the exact solution, the execution has such a degree of randomness thrown in with stuff wobbling about out of your control that you can still regularly fail.
It’s not really random, though – it’s the physics that makes things wobble. If it wobbles too muc, it’s your fault. :)
I didn’t find the game hard at all – much like Portal, it can be finished in one sitting.
26/12/2008 at 13:04 Kodaz says:
I found world of goo to be quite amazing, but the hype was so goddamn big that I didn’t know exactly what should I feel. (Yes, I’m a monster who needs guidelines of how to feel. Or a poser, you can say.) I mean, I liked but I didn’t find it to be a marvelous game, just a really good one by a really good developer and I’m happy it all worked out for them, but I did not find the game so satisfying as I had expected I would, its hard to express this feeling.
26/12/2008 at 13:39 Larington says:
A lot of the whole responding to wobbling structures thing is simply observation though, for instance if you’ve been building a structure straight up, well then look down and look for either of these – A central stress point where the wobbling is most pronounced (When a structure collapses, its this point usually which folds in on itself) or insufficient support at the base of the structure (As in, on the very left or right, the solution being to put an extra goo link touching the floor when you place it).
26/12/2008 at 14:52 theanorak says:
@Kodaz
I think I know how you feel, sort of.
I thought World of Goo was amazing, and it’s one of the few games I’ve ever played which made me smile and laugh with simple delight. Truly wonderful.
The problem is if you haven’t played it before the hype-tornado rolls in and the GOTY accolades are applied, then there’s a nagging part of you that might sit there and think “overhyped!”.
26/12/2008 at 14:59 dhex says:
“Did you want to be able to solve all of them the first time through? It’s meant to be trial and error.”
my trials were heavily filled with errors, sadly.
i’ll take a look at it later today, if only because the presentation is so delightful.
26/12/2008 at 15:06 A-Scale says:
It’s in the God Delusion chapter 9. Go look it up.
26/12/2008 at 16:37 Gap Gen says:
It’s an interesting question, though. Child raising is one of the most important things you can do in life, and yet anyone with a working willy or lady-bits can do. By comparison, anyone who has ever been convicted of a crime in the US cannot do simple things like vote, even if they have fulfilled their sentence. Of course, preventing people from having children by force would probably be morally repugnant, and probably would raise other questions of brain-washing, etc.
26/12/2008 at 17:18 sana says:
Calling an indie game which is only different from others by being more polished and which you can finish in 2 days the Game Of The Year, as opposed to grand releases like Left 4 Dead or even, say, Fallout 3 or Clear Sky or something?
Seriously?
26/12/2008 at 17:41 Thomas Lawrence says:
Ok, this is actually irritating me now:
World of Goo is not merely a “more polished” version of other physics-based bridge-builiding games, in the same way that Half-Life isn’t just a more polished Wolfenstein 3D. Yes, the fundamental mechanics are still “click-drag-build” (or “point-click-shoot”) but there’s more to a game than just boiling it down to its bare-bones components.
26/12/2008 at 17:41 Lilliput King says:
Fallout 3 is hardly life affirming, fun but dull. Clear Sky is wank. Left 4 Dead is fantastic, but it doesn’t really give you that warm fuzzy feeling.
26/12/2008 at 17:43 Eonwe says:
Clear Sky? Seriously?
As some might say, it’s not the length that matters, it’s what you do with it.
26/12/2008 at 17:44 StenL says:
I wonder why people call Spore overhyped shit, while this game was hyped much more by the gaming press, yet was even worse.
26/12/2008 at 17:51 Gap Gen says:
Because:
a) Spore had DRM, which was the main cause of the outcries
b) WoG was much cheaper
c) The only people who played this are people who like indie games.
d) There was no clear preconception as to what WoG was, and it was more inventive than people thought. Spore, by contrast, was cut back a lot from what avid gamers imagined it would be.
26/12/2008 at 17:52 sana says:
If a deluxe version of Tower of Goo with some cool graphics and, uh, witty text becomes a GOTY, why doesn’t Spore get a similar award for the Cell stage alone? After all it’s not only a polished version of the indie game flOw; it also has a bunch of other games attached to it!
And yeah, FO3 and Clear Sky probably wouldn’t deserve the title either, but seriously, there’s much more work and thought put into those games and they’re only about double the price for gazillion the enjoyment.
26/12/2008 at 18:00 Lilliput King says:
Opinions opinions. I didn’t enjoy FO3 or Clear Sky one bit. WoG made me smile. I guess I don’t know what you’re looking for from your games.
There is a big clue, though, when you compare World of Goo with the Spore cell stage. Its like comparing a Pixar film to some dodgy hentai because they are both cartoons. You clearly have no soul.
26/12/2008 at 18:04 Gap Gen says:
So, Spore is Pixar because it’s made by a well-funded studio with a lot of creative talent funded by a big company, and WoG is the hentai because it’s made by a couple of guys on laptops?
26/12/2008 at 18:13 StenL says:
I actually think he meant that WoG is the Pixar film and Spore is the hentai. Don’t know what he meant with the comparison though.
26/12/2008 at 18:23 sana says:
Fallout Boy Triple, Spore and Clear Sky aside I can’t possibly wrap my head around how Left 4 Dead is not everybody’s “game of the year”. It’s not only mindshatteringly brilliant in every aspect such as concept, execution, mechanics, detail, graphics, feeling, replayability, newbie guidance, griefer protection et cetera, but is also a game that changed the world of multiplayer gaming and will have people playing it for an even longer time than this one year.
Perhaps if Left 4 Dead’s creators added some weird artistic statements to the game, people would praise it much further into the skies?
26/12/2008 at 19:41 dhex says:
sana: if you don’t want to rely on other people to play games, left 4 dead leaves you kinda cold.
26/12/2008 at 19:52 Gap Gen says:
StenL: Yeah, I figured that, but the comparison as I made it fits better, I think. Like you say, though, there could be a better analogy.
26/12/2008 at 20:36 Pags says:
You cannot measure how good a game is based on the amount of work/man-hours put into it; if that were the case, then you wonder what the point of making independent games is.
Also, everyone seems to be very confused; this is RPS’ game of the year. They’re not saying it should be yours too. Lrn2opinion.
26/12/2008 at 20:46 StenL says:
But it seems to be the consensus among the purveyors of this fine website that the 2 only good games this year have been WoG and L4D.
26/12/2008 at 21:15 Pags says:
If by purveyors you mean the RPS Hivemind (KJA&J) then you’ve completely failed to notice the other ten articles about the games they’ve enjoyed most this year.
26/12/2008 at 22:01 StenL says:
I meant that those are the only 2 games that have even been considered for GOTY. Neither of them has even received the smallest bit of criticism, and all this 12 Days of Xmas has just been a big build-up with the other 10 games being there just to pad it out, that might just as well have been randomly picked from a list of games released this year.
26/12/2008 at 22:17 Janek says:
I suspect that’s a consensus thing – all four clearly loved WoG and L4D, whereas most other things are probably a bit more devisive, or simply not played by all four.
26/12/2008 at 22:31 Pags says:
Your argument then is with the concept of top 10/12/whatever lists then, rather than what’s been chosen.
Again, I point out that these are the games that they’ve said they’ve enjoyed most; ‘they’ being the entire group of them, rather than the games each individual enjoyed the most. In that sense it’s no surprise to see L4D and WoG topping their list: L4D for obvious reasons and WoG because of it’s genreless appeal.
26/12/2008 at 22:45 StenL says:
My problem is that it is not a top 12 or 10 or whatever list, it is an post saying that WoG and L4D are the only good games, but if you have time, you can try King’s Bounty, and maybe these other games. The list has no point, they just as well could have made The 1 game of Xmas and had both L4D and WoG tied in the spot, because the others aren’t and have never been reasonable contenders to the top spot(s).
26/12/2008 at 22:45 John says:
I wonder why people call Spore overhyped shit, while this game was hyped much more by the gaming press, yet was even worse.
AHAHA YES, Spore, the multi-million dollar game that was hyped to fucking hell from the moment it was announced (years ago) up until its disastrous and disappointing release, was less hyped than this still-rather-obscure indie game.
Just [marry me, you beautiful man]
26/12/2008 at 22:55 Pags says:
…So yes, you’re arguing against the concept of top whatever lists. RPS cannot help what games they enjoyed; it is the same with all top whatever lists. If the consensus at Rolling Stone was that the two best albums of 2008 were Bob Dylan and TV on the Radio (Bob Dylan in a ‘top…’ list in Rolling Stone? Unthinkable!) then you wouldn’t say that it’s no point including the other 48 albums unless you disagree with the concept.
26/12/2008 at 23:08 John says:
Hey, is StenL’s stupid hyperbole more ironic because the lads at 2D Boy used to work at EA?
26/12/2008 at 23:31 monchberter says:
I only wish that the Goo guys go on and make one of their other fiendishly addictive Experimental Gameplay Project efforts into a full game, namely the incredibly sick but satisfying Attack of the Killer Swarm. I am so addicted to this game!
http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/game.php?g=4
26/12/2008 at 23:44 StenL says:
OK, so I am now instantly a troll for not liking WoG. Please stop with the butthurt.
On the subject of lists, I don’t completely disagree with the idea of lists, although recently the Internets has been completely overflowing with lists. In a normal top X list, the fourth place is only a bit lower than the third, but in this list, it goes like first place = WoG, first and a halfth? place = L4D, then like eighth place = King’s Bounty (Should have been number one anyways) and then somewhere way back, like place 30 or something = all other games. This is a completely stupid reason for an argument, tbh, but those types of arguments are always my favourite.
@ monchberter I think EGP has quite a few more members than just 2D Boy (But Killer Swarm is by the same developer as ToG), but I do wish they made either Killer Swarm, that robot building game or the one where you could reward, punish or love people from a crowd of faces.
Also, has the EGP started again, because I see games there that I have not noticed there before ?
26/12/2008 at 23:46 StenL says:
By “that robot building game”, I meant Suburban Brawl, which I remembered as being about building robots, but is about building houses and fighting robots.
26/12/2008 at 23:49 sana says:
In that sense it’s no surprise to see L4D and WoG topping their list: L4D for obvious reasons and WoG because of it’s genreless appeal.
I know, I might as well be saying “opinions are wrong”, but it still makes zero sense to call World of Goo a GOTY because it has “genreless appeal”, instead of Left4Dead for the obvious reasons which make it an instant classic. But alas, before the internet police comes in and tags my comments as Angry Internet Man angriness (worst gosh darned meme of the year) I better stop complaining about the decision of the Hivemind!
26/12/2008 at 23:52 sana says:
Also, yeah, it’s interesting how those of RPS’ regulars who zealously defend their favorite games and call everybody a troll who doesn’t share their opinion also are the first to cry ANGRY INTERNET MAN when somebody expresses his dislike of something developer- or game-related. You guys really gotta stop that, it makes the userbase look like a bunch of [people talking on the internet]
26/12/2008 at 23:55 StenL says:
@sana
That is exactly why Meer said that he doesn’t really like AIM: the people who were originally the targets of the insult are now the people who use it against people who disagree with them.
27/12/2008 at 00:04 Pags says:
My comment there was in reference to the fact that while, say, Jim might not like King’s Bounty because he’s not into turn-based games (no idea if he is actually into turn-based games or not, this is just for the sake of example) or John might not like WoW: Wrath of the Lich King because he doesn’t like MMORPGs (again, just for the sake of example), WoG would appeal to the entire RPS hivemind because it doesn’t really fit into any preconceived pigeonholes, which must factor in at some point when they’re deciding what game they all love playing the most this year.
27/12/2008 at 00:07 StenL says:
How about if they don’t like puzzle games ? (I don’t have an universal dislike of puzzle games, btw)
27/12/2008 at 00:21 Pags says:
Thing is, because there are no set mechanics to puzzle games, it’s hard to dislike puzzle games as a whole unless you just dislike puzzles – WoG and Portal are both played completely differently, yet they’re both ‘puzzle games’.
And it’s easy to assume the RPS hivemind do not dislike puzzles because puzzle elements have been a big part of nearly all games since the early ’90s.
27/12/2008 at 00:57 StenL says:
Oooooh, I know, what if the person in question does not like physics games ? That is most definitely the genre that suits WoG best.
27/12/2008 at 01:06 Gnarl says:
Personally, I liked the 12 games of Christmas beacause 12 is a Christmassy number. I mean, really, catch up guys. But WoG (which I hated) and L4D (which I appreciated but didn’t enjoy) seemed to me to just be the games which none of them disliked. Or they all played. Which means they are the ones with the longest uninterupted praise.
Plus, the thing is when people love something, they will just go on about how great they are. And most of them seem to love these, as do most of the people they come in to contact with do. I think this is why they seem to have the critical (in both ways) gap above all the other games on the list.
It doesn’t invalidate the idea of the list, as is said above, which were just the games they most liked of the year. Just ’cause they liked a couple more than the rest doesn’t mean anything really. Even if they’re wrong (which they are).
Too return to a different point, I found this polishing of the bridge-building mechanics to be more alike to Bioshock’s ‘polishing’ of SS2 than Half-life’s ‘polishing’ of Wolf 3D; ie. iritatingly destroying the point that was there in the first place and replacing it with a bit of prettiness instead. Without the pretty.
27/12/2008 at 01:13 Alec Meer says:
Heavens, we leave you alone for five minutes and look what happens… Can you lot please stop getting so cross that not everyone’s favourite videogames are the same and go have a happy post-Christmas?
27/12/2008 at 01:28 StenL says:
Maybe a pre-New Year ?
27/12/2008 at 01:58 sana says:
What’s wrong, Mr. Meer? I don’t see any tension around here. Maybe your ways of thinking puzzle me, but I’m not exactly filled with rage, if that’s how you read my posts!
And the second place is not enough, Goo is NOTHING COMPARED TO LEFT FOR DEAD! etc. to reach my annual quota of in-jokes quoted.
27/12/2008 at 02:13 The Hammer says:
Well, I haven’t played World of Goo, and even with the high praise its received, I don’t think it’s my kinda thing – HOWEVER, it’s clear to see from the article itself that the RPS writers have endless enthusiasm for it, and considering RPS is their site, and not, y’know, the readers, I say all the power to ‘em. If the other games chosen for the Twelve Games list were not seen as “good”, then I doubt RPS would spend 1000+ word articles of positive critique on them, eh?
And, congratulations to World of Goo! Merry Late Christmas, as well!
27/12/2008 at 02:15 StenL says:
@sana
But how many Peggles is it ?
27/12/2008 at 02:19 Makhleb says:
Come on people, the RPS peons have been baiting you long enough for you to realise this is how they get their jollies and promote ‘interaction’. Just ignore them and they’ll go back to diligently writing articles for us to review.
27/12/2008 at 02:19 Nick says:
@sana considering how many hits the site gets, I think its pretty short sighted to say that one or two people make the whole userbase look like dicks. Otherwise you might be making the userbase look like snide dicks.
27/12/2008 at 02:29 Alec Meer says:
Sana – sample phrases edited out of various folks’ contributions to this thread include “fucking troll” and “elitist dicks”. You may recognise the latter. All a bit much for a post that’s simply celebrating a game the guys who run this site really dig. CHRISTMAS.
And belatedly, StenL: “My problem is that it is not a top 12 or 10 or whatever list, it is an post saying that WoG and L4D are the only good games” You win The Official RPS Big Silly Of 2008 Award for that. 12 means 12, chap. And someone dismissing the thousands of words, tens of hours and gallons of passion we poured into the entire 12 Games series like that cos they disagree with a couple of entries makes me the saddest man in all of sadland.
Now – back to fun’n'clever games chat please, youse guys. CHRISTMAS.
27/12/2008 at 02:34 Graham says:
Clearly Rock Paper Shotgun’s game of the year should have been Bubsy 3D: Furbitten Planet. Although released in 1996 on the PlayStation, Bubsy is far superior to this indie claptrap, which is probably just a rip-off of the Amiga platform game Putty and that thing you can do where you build a house out of playing cards.
Bubsy, while far less hyped this year than World of Goo, also has the far superior cat-themed subtitle.
27/12/2008 at 02:50 StenL says:
Bubsy 3D was awesome.
@Alec
I did not mean anything personal with that comment. I just [don't believe in the number 12.]
27/12/2008 at 02:56 Mister Hands says:
The way I see it, World of Goo is far less likely than, say, Left 4 Dead or Fallout 3 to make it to number one on most gaming website’s end-of-year lists, simply because there’s a wider base to cover with consoles and such. The RPS guys have their own lovingly-crafted, PC-specific platform to sing WoG’s praises, and even if some see their enthusiasm as misplaced or hyperbolic, I can still only see it as a Good Thing for gaming.
Oooh… I’m feeling all moderate and good-natured tonight, apparently. I’m sure it’ll pass.
27/12/2008 at 06:05 qrter says:
Oh, well, that’s just GREAT isn’t it. I’ve been working my STINKING ARSE off ALL year to win that Award and then StenL WALKS away with it, just like THAT.
GREAT.
27/12/2008 at 08:15 Jim Rossignol says:
Janek has a large brain and uses it well.
27/12/2008 at 09:15 Kieron Gillen says:
“Personally, I liked the 12 games of Christmas beacause 12 is a Christmassy number.”
Amen. And God Bless All Of Us.
KG
27/12/2008 at 11:18 Meat Circus says:
I like the number twelve because it has lots of prime factors.
On the bad side, this did mean that World of Warcraft somehow found its way into the final twelve. I suspect foul play (=Alec Meer).
Still, World of Goo, King’s Bounty, L4D, YHTBTR… A great lineup.
27/12/2008 at 12:40 Larington says:
What amuses me here is the sense of denial being demonstrated by certain people. That a game said people don’t like somehow making it to the top of a top 10/12/whatever list somehow meaning that obviously there must be some shenanigans or something going on.
RPS liked the game, and you didn’t. The rest is academic.
27/12/2008 at 15:17 Kodaz says:
First thing I hear when someone says World of Goo Goty is: CONSPIRACY. Clearly RPS guys are just trying to boost up 2D Boy Sales.
27/12/2008 at 15:18 DigitalSignalX says:
While I really enjoyed playing Clear Sky (when it worked), it doesn’t merit time on a top 10 list this year imho because of the many highly irritating show-stopping, game crashing, quest breaking bugs. As well, it was an almost identical rehashing of the previous maps/backdrops within a new story. Other pc games, even those not on the list, far out shined it unfortunately.
27/12/2008 at 17:05 Larington says:
I’ve been hearing rumours (Not really), that the next Deus Ex has a sub story about how games journalists are being given ‘favours’ to talk at length about indie games released by 2D Boy, whilst ignoring the first person shooters that are obviously so much more deserving of accolades.
I jest, of course, but it did surprise me how much of a big deal this choice of top 12 has been for some folks.
Personally, I’ve found it quite refreshing to see all of these first & third person shooters/action adventures and so on get pipped at the post by a 2D puzzle game. It kind of restores my faith in the underdog principle in many ways, the one that says someone, somewhere, must therefor be able to make an MMO better and more successful than World of Warcraft.
27/12/2008 at 17:37 StenL says:
I like the fact that my entire last post was re-edited.
Anyways, I am willing to drop this argument, because it has become pointless. WoG is still a horrible game, though.
27/12/2008 at 20:33 Nick says:
Horribly good.
Ah HA!
27/12/2008 at 23:17 Hmm-hmm. says:
I wanted to like World of Goo.. but I got stuck at one level (and yeah, me being one of those people who just doesn’t skip or watches cheat-videos easily).. and after trying it for the seventh time or so I just left it to gather digital dust on my hard drive. Oh, it looks nice, and the gameplay is interesting.
And once again, merry christmas to all of you. Even the grumpy yous. ;)
28/12/2008 at 01:52 Gap Gen says:
“I like the fact that my entire last post was re-edited.”
PC Gamer UK’s forum was run like that at one point. It was amazing.
28/12/2008 at 02:24 The Hammer says:
“On the bad side, this did mean that World of Warcraft somehow found its way into the final twelve. I suspect foul play (=Alec Meer).”
Could have been worse. Could have been Warhammer.
OOOOOH THAT’LL SET SOMEONE OFF.
<3
28/12/2008 at 22:45 Tei says:
I own both games, Spore and Wog, and I have to say that World of Gog reinvent itself in every level, and is all fun. Spore has not much gameplay, and is linear. You can’t really play Spore, is like a toy with 4 buttons. “Activity center” is more accurate descriptiong. It gains bonus points for the creature editor, but to me is not a good game. A game has to have.. gameplay, and Spore has like just the absolutelly minimal, and somewhat less than the minimal. The bones of a game. Sorry, because it as good production, good art, and a good engine. But feels that way, like a empty and dull toy.
29/12/2008 at 21:34 Lilliput King says:
Um. That comment I made ages ago, with the Pixar film and the hentai? I can see how that would cause problems. I’ll try and be clearer.
The Spore Cell stage is merely functional – It succeeds at conveying a simple idea in a manner that, while not groundbreaking, is at least not boring. Its fun, but you won’t remember it when you’re not playing it.
World of Goo has a great deal more going on. Its beautiful, clever, charming. If you give it a chance and appreciate everything it offers, you will remember it long after playing it. It does far more than fulfill a function but provides a rich and personal experience.
Sorry for the confusion.
29/12/2008 at 22:41 vinraith says:
I find the difficulty complaints confusing, I thought that on the whole the game was pretty easy and kept waiting for it to get harder and really make me use what I’d learned. I finally got that difficulty spike in the last few levels, but I’d have enjoyed more levels at that challenge tier.
Still, I adore the game. Like Portal, it’s too short, but like Portal, it more than makes up for it by being among the most entertaining few hours I’ve spent gaming.
31/12/2008 at 06:30 malkav11 says:
World of Goo did appear on Wii, currently the most popular console in the entire world (at least among non-gamers). That doesn’t really make it an shiny PC-only exclusive.
Not that that diminishes the qualities it does have.
01/01/2009 at 16:35 GothikX says:
Great pick, excellent game – just had to add myself to the list; it’s great reading shiny RPS words that manage to mirror what I felt and still feel about the game.
01/01/2009 at 22:21 Roadshow says:
Whole-heartedly agree that WoG is a worthy game of the year. The preview level generated so much excitement and the full release exceeded expectations. My only complaint being that I wanted more.
Fallout3 and Left4dead would be my runners up but they are just very very good games. World Of Goo is a landmark, perhaps the first in the puzzle genre sent Lemmings were strutting their stuff. It will be remembered fondly long after the others are gathering dust.
01/01/2009 at 22:33 Jochen Scheisse says:
I would never use AIM as an insult, I wear it like an honor badge! …uh, you basts!
02/01/2009 at 12:12 Sunjammer says:
Wow, a lot of really strange commentary on this one. I don’t understand why people are so desperate for equilibrium that they must compare perceived fact with perceived fact and get down to crunching numbers and charts and all that heartless yawnface horror, when what it should really come down to is following your heart. Entertainment is not an exact science, as much as some people want to convince us of that.
I only just picked up WoG on the Wii, and it’s been the game i’ve been playing for two days now. Coming off from the really ghastly Prince of Persia on the 360, and sort of being done with the Fallout 3 honeymoon, WoG just bowls me over.
I think perhaps i’ll give it more points for being what it is on the Wii; WiiWare has been generally dreadful so far. It’s a platform i associate with whimsy, whereas PCs are still where i go to for truly hard core experiences, such as OpenTT or Sins of a solar empire. Are PC gamers so colored by the “harshness” of the platform that the appearance of something whimsical, silly and lightweight becomes jarring?
I’m trying to think of ways to better WoG, and aside from a couple of levels that are frankly a chore to play (world 4 in particular has some doozies), i just can’t imagine what would make it truly better. Perhaps longer music loops? The soundtrack is just really powerful stuff, equal parts Arvo Pärt, Vangelis, Jeremy Soule and Danny Elfman. Who else doing music for games these days cook up a bolero? Just dazzling stuff.
Hard, however, this game is not. Which might be why i love it so much. I don’t want puzzle games to aggrevate me. I want them to be problems that i can conceivably solve without assistance. I’ve played through 4 worlds at a leisurely pace and i’ve been frustrated exactly once. I don’t know if WoG is challenging so much as it asks you to simply appreciate the idiosyncracies of each individual puzzle. It’s rarely anything worse than “oh, the skull goo can form support struts. I simply have to use them as such”. Saying WoG is a seriously difficult game makes me wonder if you perhaps lack some fundamental knowledge of physics, or simply don’t have the patience for it, the latter of which is completely fair.
What little story there is is wonderfully ambiguous. I particularly love the notion of a beauty-driven powerplant.
No point in arguing this really. My game of the year is still Bionic Commando Rearmed (for sentimental reasons mostly, that game blows me the fuck away), but WoG is just pure joy. It makes me happy to play it, and it deserves all the thanks it can get.
02/01/2009 at 12:12 Sunjammer says:
Bloody hell, that turned into a novelette. Sorry guys.
04/01/2009 at 08:20 Ian says:
Blustery Day is splendiferous.
That is all.
18/01/2009 at 23:51 paul-w says:
JUst picked up WOG on the Wii, a great game that actualy gives the grey matter some stimulation, just spectacular.