Comments on: The 12 Games of Christmas: World of Goo

By: paul-w

paul-w — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:51:57 +0000

JUst picked up WOG on the Wii, a great game that actualy gives the grey matter some stimulation, just spectacular.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:20:23 +0000

Blustery Day is splendiferous.

That is all.

By: Sunjammer

Sunjammer — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:12:56 +0000

Bloody hell, that turned into a novelette. Sorry guys.

By: Sunjammer

Sunjammer — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:12:35 +0000

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.

By: Jochen Scheisse

Jochen Scheisse — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:33:15 +0000

I would never use AIM as an insult, I wear it like an honor badge! …uh, you basts!

By: Roadshow

Roadshow — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:21:47 +0000

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.

By: GothikX

GothikX — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:35:17 +0000

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.

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:30:38 +0000

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.

By: vinraith

vinraith — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:41:21 +0000

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.

By: Lilliput King

Lilliput King — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:34:45 +0000

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.

By: Tei

Tei — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:45:04 +0000

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.

By: The Hammer

The Hammer — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:24:07 +0000

“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.