Wii Downloads: World of Goo

I have a soft spot for physics games. Ever since I ran across my first Artillery game (back in Apple II days, I think), I've pretty much always enjoyed games where there were fixed physical laws to beat, using a limited toolbox. Unfortunately, most such games don't meet another requirement I have for a "good" game... mainly, a storyline. I mean, whether it's lobbing Funky Bombs in Scorched Earth or building contraptions in one of the Incredible Machine titles of years ago, there was never really any reason to be doing it, other than watching stuff blow up or feeding your inner Rube Goldberg.

Now, out comes World of Goo. I held off on picking it up earlier in the week, because $15 is a little steep for a downloadable title... but all the reveiws I've seen gave it high marks, so I gave it a go. I'm calling it $15 well spent, because the production values are remarkably high for a little indy title... graphics, animation, and sound all mesh together very, very nicely.

Of course, pretty doesn't matter much if it doesn't play well, especially in a physics game... but no fear, this game delivers the goods in playability, too, at least from the first chapter I've played so far. The storyline revolves around a bunch of little gooballs that get it into their heads to explore the world around them, particularly the odd pipes they keep running across. Of course, there's always some challenge that needs overcome... and the gooballs handle that with teamwork. You use your Wii Remote to pick up individual gooballs and add them to the "collective", building towers and bridges and the like to get where you need to go. Think of it in terms of balls and springs... you latch your little gooballs onto their neighbors, and the connections between them are stiff, and try to maintain their original length, but sufficent weight will make them deform a bit. While one connection varying isn't generally a big thing, the effect multiplies the more connections are in play, and the less stable the foundation of your structure is.

Of course, it's not even right to say "foundation" sometimes... just in the little bit I've played tonight, I've had to build out from under an overhang to reach its topside, built within a slow-moving tumbler, and built on a liquid surface (luckily, gooballs floated there). Oh, and I've also gotten to attach balloons to a structure, either to assist in building a bridge in a not-too-high, not-too-low game, or to fly my little gooballs up and away... and built "braced" structures against the walls of a ravine to get them off the ground... and they hint at more strange types of tools in later bits, so it's not like it's going to get dull real soon.

Then, there's the most insidious bit of them all, for you competition-minded types in particular. You see, each stage has a minimum number of gooballs that have to make it to the goal in order to beat the stage. Any extras you get go off to a separate playspace, where you can build them up where and how you like... and, should you choose to build "up", there are little visual toys to see and such... oh, and little clouds that represent how tall other players online have their little towers built, which you can check to see how many balls they're using, how many they've collected, that sort of thing... no names attached, just country flags. You can go back and replay stages you've already beaten to try for a higher score, and you'll get the difference between your new high score and your old high score added to your pool, so you can really get obsessive-compulsive about it, too (in fact, I'm pretty sure that's why I got the "OCD" tag on one stage I played... :)).

It's going to be interesting to see how the story on this game plays out (I'm already seeing bits about the gooballs not knowing how delicious they are...), and I'm really going to enjoy building up that tower of mine (so far, I'm beating everyone I've seen on a balls-used-for-height ratio... one case where an engineering mindset comes in handy... :)). The only potential downside I see so far is that there are only 4 "chapters" in the game (plus an epilogue), and I've already finished one... but, as the challenge increases, I'm sure my consumption rate will drop significantly. I'm calling it a good use for $15, so give it a go.