If you've ever bumped into me on a gaming forum, you'll know that, by and large, I hate puzzle games. There are exceptions: Puzzle Quest, for instance, with its RPG elements and stupidly enjoyable match 3 gameplay has me hooked. But the general rule is, if it's a puzzle game, I hate it.
World of Goo is a puzzle game. The basic outline is that you've got balls of goo lying sleeping in each level. You can wake these balls of goo and use them to make structures, which the remaining balls of goo will climb around. Somewhere on the level is a pipe, and if you can make the structure reach the pipe, all the unused goo will flow through the pipe into a jar. You have a specified number on each level that you need to get into the jar in order to get to the next level.
Normally I'd hate this kind of thing. But, the game mechanic is very clever, and the whole thing is very charming, and I haven't yet found it so frustrating that I'm in danger of breaking anything. That time is likely to come, but until it does, I'm going to quite enjoy playing with my balls.
After putting work on hold for a couple of days, whilst everyone in the office played Fantastic Contraption - a free Web game similar to World of Goo but with wheels as well, so you can make vehicles and conveyors - I found World of Goo a little over-hyped.
ReplyDeleteCute though.
I would agree that it's over-hyped. Still, I feel as though I should play the games that everyone else has raved over. At least I've got further into it than I managed with Braid!
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