World of Goo

I'm not a massive gamer. I use to be. I'd spend one day a month at LAN parties around Sydney. I become so involved, that at some stage became an admin there. Then LAN parties died. Though I met a friend who administrated his own LAN party. That worked for a few years, but sadly there were only a handful of people to help. Really we only needed one ogranised person to do it all, but that one person has to have time to organise venues, food, gear, and probably some helpers for the day.Fast forward to 2009 and I was still gaming, though more likely at home, online with some of those same mates I went to LAN parties with. The game of choice mainly being Live for Speed. It's a brilliant racing simulator that I spent months with the demo version, having never been a massive gamer could not justify the price. But I played it so much and loved it for its realism that I bought it. £24. What a bargain of a game. In fact, so much so that all my other games like Battlefield 2, Serious Sam etc have allcollected dust to the point where the titles are no longer legible on their boxes.

For me, it's not often a game comes along that stands out. Tetris was a game I played as a child. I played it so much all I saw were Tetris pieces falling everywhere I looked. I'd watch TV, there were Tetris pieces on the screen. I'd go to bed, I'd see Tetris pieces in the darkness. I'd be in school, Tetris pieces would be falling down the blackboard. I got so good at it, I could start from Level 10 (the hardest and fastest level to start on, and go from there to about Level 25. My friends would call me a freak and then laugh at the astonishing speed and accurancy I had gained on such a simple game.

Now, a new game comes along that challenges the rest. Well, maybe not Live For Speed. But it's just as fun, albeit a totally different genre.

World of Goo, as it's called is a cross platform game. What this means is that the developers released it for Mac, Linux, Windows and I believe Nintendo Wii as well. In the game, you control goo that you must get to the goal. The goal being a suction pipe that collects the goo and stores it I don't know where. The more goo you collect, the more points you get. There is a minimum amount of goo to collect, so you have to think wisely about the goo you sacrifice to get to the goal.

Some stages include building a bridge made of goo, while others require a more stable tower to get to the top. Most of the goo can't be reused once you have used it to make your structure. But there are various types of goo. The green ones are re-usable. The clear ones are stretchy and strong, while they can't be used for support, they can be used for hanging, as some of the stages require this. There are goo balloons that allow you to float over obstacles such as windmills that will destroy the goo if they touch it. Sharp points on the top and bottom of the screen force you to make the goo hover in the air using the balloons, use too many and you float too high into the spikes, don't use enough, and you sink into the the pit of spikes.

The game allows you to use your mind and really have to think about how to get across to the goal. It's a game where you pass a level and say to yourself, "Okay, five more minutes", "One more round". 3 hours later you're going to be late for work if you don't get any sleep now.

I won't say much more about the game, but I'll leave you with a few screenshots. Download the demo and enjoy the game. It's not hard, it's challenging in a good way.

[gallery=5]