World of Goo - Out Today

According to Steam, the PC version of World of Goo is launched in a few hours ( perhaps earlier depending on what part of the world you're in? ) although I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the WiiWare version will only initially be available in Japan. I think also from today.

IGN has given it a 9.5, which is pretty impressive. I must admit I've been looking forward to this.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/918/918954p1.html

Neat ...

Did you write this or something?

No.

have been waiting for this sick little concept since it has been brought to the gamers in that 7 day contest thingy :)

its just too much fun so I bought it right away.

Yeah, I bought it shortly after midnight this morning, and it's just fantastic. I mean, it has really low system requirements, but it's absolutely gorgeous. The main thing is that they've actually used the physics without making it feel like it's a game about physics. Too many of these games struggle to get a coherent game concept and end up feeling like they're proofs of concept. I felt this about Braid, which was otherwise a solid game. WOG never feels like you're playing with physics though, it's just about getting your goo balls from A to B.

There must be at least 40 levels in here, plus a sandbox mode, and I assume some kind of ability to mod things and create your own content. Fantastic value for $20. I'd have to agree with IGN, it's much better quality than many full price releases. This will definitely tide me over until Little Bit Planet and Fallout 3, but it just might be good enough to keep me from playing those for a while too.

Can't believe it's only being sold at retail on the Wii here in Europe, and not until next year (it's WiiWare in the US and available now). So I'll just have to buy the Steam version now...

I'll try it out on the Wii when I get home. It's supposedly the best WiiWare title yet according to reviews, but it can't be better than Mega Man 9.

I bought it (from Steam). It is nice, very slick. UI is a great to look at but controls aren't as good as they could be: losing pointer etc.

Review here: http://www.binaryjoy.co.uk/games/review/world-of-goo-2/

Ben got it early on pre-order.

It's good but I don't think it's a 9.5 or up to par with Nintendo's internally developed titles as the IGN article suggested.

while watching the videos i did not get anything about the gameplay... dont get it why this is "Absolutely phenomenal"... looks boring in my eyes. am i the only one?

It's not boring. It's basically an action version of Bridge Construction Set. You build a bridge out of the goo balls to connect them from one area to the next. The thing is that it's very free form. It's almost like painting with physics. It's fun for sure, I just don't think it's a 9.5. It's close but that's just a phenomenal score putting World of Goo on par with the very best games. In comparison IGN gave Portal only an 8.2. Perhaps the games are comparable but in no way is World of Goo an order of magnitude better than Portal (another great developer story).

ok i've played bridgebuilder some time ago - but it didnt set me on fire... and this one will do the same. but i have to admit, the 3 indie guys have my full respect!!! nice to see that indies go big!

I guess these type of games are always somewhat hit and miss. Portal was wildly popular, but it left me cold. I guess this will do the same, but it's garnered a slew of massive review scores, so hopefully it will sell in droves. Because - whether it's your kind of game or not - if games of this quality don't sell, people won't continue making them.

Yeah, I hope it sells in droves too. It keeps the indie dream alive. Find a like minded partner, go out to your favorite coffee shop, and commence making a candidate for game of the year. Amen!

Looks like I lucked in, and Steam cocked up:


I live in the UK. I bought WoG yesterday (it's great, but would give it 8.5/10), so I get to keep it and everyone else in the UK has to wait til next year! muwhahahahahaha! ;-)

Ouch. I guess that's because Nintendo didn't want people in Europe getting the PC version before they had a chance to buy the Wii version. ( Pulling their finger out and letting the Europeans have it now is the solution which springs immediately to mind. ) Being that I neither have nor want a Wii, so won't see any benefit in waiting for Nintendo to get their act together, I'm very happy I bought it before Steam realized their mistake.

If it had been available on WiiWare AND Steam at the same time, I probably would have bought the WiiWare version.

If it had been available on Wii RETAIL and Steam at the same time, I probably would have bought the Steam version - almost certainly cheaper.

However, having played it, I am glad that I bought the Steam version, as I suspect the Wii controls would be rather more fiddly - still fun, but not as precise - and that precision is sometimes required...

BTW, love the startup messages "...debating games as art..." LOL.

A very strange move.. to start selling a game and get people talking about it, then stop selling it and start selling it again after 5 months. I can't imagine it will help sales much.

I'm sure it will hurt sales no end, but it's not like they did it on purpose. Steam either made a mistake or did not know that Nintendo's contract gave them the right to dictate when other platforms could begin selling, and Nintendo weren't big enough to admit that delaying the European release was their own fault, and forced them to pull the PC release. I think you just have to be prepared to lose control of your product like this if you're going to go with Wiiware, PSN or XBLA, because I'm sure Microsoft and Sony would have done the same thing.

It plays wonderfully on the Wii. I would think that it would be rather tedious with mouse controls. The Wiimote is much more ergonomic. I could see the mouse being a bit more precise but not in a meaningful way. Additionally, I agree with Mark Tiffany on the score, 8.5 would have been OK, 9.5 no way.

I got to play it on the PC, only the first two levels. By then I had had enough, wasn't really my thing. Using the mouse is easy though, you just drag from one blob diagonaly to where you want to extend your construction. There are some graphical indicators for falloff so you know if your within range to build a new piece.

I couldn't be bothered to play more, hopefully theres more to it than just building a latticework of zig zag structures.

Nice presentation, with interesting blury screen transitions, lots of polish. I should probably take another look at it incase there's more to it than I saw.

It gets a bit more interesting by adding balloons and other types of blobs. One interesting application of the balloons was to hook them to a wheel and then detach them and reattach them in a circular motion on the blob wheel to cause it to spin. In the end though I think the best thing about the game is the artsy fartsiness of it all.

EDGE magazine gave it 8/10, which is pretty fair.

Cool !... It looks like an advanced remake of Lemmings, that has been dipped in grease.

Yeah, sort of except the gameplay is a lot simpler than Lemmings really.

Very fun game..

I like the funny comments on the signs. Like "Some blob of goo told me that life seems like a big physics simulation, but he didn't care anyways because he was falling to his death." or something like that

I tried the demo - chapter 1, it's pretty neat, the physics is/are nice and realistic. Interesting art style and humor. I think I would also give it 8/10 or so. It does remind me a bit of lemmings-meets-worms, but with physics. I like their approach.