Every now and then an idea so simple is turned into a video game. An idea so simple that nobody expects it to be any good, but that simple idea becomes so addictive that it heads straight for the status of a classic. World of Goo does just that.

The only game I can personally think of that resembles World of Goo in any way at all is Lemmings, of course you know it, it was introduced to us in the early nineties and slowly but surely took over our lives. World of Goo has clearly been influenced by the gameplay style used in the Lemmings titles, and also by the need for something in the game to be lovable, something you can grow fond of which keeps you interested in saving the pointless little lives of as many of them as you possibly can - that’s where the goo balls come in.

You are probably sat there already thinking to yourself that this sounds like a complete pile of crap, and you can be forgiven for thinking that with the level of games you have become used to on today’s powerful gaming consoles, but however easy it is to think it - it’s way off the mark.

The aim of the game is to collect as many goo balls as possible, with each level giving you a target number to collect. You collect them by guiding the cute little goo balls across a stretchy, sticky building framework by pulling the goo balls around to form nodules which you place into the framework in order to create a safe passage for other goo balls to the exit point, which happens to be a plumbing pipe which will suck up your sticky friends when as they approach it.

The early levels in World of Goo start out pretty simple, but it will not be long before the levels you are faced with become increasingly more and more difficult to the point of becoming frustrating, brain rattling puzzles which will drive you nuts if you do not solve them within a certain amount of time. The sense of achievement you feel when you do manage to solve a particularly tricky level though is enough to keep you interested and you will find yourself sticking with it, no pun intended.

ch level in World of Goo gives you a target number of goo balls to save in order to progress to the next level, so you will have to think ahead when creating your safe route to the exit point by sacrificing some goo balls - if you use too many as pathways for the lucky few that will make it, then you will not have enough goo balls left to complete the level and you will be forced to give it another go from the start of the level. The final score you achieve when you complete a level is decided by the number of goo balls you successfully saved, and also the amount of time it took you to save them with the quicker you complete the level giving you a higher amount of points.

As the building frameworks you are working your way across are infact made from goo, you will have to take real physics and gravity into account. The framework is constantly moving and can collapse if you put too much weight in terms of goo nodules on weak points of the framework. Spreading the weight over the framework is essential to your success. Later levels will give you very little to begin with, challenging you to think ahead about what it is you need to build in order to reach the exit point, and it is never as easy as it first appears to be.

World of Goo may be a very simple game concept, but you will find very few more addictive titles than this for a very long time on any platform and that includes the big budget series titles such as your Call of Duty, Unreal and Halos. World of Goo is incredibly fun, colorful, and full of cuteness that gamers of all ages, genders and preferences will enjoy without exception. For many it may be a case of a game you would love to hate but just can not manage to do so.

• Social Bookmarking
  
  • Subscribe
  • Blinklist
  • Bloglines
  • Blogmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati