Games for Lunch: World of Goo
In a nutshell: Not as disgusting as the title would lead you to believe. Quite the opposite, in fact...
12/29/2008 6:34 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 3
0:25 I'm much more careful this time, building a complex latticework support structure to prevent my tower from wobbling too much. I do better this time, but the buzz saw still claimed too many of my gooey brethren. It's trending in the right direction, though.
0:29 I got it! The key was creating a brace around the lower platform to provide the much-needed stability to bend around the buzz saw perfectly. I feel so smart for finally figuring it out!
0:30 Ooh, the map splits at this point. I choose "Flying Machine" over "Ivy Towers" because I was never one for Ivy League snobbery.
0:32 Interesting ... I have to place helium-filled balloon balls to open up a gate, then lift a small goo tower up to the exit pipe. The physics modeling is impressively realistic as the tower sways in the breeze.
0:33 Let's follow the path on to "Fisty's Bog." There's a giant blobby creature in this one... he looks like he's spitting up the inky black tower. "Fisty swore he would never be like those tadpoles that grow up and shoot colored gems out of their mouths." Take THAT,
Zuma!
0:38 Some more helium balloons help support my ever-droopy horizontal goo bridge. If I go too high or too low, spiked walls will destroy all my hard work. This level actually requires some quick reflexes to place the balloons before the structure topples completely. Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. The mistake-erasing "time flies" are quite useful here.
0:39 I just noticed the "Shortcut to the World of Goo Corporation" on the map screen, which promises "exciting innovations in good products." All the extra goo balls I've rescued are here. Apparently it's infinite in all directions. Clouds represent the towers of others. "Strange, everyone just wants to build UP," says the sign. "What's up there anyway? Some kind of metagame?" Heh.
0:41 The WoG Corp. gets old quick, so I head back to the game proper. The hint for "Tower of Goo" is "Higher and Higher." Like a Tower of Babel? Goo balls rain down as the level starts. "Go as fast as you can, they're stronger than you think" says the mysterious Sign Painter.
0:45 The key seems to be keeping the narrow tower's center of gravity balanced, but every time I get to a certain height it inevitably tips to one side or the other, ruining all my efforts. It seems the goos traveling along the tower affect the balance semi-randomly. My laptop touchpad makes it hard to build quickly enough...
0:49 This time I start out by building a wider base, which gives me a little more stability. I still can't quite reach the exit pipe, though, before the whole thing starts teetering all over the place. I try to rebalance it on the fly, but I'm just not fast enough ... once it truly starts to topple, it's over.
0:54 I spare no expense this time, building an entirely ridiculous support structure that goes far and wide, and reinforcing it constantly as I go up. Only at the very end do I sprint to the finish with a thin, windy tower that threatens to fall any minute. I make it to the pipe just in time. VICTORY!
