It’s not often that a trailer release alone is enough to justify a post around here, but World Of Goo 2 ought to be bigger on everyone’s radar. A sequel to one of the best games ever made ought to be cause for an international holiday. It’s being released next Friday, on August 2nd, and the new trailer below will gloop your tower with glimpses fo the puzzling tower-building to be found therein.
World Of Goo’s premise is simple enough. Goo balls slither around levels and you can pick them up. Hold them close to other goo balls and they will form connective beams, fixing them in place. Through this, you can build towers towards a level exit, and unused goos can scale the tower and escape. It’s Lemmings with a 2008 physics twist.
What makes World Of Goo a classic is that, on top of such a simple premise, each level introduces a delightful surprise: new types of goo, new obstacles, new settings, and so on. I remember people crowding around my monitor as I played it in an office in 2008 and applauding during end-of-level cutscenes, overcome by what an explosive and coherent act of imagination the whole thing was. The prototypical example of an indie game taking a good idea and exploring it to its fullest potential.
Which, if you buy the argument, makes it a tough act to follow. I’d be worried about World Of Goo 2’s ability to find as much invention as the original if sixteen years hadn’t elapsed. Since it has been that long, I’m just happy there’s more of it, and if it repeats a bunch of ideas and is ultimately a lesser game, then who cares, I’d still have fun playing it.
August 2nd. I think Brendy’s bagsied the review.
