It’s been a long time since World Of Goo made a name for itself on the Wii but this imaginative sequel was worth the wait.
Nostalgia is a fairly predictable thing. It takes roughly 20 to 30 years for it to kick in and we’re certain companies around the world have a timer set to remind them when it’s the optimum time to revive a dormant franchise or take advantage of the inevitable wistfulness for a bygone era. The Wii was first released in 2006, so it’s not quite it’s time yet, but give it another few years and it won’t just be Nintendo trying to make bank on its legacy.
In that sense, World Of Goo 2 seems both too late and too early. 16 years is a heck of a long time to wait for a sequel to a well-received game and yet it’s not quite long enough for people to start thinking about it unaided, as they reminisce about their childhood or try to make a list of Wii games that were actually good.
Surprisingly, no attempt has ever been made to port World Of Goo to any non-Nintendo console format – just a Nintendo Switch port in 2017. Even though we’re sure something could’ve been arranged, that’s no doubt because of the game’s non-traditional controls. Things are no different for the sequel in that regard, but thankfully there’s a lot of new additions elsewhere.
Imagine a cross between Lemmings and Bridge Constructor and you’re someway to understanding what World Of Goo is, as you command an army of blobs of goo that can be used to create structures like bridges, towers, and platforms in order to reach an exit pipe.
Surprisingly, the game does have a story, with an anti-corporate message that pokes fun at consumerism and has a strong environmental angle, without feeling heavy-handed or preachy. On the contrary, it’s genuinely funny at times – even if there is something of a disconnect between the story and the fact that you’re still controlling and exploiting goo to complete the game.
The little goo balls can be turned into anchor points, sort of like K’Nex, but because the connecting strands between the balls are made of, well… goo you can’t just build in a straight line but must create a carefully balanced structure that won’t fall over or collapse. The end result is great bendy towers, that constantly look like they’re on the verge of falling apart, and are portrayed via a very realistic physics engine.
Since you’re trying to save as many goo balls as you can, you naturally want to turn as few of them as possible into part of your structures. But the less you use, the less stable the towers are and that was the key element of risk and reward in the original.
Back then, there were sensibly few complications, just a few special items such as balloon goo and different coloured goo balls with different viscous qualities. Where the original succeeded was not just in being a clever core idea but making full use of its mechanics with some wonderfully fiendish level design.
The big new idea for the sequel is that as well as directing the traditional goo balls you also have to contend with them in liquid form, often in large pools that need to be shot across the level by weird squid-headed water cannons. But it’s never quite as simple as that, since the liquid itself can be a means of transportation or a way to deal with otherwise impassable obstacles.
There’s also a bunch of new goo balls, including a conduit type that works like a giant straw for the liquid goo. Then there’s one that grows like a sponge when the liquid touches it and its opposite number, that contracts structures like a dying spider when activated. Others work independent of the liquid gimmick though, such as one that can create new surfaces to work on.
All these mechanics are used in marvellously imaginative ways, but the game’s key flaw is that there’s simply not enough of it. It’s not much longer than the six hour original and while the game is clever and varied there just isn’t enough time to riff on everything more than a couple of times before the story is over. Which is galling given how long we’ve had to wait for this sequel.
At least you can say the game never overstays its welcome and in almost every other respect this is an excellent sequel. The 2D artwork, for example, is much more elaborate and varied than before, with some amusingly complex creature and landscape designs. The performance on the Switch is a bit spotty though, with the game’s complex physics simulation sometimes being a bit too much for Nintendo’s aging console.
The most irritating aspect of the Switch version though, which isn’t an issue on PC, is that there still aren’t any normal joypad controls. You have to use either the Joy-Con pointer controls or the touchscreen and that’s it. That explains why there are no other console versions but while it works fine in portable mode it’s a pain on the big screen, as you’re reminded why certain aspects of the Wii might not be fondly remembered after all.
World Of Goo 2 isn’t quite as consistent as the original, and we really wish it was at least a few hours longer, but what’s here is highly entertaining and extremely clever. If there’s as long a wait for World Of Goo 3 as there has been for this one it’ll be the space year 2040 before we ever get to play it, but we really hope it won’t be that long. We might not be very interested in Wii nostalgia, but we definitely want more goo.
Formats: Nintendo Switch (reviewed) and PC*
Price: £25.19
Publisher: Tomorrow Corporation
Developer: 2D Boy
Release Date: 2nd August 2024
Age Rating: 7
*Epic Games Store only
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