CookMySock
16th January 2010, 16:01
"Video games with greater themes are nothing new. Games like Metal Gear Solid have shown that it is possible for video games to convey a message that can serve humanity as a whole. The thing is, these games are typically not very subtle about it. Metal Gear Solid practically spells out its theme for you. Its characters have long soliloquies talking about the dangers of nuclear weapons, the proliferation of gene therapy, the face of war, love, life, etc. Its messages are all important but it’s anything but subtle.
When I first played World of Goo it was a brilliant puzzle game on a gameplay level. It took shots at corporate globalization and consumerism but little more than that. Or so I thought. I recently went back to the World of Goo and what I saw could only be compared to stepping into the infinite of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
World of Goo is a game that has some pretty obvious themes like those I mentioned above, but it goes beyond that and touches on beauty, our past, the cost of progress, and our place in the world. There’s so much to this game but how do they fit it all within the confines of a puzzle title? Puzzle games like Tetris are brilliant in their own right but often lack all semblance of a storyline. They lack depth and meaningful themes, but somehow World of Goo transcends the apparent barriers of the genre -- some might even say the medium -- and delivers messages appropriate for the best of films or poetry, and does so with such tact and subtlety that many won’t realize how obvious it really is. When I stumbled on it, World of Goo went from being an excellent puzzle game, to being a tragic mirror with a glimmer of hope in a telescope aimed towards the stars." **
Demos for Win/Lin/Mac here ;
http://worldofgoo.com/dl2.php?lk=demo
Don't youtube it. Don't google the level walkthroughs - that will just waste it. Play every level. Fantastic!
** http://www.gameobserver.com/features/inside/all-platforms/we-are-world-of-goo-part-1-the-goo-filled-hills-211/
Steve
When I first played World of Goo it was a brilliant puzzle game on a gameplay level. It took shots at corporate globalization and consumerism but little more than that. Or so I thought. I recently went back to the World of Goo and what I saw could only be compared to stepping into the infinite of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
World of Goo is a game that has some pretty obvious themes like those I mentioned above, but it goes beyond that and touches on beauty, our past, the cost of progress, and our place in the world. There’s so much to this game but how do they fit it all within the confines of a puzzle title? Puzzle games like Tetris are brilliant in their own right but often lack all semblance of a storyline. They lack depth and meaningful themes, but somehow World of Goo transcends the apparent barriers of the genre -- some might even say the medium -- and delivers messages appropriate for the best of films or poetry, and does so with such tact and subtlety that many won’t realize how obvious it really is. When I stumbled on it, World of Goo went from being an excellent puzzle game, to being a tragic mirror with a glimmer of hope in a telescope aimed towards the stars." **
Demos for Win/Lin/Mac here ;
http://worldofgoo.com/dl2.php?lk=demo
Don't youtube it. Don't google the level walkthroughs - that will just waste it. Play every level. Fantastic!
** http://www.gameobserver.com/features/inside/all-platforms/we-are-world-of-goo-part-1-the-goo-filled-hills-211/
Steve