This is a puzzle type game unlike any other. You basically work against the laws of gravity and physics while trying to get your balls of goo from point A to point B by building structures with them. The imagination and creativity that went into this game is unbelievable. The 2D graphics are gorgeous and the music, atmospheric. Although somewhat vague, there is a story that ties the puzzles together and it adds some humor to the events that unfold as you progress, especially toward the end. This is a game that has to be played to be fully understood because it is hard to describe. I thoroughly enjoyed this and didn't want it to end. I still go back and play some of my favorite levels.

One final note: This ia a computer friendly game. Easy to install, small file size and most importantly, no DRM.

Intro:
The game, as amazing as it sounds, was created by two people who used to work at EA. In general the game can be described as a physics puzzle game and has been compared to the Fantastic Contraption flash game, among others. It is, however, a game unlike any other and offers excellent gameplay, beautiful art, and epic music. It received the "Design Innovation Award" and the "Technical Excellence Award" at the 2008 Independent Games Festival.

Gameplay:
The game is controlled entirely by the mouse. Building goo towers is as simple as dragging and dropping goos to form links with other goos. The goal of every level is to get goos into the Goo Corporation pipe, but the similarities between levels really stop there.
It is amazingly satisfying to build up a giant tower, bridge a huge chasm, or explode a bomb all with simple goos. Add to the game the puzzle aspect and the many "aha" moments you will experience and it becomes intellectually fun and challenging as well.

Story:
The storytelling used throughout the game is done mainly with the help of the sign painter, a mysterious person(maybe?) that proceeds you through each level and offers hints, tips, jokes, and unveils story elements. There are also some great cutscenes and dialogs that serve to advance the story, and are riddled with the great 2D Boy/Tim Burton art inspiration.

Graphics/Sound:
I should also mention what a huge impact the sound is on the overall setting of each level, and how great the music and sound effects are in general. I find myself listening to the music outside the game it is so good. It certainly has a Danny Elfman feel to it in parts, and in other parts it is pure 2D Boy.
The graphics also benefit from a Tim Burton influence greatly. They help to set the tone of the overall story and really immerse the gamer into the goo world.
The variety and ingenious design of the goo balls add both to the gameplay and the overall visual impression.

Play Time/Replayability:
This game took me about a week of causal gameplay to finish. There are a total of 48 levels collected in 4 chapters and one epilogue. The replayability is helped by OCD challenges for each level, which are a sort of achievement system for those perfectionists out there. Some are very difficult to get and require thinking far outside the box.
Another feature that helps replayability is the Goo Corporation where players can build a tower from the extra balls they collected throughout the game. I ended up with something like 600+ balls after beating the game, so you can build a truly giant tower. Connected to this feature is the in-game and website leaderboards. In the Goo Corporation sandbox, as you build your tower, you are presented with the heights of fellow players' towers and are goaded to build higher and higher. Likewise on the website you can see all the top tower builders in the world. The current highest is around 40m at the time of writing, which is truly a stunning height.

Final Recommendation:
I totally recommend this game for everyone. Children and adults alike, everyone will enjoy this game, and you don't need a supercomputer to play it like other modern games. The minor annoyances such as not being able to switch resolutions, among others, are easily overlooked to experience all this game has to offer. It provides an excellent story telling experience coupled with amazing visuals and sound. This, for me, is the best indy/casual game of the year, and very nearly the best overall game of the year.

Best of all you don't have to buy it to see for yourself, as you can get a demo including the entire first chapter at:
http://media.beanstalkgames.com.s3.amazonaws.com/demos/wog/WorldOfGooDemo_Setup5.exe

Have you ever seen a US Cellular commercial? If not, you're lucky because you're missing a stomach turning spectacle. The ads are engineered to pluck your heartstrings with some totally corny and improbable emotional story. After wiping away your tears at the heartrending scenario, you realize that they were just trying to sell you a lousy cell phone. They used a touching story about helping grampa find meaning in his life to pitch me a cell phone plan? I want my emotion back! What a rip off! I don't appreciate being tricked into caring about some dumb product.
"World of Goo" will not do that to you. There's just nothing fake about it to leave you feeling disappointed or underwhelmed. It is authentically beautiful in every way. The gameplay is utterly unique. The story is silly and fun and well written and creative. The graphics are expressive, colorful, and buttery smooth on my average computer. The music is hauntingly catchy. The sound effects are perfect. The two independent guys who released this game (their first, according to the press) are far cooler than the conglomerates that just churn out sequel after sequel after sequel these days, changing nothing but the graphics of their tried and true formulas. We need another run-and-shoot game like we need another smallpox epidemic.
"World of Goo" is just FUN. I stopped playing and now I'm overtired because it's three AM and it's past my bedtime but I couldn't bring myself to turn it off until now. I guess I can't really imagine how the game can go on for weeks like some of the other titles you can buy, but World of Goo is only $20 - that's less than half what most video games cost. If it's not the hugest imaginary world ever, that's not a big deal.
Bottom line, if you can operate a mouse, I promise that you will get $20 worth of fun out of this game.

Love this game, and give it 5+ stars. The physics are awesome, and the game itself is addictive and totally original, and serves as an inspiration for future coders.

I do want to note one point though. After each level you can report your score to the 2D Boy site - this is set to 'on' by default. That was not an issue for me, but I since found that the publishers specifically did this to check game ID against user IP in order to get an estimate of how many versions were pirated, and the game itself is DRM-free specifically for this reason.

The results were made public, and claim that this game had a 90% piracy rate - that is to say that 90% of the installations out there are supposedly pirated.

One huge problem with this, which they do acknowledge but not sufficiently: my IP is dynamic (and so are millions of other users) and I used to watch it change numerous times a day, every day. That means after owning this game for a month, these `pirate' researchers are going to have a result of worse than 99.99% piracy just from me and my single legitimate copy of the game. (I have since switched off reporting scores, but too late now).

This 90% piracy figure has spread like wildfire, and it is highly irresponsible for the researchers to allow this flawed half-truth to be perpetuated. More unfortunately, it will now be used to justify the invasive and destructive measures used by EA and DRM software like SecuROM.

I would've thought ex-EA employees who authored this game would have had a few more clues than that, but apparently not.

Again, love the game, but really not impressed by this flawed `research'. DRM punishes legitimate users and does not stop pirating. I don't buy any EA titles any more after having SecuROM disable a USB combo drive and some older software, and eventually having to wipe and reinstall my entire o/s to get rid of it. Anyone who says DRM software is harmless are liars, and furthermore, when I buy a game, I own it - not after 3 installs only, but forever, otherwise I should get a full refund if I return the software once the installs are used up. Period.

I am strongly against pirating software and those who support it by buying pirated copies, but if there has been anything that's pushed me towards changing my view, it is SecuROM and EA.

Sorry for the rant, but it really did put a damper on what is otherwise an excellent game, as well possibly being an icon in game design in the future.

Buy the game, you'll love it, but please disable the score reporting unless you have a static IP.

There are so many wonderfully composed, exultant reviews for World of Goo that I almost did not pitch my own two cents in but I couldn't resist.

This game is totally original, there is nothing like it in any game genre and it is so heartwarming and *stunning* it's a must-have. I am a grown adult and yet I've played this game until my eyes were bleary and on the verge of retinal fatigue. This labor of love is the indie brainchild and singular progeny of just TWO guys; Kyle Gabler being responsible for the art, design, story (even the sweeping, emotional, perfect music!) and Ron Carmel doing the programming and that is, after seeing it for myself, just flabbergasting.

The set up is so simple: build towers and structures by linking together blobs of (adorable!) goo. Yet, like so many wonderful things in life, this simplicity belies infinite possibility for creativity and boundless strategic and logical campaigns towards your goal and, in the case of games, *re-playability*.

World of Goo features gorgeous design and art which contribute to the wonderful (and very well thought out!) back story as well as the mysterious "sign painter" who offers you hints as you play the game. Goo balls have different properties and capabilities and your job is to select your goo and build towers or structures so you can reach a singular pipe (in each level) through which remaining goos are sucked up and saved. (These remaining, rescued goos are the stars in a separate meta-game called "World of Goo Corporation" which is a tower building endeavor which pitches you against other players logged on the world wide web). The physics of the tumbling, jiggling, falling and swaying goo structures is amazing too! There are a number of small areas which can be improved on. The game features no options menu for sound effects or music and it is not readily obvious (in the PC version) how to play in windowed mode, however there is a shortcut: alt+enter. But these quibbles are small and insignificant to the scope of the game. It's surprising that such a home-spun indie game could work so well, in fact!

I simply can't say enough about World of Goo or praise it highly enough (but I and others like me keep trying!)

Quit reading the reviews and get this game!

Brilliant and VERY creative. World of Goo is a predominantly physics-based problem-solving game developed by two ex-EA employees. This game is unconventional and the first thing you think as you launch the game for the first time is "what is this?--this is really weird." Then twenty minutes later you're hooked.

Pros:
- Extremely creative game with an interesting story line
- Great graphics/sound and overall high-quality experience
- Very smooth, no bugs detected, no game crashes, etc
- Unlike any other game you've played before
- Cheap!! ($20)

Cons:
- None other than I wish the game was a little longer.

Bottom line: Definitely worth a shot for $20.

This is the most intriguing, creative and addictive puzzle games I have played in a long time. I am always on the look out for GOOD puzzle games and this one really hit the mark. Even my 18 year old daughter was so intrigued that we played several episodes together. Even after we beat the game, we have been going back and replaying several of our favorites and trying to hit the "OCD" challenge. This is a thoroughly enjoyable game and I highly recommend it for a unique puzzle experience. Bring on more goo balls!

Great game. However, be careful if you buy the game from reseller CMOSFM, and you are expecting the cross-platform CD (PC and Mac). The game from CMOSFM is PC-only.

Simple concept, brilliantly executed. This game is a gem. It's clever, funny, challenging, nail-biting, and cute. The music is even great.

I bought this game based on the glowing reviews and the fact that I love puzzle games. Unfortunately, these puzzles seem to be less about figuring out how to complete them, and more about dexterity with the mouse, so that you can place your "goo balls" just right so your "goo" chains and towers don't collapse. It is very frustrating to understand how the level is to be completed, but to have to try over and over to get your "goo balls" placed exactly right. Think of it as trying to build ladders out of Jello cubes. Challenging? Yes. Fun? Not so much.