Notice how goo kind of rhymes with review? Yeah, we planned that.

We’ve covered 2DBoy’s premier game World of Goo fairly extensively in the past so we were very excited to get our hands on a final build and really see what the game has to offer. I’ve spent the last 48 hours more or less steeped in the World of Goo and I must say I walked away very impressed. Everything about the game from it’s fantastic presentation, to the unique puzzles, to it’s quirky sense of humor just oozes with gooey quality.

World of Goo is a tough game to break down. At it’s core it’s basically just a physics based puzzler, but to label it as such really does the game a disservice. World of Goo features four long acts and an epilogue in it’s “story mode” yet you’ll almost never find yourself doing the same thing twice.

One of the game’s earlier levels.

The learning curve here is very well paced. If you’re ever unsure about what to do next, there are cryptic hints on wooden signs and monitors scattered throughout the game. These hints are always helpful and humorous, adding a nice touch of personality to the game in what’s generally a stiff, humorless genre.

The gameplay itself is vaguely reminiscent of games like Armadillo Run or Elefunk, but the addition of different “species” of goo balls adds a lot more variety to the contraptions you’ll be building over the course of the game. Things we’re not used to seeing in these types of games, like wind speed and direction definitely play a major role in some of the levels as well. This helps keep things feeling fresh.

Of course, the fact that you’re working entirely with goo really throws a wrench in the gears. You won’t be seeing any rigid structures here like we’re used to in so many physics based puzzlers. The goo is constantly in motion, constantly in danger of folding in on itself and ruining all your hard work if you’re not careful.

Imagine building a suspension bridge out of Jello. Got it? Okay, now imagine doing that same thing, but in a room where the walls are constantly spinning. That’s one of the earlier levels. It’s easier than it looks, but that’s not saying much because it looks next to impossible.

This game doesn’t exactly have a multiplayer mode, but it does feature a unique take on leader boards. There’s a mini game of sorts where you’re given a bunch of goo balls, earned in the main game, and tasked with building a tower as high as possible. Other players throughout the world are represented by clouds in the sky with their names displayed on them. Each cloud is exactly the same height as that player’s tower so you can see how well others are doing. It certainly feels much more competitive than a standard leader board setup and it can be quite a time sink once you set your sights on beating someone else’s record.

I think that’s supposed to be a frog.

As presentation goes, World of Goo sets a new high bar for indie games. You’ll find yourself rescuing goo balls in a weird Tim Burton inspired world. It’s colourful, but not overly cheery and somehow it never quite looks the same from one level to the next. Even the menus are stylish and well put together.

World of Goo makes great use of sound to heighten the overall experience. The soundtrack is equal parts relaxing and silly, but never repetitive or annoying. Not unlike the game itself.  The goo balls themselves tend to be very vocal about their feelings. Their voices are high pitched and cute, without coming across as shrill.

Apparently there was a profanity pack available for those who pre-ordered which replaced their standard voices with naughty words. No word so far on whether this will be available for people who didn’t pre-order, but those of us with our minds stuck perpetually in the gutter can always hope.

All told, World of Goo is easily one of the most creative, genre bending games we’ve seen in a long time and it’s well worth the price of admission. It’s available today for $20 through the official site here or through Steam, Direct2drive, Beanstalk and something called Greenhouse. You can also pick it up over Nintendo’s wiiware service for 1500 wii points.

Unfortunately there’s no demo available right now, but if you’re curious, you can try the seven day game “Tower of Goo” which inspired the whole project over here. Just remember, “Tower” is mostly just a tech demo and is hardly representative of the final product.