World of Goo 2 [Review]
Almost a week ago, I bought World of Goo 1 and 2 (and their soundtracks). Yesterday, I finished World of Goo 2. Review: meh/10.
World of Goo 2 lacks the same energy that World of Goo 1 has -- yes there's exploration and challenges, but it seems kind of mundane; so many new goo balls are introduced yet there wasn't a level wasn't more than 1 or 2 levels where I had no clue what to do or it was super duper challenging -- most levels were just easy/medium difficulty. Furthermore, although World of Goo (1) had some plot line (that I didn't pick up on as an 8 year old), World of Goo (2) seems to rely entirely on the plot line -- considering just the gameplay, although liquids are introduced, the whole game just felt short and simple -- in contrast to the difficult World of Goo 1. Maybe that's just an artifact of sequels, but overall, World of Goo 2 fails to live up to the challenging gameplay in World of Goo 1 -- it's more like more of the same rather than something new. Also, although the soundtrack is different, it is only slightly tweaked -- there's nothing too new about it. Playing World of Goo 1 again, I can really feel and immerse myself into the nostalgic sound tracks, but in World of Goo 2, even though the chord changes and melody are the same, it really feels like a spinoff rather than something new entirely -- some new game that goes in a new direction.
Despite the lackluster game play, World of Goo 2 does have some good features. For example, you can now skip cutscenes. Although I feel this to be disingenuous to the old game, I admit that I have used this feature and appreciate its existence despite disliking it. More than that, however, the game also sets different OCD scores for time, moves, and goo balls collected. For OCD freaks like me who are always trying to maximize in bridge building games, this feature is much appreciated as instead of worrying about beating the clock so much, in some levels I can just try and collect the most goo balls as possible. And the key feature which I love about the game, the one that makes it redeem itself for some weird reason, is its meta-commentary -- in this game (spoilers beware), for part of it, you do play as a detective in a noir murder mystery. And while everything's all laid out for you, in the end, when the big reveal comes and things are expected to go one way, the game subverts everything, heads in a completely new direction, and actually, you, the player, become a character unto yourself. Instead of you playing the game as an observer, you are now a participant in the game (for some part of it). Although this feature is meaningless in terms of gooballs collected, I love the idea and the implementation into this game.
Thus, as a whole, this game gets meh/10. It's not a particular innovative game in terms of collecting goo balls, and as such, I would neither recommend nor caution against buying this game -- your life will be perfectly fine with or without this game, and as such World of Goo 2 is not at all necessary -- just enjoy World of Goo 1!
Note: I beat World of Goo 2 in 6:24 (6 hours, 24 minutes). It's quite a short game. At least I enjoyed the moments while I was playing it -- there was no real time where I was like "this game sucks terribly" while actually meaning it and regretting my purchase.