World of Goo

This weekend I've been home for Thanksgiving and my Birthday. I've been able to hang out with my younger brother Ellis. The other day, Ellis bought World of Goo for his Wii. He put it pretty well when he said "This is the best game ever!"

Maybe not the "best game ever," but it is Pretty Fucking Close.

In the game, you move these little balls of goo that connect to each other to make structures. The structures need to be strong enough to travel to a pipe that sucks up any extra goo's. It's a really simple idea that is designed really well.

Each level is nicely even. I have yet to hit a level that is so hard it stops being fun, but they're not too easy ether. The writing is great, too. The mysterious sign maker keeps making signs that continue the story line. The signs are funny and self deprecating. And they lovingly poke fun at the gaming community and Internet culture.

My only complaints are really only annoyances that come from this type of game play. There are little fireflies flying around that reverse time to go back a turn; they are incredibly easy to hit accidentally. And sometimes, in the excitement of the game, it is easy to pick up the wrong piece of goo. When the structure of your goo tower is failing, it can be a little frustrating to pick up a water goo when you wanted a green one.

I would like to see more downloadable content from them, with new levels and new goo's. The game is a little quick (I think I have 2 more levels left). But it is fun.

iPod Games

I downloaded and paid for my first real iPod game a little while ago: Square Enix's Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. This seems like the only real game for the iPod video, too.

You play as Ziggy, who is a Conductor and creates Tune Troopers to fight against evil robots. Zero, your brother, gets kidnapped and you need to save him. So you wait five years and then go out to find him. If I was Zero I would be a little pissed if my brother waited five years before saving me. Really? That's an awful long time.

The cool, kind of trap of the game is you use the songs on your iPod to make Tune Troopers. This is why I bought the game. I wanted to see how this worked. Unfortunately, it really seems to be randomly generated characters. The tempo or volume level of the song doesn't seem to effect the type of fighter created.

The controls are god awful, too. The iPod click wheel was not made to be used this way. It's clunky when it's inconvenient and slippery, too. Basically, the iPod touch would have a better control system, but it's not made for the touch. And I don't know why.

The story is solidly an RPG story. Robots try to take over the world and humans need to fight back. Only one person has the ability to fight back and he must save all the good in the world. Beyond that the RPG is really simple. It's not good but it's not bad either. Or it is bad, but it's on the freaken' iPod.

Over all the game sucks, but for $5 it's nice. Also it's nice to play on the bus when I have an hour to kill and 50 strangers in my personal space.