A great way to challenge your mind
Have you ever tried to build a card house? Have you ever tried to stack pencils or any one of a thousand other challenges that involve simple physics? Now think about trying to stack, hang, stretch and otherwise support moving, jiggling and flexing balls of goo. This game takes everything you think you know about physics and turns it on its side as you try and recreate those laws. Be warned, it is definitely addictive.

Great game, regardless of age
I purchased two copies of this game, one for niece and nephew, one for my family. What a wonderful surprise! Terrific hit for boys and girls 13 to 58, including the tough 16 year old boy. Very original, beautiful music (I recommend stereo headphones), runs on both Windows and in Wine on Linux (some sound correction needed), very easy install. It is a unique puzzle game, with constantly changing figures created to overcome obstacles. (The created structures interact with the game environment; i.e. respond to breezes, gravity, traps, etc.) Difficulty increases as you move through the chapters of the "story". Big plus is ability to quit and pick up where you leave off, at least on the same level if not the identical structure. Light footprint on a laptop. Most of all, just plain FUN! These guys should be encouraged to continue writing game software; DON'T PIRATE THIS GAME. It's already quite affordable, and not from a monster company.

Awesome and Original
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.

Gooerfully creative!
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!

I'm in love!
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!