3 posts tagged “game”

For the past couple of months my default, “let’s kill 20 minutes” game has been 2D Boy’s World of Goo.

WoG, for the uninitiated, is a physics based puzzle game involving little blobs of goo.  The object is to get as many goo balls as possible into a feeder pipe that takes them all away.  Of course, getting the goo balls to these pipes is something of a challenge.  The player must use the goo balls to build bridges, towers, chains, etc. all while trying to get a minimum number of goo balls to the pipe in order to complete a level.

Along the way, new forms of goo balls are introduced including red, explosive ones, clear, water-like ones that always hang down in drips, and green, “connector” goo balls that can be re-used several times.  Many of the puzzles and challenges involve using a specific type of goo ball to reach the pipe.

There is a story too, but it is secondary to the main action of playing the game.  It mainly unfolds in the cut scenes at the end of a level or between stages, although there are signs left by “The Signpainter” in all the worlds that offer bits of philosophy, warnings, or just observations.

World of Goo is a beautiful game.  The design of the goo balls and the worlds they inhabit is just spectacular.  The artists and designers found the sweet spot between cartoonish and childish that brings back reminiscences of Saturday mornings and sugary cereal.  Further, the soundtrack is equally beautiful.  The designers at 2D Boy created several loops that blend together and play back in almost transcendent harmonies and pieces that are so good, the soundtrack by itself is almost as much fun as the game.

WoG is available for Mac, PC, Linux, and Wii and costs 15 to 20 bucks.  It's worth every penny.

Other reviews:

Kotaku

IGN

GameSpot

Rock Paper Shotgun

1 Up

Let me begin by saying that this is not a post about aliens, conspiracies, or anything related to Area 51.  Instead, this post is about claw machines.  Grabbers.  The games in the arcades with the claw you control by pushing a couple of buttons in order to grab a prize.  Those things.

For some reason, in Japan they're known as UFO Catchers and they are everywhere.  Every game center (read arcade) has at least a half a dozen, and every shopping plaza, mall, and department store has a game center.

My own fascination with the infernal things can be traced back to my freshman year of high school when, during a field trip, my class had lunch in a restaurant that just happened to have one.  Somehow, on that one particular day, whether it was because the machine was slightly broken, or the fates decided to let me use up all my luck at once, I managed to score four or five prizes in a row.  I promptly turned around and gave them to the girls in my class,  in exchange for kisses and promises that I can not now remember, but which I could have written in fire back then.

The subsequent 18 years have been spent trying to reclaim that glory.

During the course of my week, I will find that there are times when I have twenty minutes to kill between classes.  The only place to wait is in the parking lot or the community center, or in the arcade right next door.  Sometimes I even have money to lose.

I'll usually limit myself to one or two plays and I have a rule that I always try to win something for my wife first.  Don't ask why, it makes sense in my head and that has to be enough of a reason.  Most often, I lose my money with grace and calm and in an appallingly short time.

Then again, somedays, when the stars have all aligned perfectly, I can still win.

Last week, I managed to get a stuffed Monokurobu (Monochrome Pig) for my wife.  I then turned around and scored a remote control car for myself.  Then I got the hell out of that particular game machine and I'm hiding in my office with my new toy, driving my wife crazy, until such time has passed that karma will have called off her dogs and I can play again.