World of Goo by 2D Boy is a game.  Specifically it’s an independent game that evolved from physics simulations.  In this game you manipulate Goo, which are little blobules of… goo.  You can’t define a word using that same word, but man, what am I supposed to say?  You’ve got these little squeaky, squishy balls of semi-sentient ooze that, somehow, make for a great construction material.  Ostensibly this game is about making your brain explode.  It accomplishes this by employing a creepy art style, adorable and chilling sounds and music, and an ambitious assortment of perplexing puzzles.  Watch the teaser at Amazon‘s page (it’s old timey Tim Burtonesque).

Your guide for the game is the Sign Painter.  Hints for the levels are provided on painted signs throughout the levels, but you’ll want to read them for the humor and wit as much as the puzzle clues.  The goo doesn’t talk, but the Sign Painter doesn’t shut up.  It’s great writing in tiny tidbits.

It’ll take probably 4-8 hours to beat it, depending on how often you fail and how much time you spend screwing around with the physics engine.  Of course you could spend more time in WoG than you did in Liberty City – assuming you want to complete all of the OCD requirements.  OCD = Obsessive Completion Distinction goals.  Whereas you might need to collect 6 goo balls to complete a level, you may need 24 to earn the OCD flag.  Some OCDs are time based, but most require you to perflectly plan and execute a cunning strategy with no mistakes.  Most are fun, almost all are fiendishly difficult.

As you complete levels and collect goo balls you can use them to build a massive tower – competing with players across the globe to see who can make the tallest tower.  Flags, names and heights pepper the sky and you build your tower upward (a la Tower of Goo) so you’ve got some extra stuff to enjoy once the story is done.

I’m being vague about the storyline gameplay because discovering how it works is part of the fun.  They (2D boy) designed it so that you have no idea what’s coming up, which makes it all the more exciting when it arrives.  I may be an anonymous person on the internet, but you can take my word for it: it’ll be thoroughly enjoyable.

I could make a lot of parallels between WoG and Braid, e.g. beautiful and unique visuals, wildly varying gameplay as the levels progress, and a low, low price point!  World of Goo clocks in for $20 at retail and that’s a fair price given the length of the game ($/hr is one way to evaluate).  It’s got all the shine and polish of a mainstream studio game, but with a… stranger story and a lot  more inventiveness. A lot.  The whole thing’s an experiment, which I declare to have been a success.

Official 2D Boy World of Goo site

PreOrder & Buy the game at Amazon (see videos of the goo in action!)

Update: I totally forgot to gift the world with my knowledge of Goo!  2Dboy has already been informed, but I can attest that the ideal input method is the Tablet PC touch screen.  Mice are OK, but you can’t beat the speed of touching the screen itself.  Moving goo is as easy as pointing at it.  Touchpads are horrible.  I have not tested trackballs, sorry.