"World of Goo" by 2D BOY

Addictive, simple, not that easy video game, that will make you love balls :D.

Well, there is a story, yes, for sure, but that one did not glue me to my tablet's screen. The story is a bit pathetic, call it odd for the sake of fairness.

What glued me to the screen was the Goos, the myriad types of super-lovely super-annoying super-nasty super-sticky Goos you find along, and the different levels of difficulty of the frizzy crazy puzzly puzzles you find. This is a game thought to make you enjoy playing without getting you stuck. There is not a hierarchic order of the episodes within every chapter to be played beyond the first and second ones. You go back and forth at will. You don't need to finish all the episodes either, just most of them and the final one in each chapter to move on to the next chapter. All of this makes the game very enjoyable and dynamic and rarely frustrating.

Generally speaking, there is a progression in the difficulty of the puzzles from chapter to chapter, with new challenges and new types of Goos in each one, but there are different levels of difficulty within each episode as well.

You can and must always go back and forth because 1/ you want to finish the game properly out of pure pride and 2/ you want to get as many extra balls as possible to have them ready to build the tallest Goo tower ever. I found the building of the tower, despite its apparent simplicity, really thrilling and entertaining, and not that easy!

Graphics are quite simple, nothing to brag about to your video-games obsessed friends. Still, the windy contaminated planet of the Goos is populated by simple lines, bright colours and surreal funny characters. There is a visual harmony in the game. Mind, that harmony could not match your visual harmony, so I can only say, well, change lenses.

I love the cute sounds that the Goos make when go up, and also the overall frenetic pace of the background music.

I have finished the game, but some of the episodes are still there for me to finish. Some of them I have figured out what to do but I haven't been able to do it, those are the most frustrating ones. Others, I have tried different things and failed miserably, so they are challenging and I also like that. 

Confession - The notice board character got me pissed a bit. Yes, of course, it usually gives clues, but, it is annoying and somewhat out of place. Why not using a special Goo informer to do that?

Confession 2 - The flies with reverse powers are the most considerate thing done for video-gamers ever. Ever  meaning in the year or so I have been playing video-games. What-ever.

Plenty of challenges and fun, plenty of hours of entertainment are guaranteed in the Goo World both for children and adults. And the price is ridiculous!

And, by the way, this is a perfect game for a tablet.

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The Moron Test by DistinctDev

It is official, I am not a moron.

The Moron Test is not only a very cheap puzzle game, it is a great brain teaser and a very cute and engaging game. When you start playing you think that it is too easy, a child game, thinking that is your knowledge what is being tested. It is not your knowledge, it is you way of thinking and reacting!

The good thing is that, no matter how much you FAIL!, you can always restart the game and try again, with the advantage of knowing already the answers to the different pages you have already passed. You will see yourself learning from your mistakes, realising that even though you know the correct answer your reflex act is faster than your discernment, you will see that your brain will read something and be tricked by the contradictory images on the page, you will see that despite you being told to pay attention your will still be distracted, you will see yourself feeling like a moron and saying damn-it, I am "moronesque". This is also enhanced by the fact that part of the replies to some of the queries require you to realise that you have to move physically your device, and think out of the square.

The second phase was the one I found more difficult to pass. I would not say that phase 6 is more difficult than phase 2, it is just that I found this one the most challenging personally. The others could be as difficult, but somewhat after no 2 one figures out what the game is asking you to do, what not to do, and what things we should be focusing on.

The game is also very humorous and cute, with all the characters being drawn in a very small children book sort of way. Some of the sounds are very funny, as well.

I found that when doing the test for second time to get to the place I was stuck, knowing already the answers to the exercises previously passed, the game would say FAIL! repeatedly. This is OK when you know the answer, and you might think it is your device's responsiveness to touch. But if you are doing the exercise for the first time, you will think that you are missing something that you are not. I think that I know why this is happening :)) I think it is not the game being badly designed, it is a wish on the part of the producers to cash in on your mistakes, as a key answer is offered for purchase many times after you fail. If you are not a moron don't buy it. Ha! If you feel stuck any time, you can go and search the Internet. Most of the exercises can be passing by you "thinking" on solving, not focusing on your frustration at not having figured out the answer yet. 

Great fun!

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