Boom Blox Review
written by: Obsessed Jam
Boom Blox Review
When you were a kid, I’m sure you played with blocks. I sure know I did. And my favorite part about playing with blocks was knocking them all down in the most interesting and destructive ways possible. Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii does just that, and even better, you don’t have to clean up after yourself.
Gameplay:
Boom Blox’s controls are more intuitive then I expected them to be, but they are also rather simple. The whole game is revolved around knocking down, or blowing up towers of blocks. To do this you can throw rubber balls or bombs at them, or pull pieces out Jenga style. Each is done by pointing the Wiimote at the screen, holding down a button, and moving it accordingly. The power of throws can be controlled by how hard you flick the Wiimote, and pulling blocks can be done with the utmost precision and carefulness, but also as fast and hard as you want. This is where the physics system shines, because each and every action that you make is perfectly translated onto the screen. Light throws will lightly knock blocks over, setting up combos and chain reactions, while hard throws will topple the whole thing over.
Boom Blox is one of the few Wii games out there to get the controls right. It’s a very simple game with a very simple concept, but EA and Spielberg did it right. It gives you the feeling that you are physically interacting with the game, and it’s one of the few Wii games out there to make me feel that.
The blocks themselves play a very big role in the gameplay. All of the blocks aren’t the same, different colors mean different attributes. For example, green blocks are harmless until two of them touch, and when that happens they explode, causing all kinds of havoc. It’s up to you to figure out which blocks do what, and which ones you need to hit, and how much strength you need to use to get your objective done.
Graphics:
By looking at the games kiddie farm animal inspired presentation, it’s hard to believe that it was created by the same man that gave us Jaws. That’s right; Steven Spielberg himself directed this game. Apparently he made it so he could play games with his son, and the graphics show it. They are very simple, very basic, and nothing impressive. In this case though, they really don’t need to be outstanding. This game is all about the gameplay, but it would have been nice to see a more original art style.
Single player modes:
There are three single player modes. Adventure, explore, and create. Adventure mode has you going through a very basic storyline that nobody cares about, but along the way you have to do many puzzles and mini games that get harder and harder each time. There is also a reward system that gives you medals depending on your final score, which keeps you coming back wanting to do better each time.
Explore mode gives you a bunch of puzzles that let you “explore” all of the blocks and movements that you can do. There are over 60 of these puzzles, and some of them are really hard. This mode will keep you busy for a very long time.
Create mode is really cool. Here you can create any puzzle you want, take it to versus mode, send it to friends, or blow it up and pause, rewind, or put it in slow motion. This is my favorite single player mode. Adventure and Explore are ok, but once you complete them there just the same puzzles over and over again. There are a lot of them, but you’ll still recognize them once you play through them lots. In create mode there are literally no limits of what you can do. If you’re the type of person that likes obsessively setting up domino's and playing puzzle games, then you are absolutely going to love create mode.
Multiplayer:
This is where the game really shines, and is the games strongest selling point. If you have friends over at your house constantly, then you need to have Boom Blox. Multiplayer in this game is great because of the many game modes and ease of use. I honestly play this game much more with friends then I ever did with Wii sports, because it’s just that much fun.
You can play either co-op or competitively with up to four people at once, but you’re defiantly going to be playing competitively more, since it’s a lot more fun. Games range from who can shoot the most points for the highest score like a duck hunt rip off, or, my favorite, see who can knock down he most blocks out of four towers to get the most points. The trick to this game is that you have to constantly think, because the last shot that you took could have set up your opponent perfectly to knock down the whole tower. There is a lot of strategy going around in Boom Blox, and playing it with friends makes it that much better.
Conclusion:
One month since Boom Blox has been out, it has sold 60,000 copies. While these sales aren’t terrible, they should be much, much higher. The Wii needs more games like Boom Blox. It needs more games that use the Wii remotes unique abilities and not in cheap gimmicky fashions.
If you can get over the farm animal art style, then you will fall in love with Boom Blox. Being a puzzle game, you will eventually figure them all out, and have adventure and explore modes completed. But the multiplayer ca literally supply limitless hours of fun, and is really something that every Wii owner needs to experience. Make sure you at least rent this game, but I highly recommend that you buy it.
8.0/10
Boom Blox Review
When you were a kid, I’m sure you played with blocks. I sure know I did. And my favorite part about playing with blocks was knocking them all down in the most interesting and destructive ways possible. Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii does just that, and even better, you don’t have to clean up after yourself.
Gameplay:
Boom Blox’s controls are more intuitive then I expected them to be, but they are also rather simple. The whole game is revolved around knocking down, or blowing up towers of blocks. To do this you can throw rubber balls or bombs at them, or pull pieces out Jenga style. Each is done by pointing the Wiimote at the screen, holding down a button, and moving it accordingly. The power of throws can be controlled by how hard you flick the Wiimote, and pulling blocks can be done with the utmost precision and carefulness, but also as fast and hard as you want. This is where the physics system shines, because each and every action that you make is perfectly translated onto the screen. Light throws will lightly knock blocks over, setting up combos and chain reactions, while hard throws will topple the whole thing over.
Boom Blox is one of the few Wii games out there to get the controls right. It’s a very simple game with a very simple concept, but EA and Spielberg did it right. It gives you the feeling that you are physically interacting with the game, and it’s one of the few Wii games out there to make me feel that.
The blocks themselves play a very big role in the gameplay. All of the blocks aren’t the same, different colors mean different attributes. For example, green blocks are harmless until two of them touch, and when that happens they explode, causing all kinds of havoc. It’s up to you to figure out which blocks do what, and which ones you need to hit, and how much strength you need to use to get your objective done.
Graphics:
By looking at the games kiddie farm animal inspired presentation, it’s hard to believe that it was created by the same man that gave us Jaws. That’s right; Steven Spielberg himself directed this game. Apparently he made it so he could play games with his son, and the graphics show it. They are very simple, very basic, and nothing impressive. In this case though, they really don’t need to be outstanding. This game is all about the gameplay, but it would have been nice to see a more original art style.
Single player modes:
There are three single player modes. Adventure, explore, and create. Adventure mode has you going through a very basic storyline that nobody cares about, but along the way you have to do many puzzles and mini games that get harder and harder each time. There is also a reward system that gives you medals depending on your final score, which keeps you coming back wanting to do better each time.
Explore mode gives you a bunch of puzzles that let you “explore” all of the blocks and movements that you can do. There are over 60 of these puzzles, and some of them are really hard. This mode will keep you busy for a very long time.
Create mode is really cool. Here you can create any puzzle you want, take it to versus mode, send it to friends, or blow it up and pause, rewind, or put it in slow motion. This is my favorite single player mode. Adventure and Explore are ok, but once you complete them there just the same puzzles over and over again. There are a lot of them, but you’ll still recognize them once you play through them lots. In create mode there are literally no limits of what you can do. If you’re the type of person that likes obsessively setting up domino's and playing puzzle games, then you are absolutely going to love create mode.
Multiplayer:
This is where the game really shines, and is the games strongest selling point. If you have friends over at your house constantly, then you need to have Boom Blox. Multiplayer in this game is great because of the many game modes and ease of use. I honestly play this game much more with friends then I ever did with Wii sports, because it’s just that much fun.
You can play either co-op or competitively with up to four people at once, but you’re defiantly going to be playing competitively more, since it’s a lot more fun. Games range from who can shoot the most points for the highest score like a duck hunt rip off, or, my favorite, see who can knock down he most blocks out of four towers to get the most points. The trick to this game is that you have to constantly think, because the last shot that you took could have set up your opponent perfectly to knock down the whole tower. There is a lot of strategy going around in Boom Blox, and playing it with friends makes it that much better.
Conclusion:
One month since Boom Blox has been out, it has sold 60,000 copies. While these sales aren’t terrible, they should be much, much higher. The Wii needs more games like Boom Blox. It needs more games that use the Wii remotes unique abilities and not in cheap gimmicky fashions.
If you can get over the farm animal art style, then you will fall in love with Boom Blox. Being a puzzle game, you will eventually figure them all out, and have adventure and explore modes completed. But the multiplayer ca literally supply limitless hours of fun, and is really something that every Wii owner needs to experience. Make sure you at least rent this game, but I highly recommend that you buy it.
8.0/10
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