Boom Blox is nothing spectacular, but the innovative gameplay and great multiplayer, this is a game all Wii owners need.
Yeah, its made by EA, yeah Steven Spielberg helped make it, but this is not what makes this game special. What makes this game great is the simplicity of the gameplay, and that its actually fun! Boom Blox offers several different ways to solve puzzles. You can throw, stack, unstack, blow up, escort, and use physics and gravity to solve puzzles. Each puzzle is basically played on a circular playing field, with the puzzle or task positioned in the middle. Most of the time you have a 360 degree access around the puzzle, so that you can look at it from all angles and find the best way to solve it. Though there are some puzzles that are linear, where the task is straight in front of you. These linear tasks are usually the shooting galleries, which most of them should've been left out.
You only need a basic knowledge of how gravity works to play this game. Well, that and a good arm, because the faster you swing your arm, the harder you throw. Also, make sure that you finish your swing with the Wiimote pointing at the T.V. for the best result. I didn't learn this fast enough, and ended up with a sore elbow in the morning. Well, it was the lack of knowledge and playing it for 4 hours straight that caused this....
Anyways, the gameplay is fun and addictive, though the single player is pretty bland, with a half-hearted story that might not even appeal to kids, the story is nothing special at all. Where this game shines is with the multiplayer, which can be played with up to 4 players. There are tons of levels to either play on competitively, or as co-op. Some of the levels and ways that you must beat them can be tedius and get frustrating after a while. The controls can also be a bit tricky. For example, when you are throwing objects, it can be difficult to determine how hard you are throwing. It can also be a struggle to get a sence of depth and just how far away a target is. The physics are where the game hits the nail on the head. They are very well done. The feel is very lifelike, even though some situations can be a little over-the-top, like a huge stack of objects balancing on one very small object, but its the situations like this that make the game fun.
The graphics are okay, nothing special. Its very cartoonish, which is fine, but the game is littered with jagged edges and lackluster colors. The game does lag a little when there is alot happening on the screen at once, though I have only encountered this a couple of times.
Sounds are alright, again nothing special. Some of the background music gets annoying after a while. There are little animal characters scattered around the levels and you can smack them with whatever you are throwing and get a satisfying yelp out of them. There are also levels with "Mitten Kittens", and these little fury bastards can be so annoying that its more satisfying to send them to their demise rather than help them get to the goal.
With all that being said, this game has some great gameplay value, and I feel that soon, especially when the price drops, this game will be as common on the Wii players shelf as Wii Sports. With the fun and simplistic gameplay, and loads of MP levels as well as the level creator, this is a game that can be well worth the money, as long as you have someone to play with.
Gameplay: 8.0
Graphics: 6.0
Sound: 5.5
Value: 8.0
Tilt: 7.5
Overall: 7.0
Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed!