Boom Blox Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 12th June 2008

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Will this blox based puzzle game make a boom in this review?

Boom Blox Details:

	Puzzle
	Nintendo Wii
	EA Games
	EA Games

TBA

Out Now

N/A

If there’s one type of game that works well on the Wii then its puzzle games, as they appeal to everyone from hardcore gamers to the Wii’s main user the casual gamer Boom Blox easily falls into the game type and offers a solid playing experience that will appeal to most gamers.

The first thing you’re likely to notice about Boom Blox is the amount of content that is featured in the game, there are lots of puzzles for you to play through, split into different modes and puzzle types.

The game features an Explore mode, adventures mode, as well as two challenge modes Explore and Adventure. These two modes unlock once you had earned medals for each of the puzzles featured in the Explore and Adventure modes.

Puzzles in Boom Blox if you haven’t guessed by now, revolve around various different blox that have to be used in order to solve puzzles. There are two main types of puzzle ones in which you have to through a ball at specific blox in order to make all the gem or points blox fall to the floor. This has to be done within a set number of throws in order to earn a medal and clear the level with the gold medal usually requiring no more then a single throw, which adds to the challenge offered in the game. The other main type of puzzle in Boom Blox uses a grabber tool instead of balls, in these puzzles you usually have to remove points blox from a tower, without knocking the penalty blox to the ground, medals are earned in these puzzles by scoring a specific number of points.

The game offers quite a lot of variation due mainly to several special blox that make up the basis for many of the puzzles featured in the game. Gem and Point Blox are the basis of the game objectives and these have to be knocked to the floor in order to score points and complete the objectives of the puzzles. Bomb Blox explode when hit and will shake other blox in the puzzles. Vanish Blox do just that when hit and chemical blox are often used to initiate chain reactions and send other blox every where as when they hit each other they explode.

Puzzles in the games explore mode tend to be exclusively based around one of these blox with some making use of combinations of two differing blox. The games adventure mode tends to make fuller use of the possible combinations of blox in its puzzles which really adds to the variation in the way you solve the various puzzles, however despite this prolonged play can still feel a little repetitive mainly due to the relative overall simplicity of the puzzles featured in the game.

Adding to the replay value of Boom Blox the game also features a create mode and party mode allowing for both co-op and versus puzzle play. The create mode allows you to create your own puzzles and you can unlock various different features and blox to use in the create mode by playing through the game’s explore and adventure modes.

Obviously making a game a Wii exclusive means that the developers have to utilises the unique controls of Nintendo’s system and Boom Blox does this. The game requires you to use a throwing action when solving the ball based games, with the speed of your swing affecting how hard the ball hits the Blox. For the grabbing based puzzles the game requires you to make real world movements in order to prize the point’s blox from the fragile towers allowing you to pull, slide and push blox around. On the whole the games control system is excellent and works brilliantly, feeling very natural as you push pull and throw blox around.

Visually Boom Blox has a very child friendly look to it featuring many animal themed Blox characters, i.e. animals made out of blox. The game is very colourful and while its graphics won’t win any design awards they are very fitting to the puzzle theme of the game. Sound in Boom Blox can be a little absent in some of the games modes but what there is very fitting. With all the usual bangs, booms and jingles you would expect from a block theme puzzle game.

On the whole Boom Blox won’t appeal to the hardcore puzzle gamer, mainly due to the simplicity of many of the puzzles featured in the game, they’re simply too easy. However, parent and children will be able to play the game together which is what was intended when Steven Speilberg and EA set out on the venture, overall making Boom Blox an excellent family game.