So what does Steven Spielberg do in his spare time when he’s not making new Indiana Jones movies? Well, the answer seems to lie here in the form of Boom Blox. It’s a sort of puzzle-come-party game for the Wii which involves mostly throwing balls and bombs at towers of blocks in order to knock them over.
This would probably work well with no story behind it but as Mr Spielberg has got involved there are also a few stories to play through involving sheep, monkeys and chickens.
Throwing balls at the blocks is easy. You aim where you want it go, hold A to lock on, then flick the remote at the screen remembering to let go of A at the same time and not the actual remote – I can see may TVs getting damaged this way. Gravity and physics are accurate so the blocks will move and topple depending on where and how hard you hit them, and on what’s around them.
As well as normal blocks there are purple blocks which vanish when hit, green chemical blocks which explode when they touch each other and bomb blocks which also explode when hit directly. You can also grab blocks and remove them Jenga-stylee in some game modes where the aim is to disturb the towers as little as possible.
There’s something quite satisfying and addictive about Wii Boom Blox and there are plenty of modes. There’s lots of challenges to play through, the adventure mode with the story crow-barred in and also party play where you can work together to shoot blocks or play games against each other either turn-based or directly against each other reminiscent of the old Crossbows and Catapults games. My only gripe is that Boom Blox for the Wii sometimes sticks for briefs moments and it also suffers from slowdown which is odd for a game of this type.
Still, it’s fun while it lasts and you can create your own puzzles for your mates to play at home or online. Check out episode 49 of Gamesweasel TV for my full review and some Boom Blox gameplay videos. Boom Blox gets an excellent 8 out of 10.
