Thanks to the Grand Theft Auto series, the idea of
sandbox gaming has become synonymous with carjacking and senseless killing. Boom
Blox
takes the concept back to its childhood roots, giving gamers the power to erect
and topple towers of delicately balanced building blocks. It's how you interact
with these blocks, and the way they react in turn, that makes the game so
interesting.
Players can hurl projectiles, like baseballs or
bowling balls, by swinging the Wii-mote. When nailed, the towers teeter and
crumble, blocks scattering in satisfying disarray. The controller can also be
used to grab and manipulate individual blocks, Jenga-style. Some blocks
explode when whacked; others merely disappear. Boom Blox mines a startling amount
of play from these subtle variations. A series of story-based puzzlers introduce
cute block animals, each with their own behaviors. One adventure tasks you with
removing barriers that separate Gorilla Gert from her Baby Gerts. Others riff
on tower defense, forcing you to hurl bowling balls at marauding soldiers who
aim to take your castle.
Boom Blox is best when played with friends. A
variation on shuffleboard offers the perfect mix of skill and strategy. Perhaps
the most gratifying is a turn-based siege where players hurl cannonballs at
their opponent's castles, attempting to smash their battlements into pieces.
Drilling deeper, Boom Blox offers robust creation tools that let players
construct their own puzzles and levels, then share them online.
Beyond the game: Steven Spielberg is
credited with brainstorming the concept for Boom Blox and overseeing its
creation. His deal with EA should produce at least two more games.
Worth playing for: The game-over message, "All
baby cows are lost" may be the most surreal failure text to ever appear in a videogame.
Frustration sets in
when: Boom
Blox
levels can only be swapped between friends. In efforts to protect underage
gamers from the evils of cock-shaped towers, EA and Nintendo deny us access to
a potential treasure trove of killer user-created content.
Final judgment: Spielberg's first videogame
blockbuster.