Boom Blox Bash Party

Boom Blox: Bash Party

Rating: E

Score: 9.0/10

Last year’s “Boom Blox” was a hit, and with good reason. It was fun, had explosive puzzles, along with addictive Co-Op and multiplayer. Some might think: “a sequel so soon”? Why not? This game is only available on the Nintendo Wii.

Boom Blox: Bash Party is a sequel of a work of art made by none other than Steven Spielberg (the guy behind E.T., Star Wars, and other films).  He had the brilliant idea that explosions plus puzzles equals an awesome game. Why not? Gamers like explosions and puzzles, so it seemed like a great idea. It was for all ages. Young and old gamers liked the simple, easy style, while hardcore gamers liked the explosions and great physics.

Little has changed this time around. It’s still about puzzles with extra BOOM. This time, you get over 400 levels. These levels include: MOVE: You gingerly remove block after block from a tower. Be wary, there are negative blocks on the tower that take away points. It’s a lot like Jenga, but sometimes with explosions. SHOOT is exactly what it sounds like. You shoot anything but the negative blocks. THROW has you throwing some type of object (like a baseball, rubber ball, or even bombs!) at different blocks (exploding blocks, normal blocks, blocks that disappear, blocks that are shiny, blocks that shatter upon impact with the ground, among others).  Usually, you’ll have to plan out an effective throw, then let gravity take over after the toss. FLING is a new feature, where you, as you might be able to guess, fling an object into other objects/blocks.

The cute-ish block characters play a more important role in this game. In the last one, they were just part of the “story” (if you can call a handful of pictures a “story”). You would see them in the levels, but they rarely did anything. This time, they’re “you” throughout the campaign mode; they‘re in more of the levels, but still don’t serve a practical purpose, and they “talk” more (if you would call the sounds of blocks acting like animals/robots “talking”). They’re cute charm will wear thin quickly, and you’ll need the stress relief of explosions to cope with constant “talking” from the blocks.

The campaign mode also has “achievements” (Exactly like the Xbox Live achievements), and you get money after completing a level. Achievements just prove you’re awesome with a note proving you did something significant (like blow up 50 blocks, or hit 20 characters with a ball). It serves as only bragging material. The money you earn can get you more characters or levels. So, you play levels to buy more levels to get more money by playing the levels to buy more levels! 

You can create levels, and upload them onto some EA (Electronic Arts, the game developers alongside Steven Spielberg) servers. From there, they can be rated by the people at EA, and other gamers across the entire world! Other people can also download your level, and rate it.  If you played an online EA game, you know they don’t do the “Friend Code” system. With The Friend Code system, you must have your friend’s “Friend Code”, and he must have yours. Then, and only then, can you connect to each other and play. It’s a system designed to prevent kids from meeting pedophiles online. EA doesn’t do it, and it’s not even needed here. There’s no communication, just uploading and downloading. You’ll find a lot of variety online: Anything from a pirate ship ruled by monkeys, a castle that is infested by rhinos, or just a random picture that goes boom.

Simplistic fun at its best. It’s not going to win awards for being the best looking game ever, or the goriest game ever, but it will win for addictive multiplayer, and great fun with a simple concept. Disregard it and brand it childish if you want, but you’ll be missing out.