Boom Blox
Posted By: James on Aug 17 2008

Steven Spielberg decides to create a game, so from the director that has brought us the emotionally impacting movies like E.T. and Schindler's List, we get the chance to play with blocks. Yes, Boom Blox, the first collaboration between Steven Spielberg and EA is a casual game about knocking over towers of blocks and assisting square little animals. Where is the Spielberg touch in all this? Well, lets look at it more.

From the opening of the game we are greeted with a very family friendly offensive-to-none soundtrack, that despite its effort to be bland as possible is somehow pleasant. The music throughout Boom Blox is like this. It is light and unobtrusive, but very comfortable and helps give a carefree feeling. Was this a Spielberg choice to help draw in everyone in the house?

With this music, we are presented with a very mild art style that manages to maintain distinction. What stands out quickly are the animal characters that could have been taken from a little one's toy box. All of the animals are adorable and incredibly blocky, in an attempt to keep with the apparent theme. These blocky critters cheer you on as you play. At times, they are participants in the puzzles at hand. Regardless, they maintain some presence, which may be intend to keep players reminded of the toy-like quality of the game. Is this Spielberg reminding us that we can have child-like fun anytime?

The meat of the game is a variety of simple 3D block puzzles made wonderful to work with thanks to the havoc physics engine the game so cleverly wields. The main game play element of Boom Blox is throwing balls at precariously stacked towers of blocks and attempting to knock them over in as few throws as possible. This is also the most addictive part of Boom Blox because when you knock something down in two or three throws, while the game says it can be done in one, you will try and try again to find that keystone needed to get the best score. Perhaps Spielberg knows that knocking things down is something we all enjoy?

Another major game mode makes you wonder why the Jenga game failed so horribly as you are carefully pulling blocks from structures while trying to not topple them. This is fun and nerve-wracking as your carefully pulled piece wiggles from over movement and bumps into the rest of the structure. Creating cruel traps in this mode can be one of the most satisfying parts of multiplayer play. Not having to worry about setting the whole thing back up afterwards gives Boom Blox players quite a bit more bravado. Is Spielberg attempting to give us all breath-holding moments with this?

While the above modes are what Boom Blox is all about and are the areas that it excels in, the developers apparently felt like it was not enough. The game consists of far less interesting light gun style modes that really could have been given up for the creation of additional puzzles. If you do run out of puzzles, you do have the option of building your own with a full level builder, that functions quite well, with plenty of options. Maybe Spielberg felt that standards and creativity are important?

So where was the Spielberg touch? We do not know. This is a great game that once anyone gives a try at the controller will be hooked to it for a while. “Was that Spielberg's doing?” is anyone's guess. The first game he has been associated with is a successful undertaking and is a wonderful example of a developer understanding the Wii and its capabilities. You might not be able to feel the Spielberg magic, but you will have a fun, if slightly shallow time, with Boom Blox.