by Chuck Hoodak

Created on: February 06, 2009   Last Updated: February 07, 2009

Like a good challenge? Here's a game that everyone can enjoy. Boom Blox tests your nerve and your wit as you find ways to push, pull and blow up blocks to solve puzzles. You can play alone or either competitively or cooperatively with friends.

Good puzzle games challenge your mind. Boom Blox goes one further by getting your reflexes involved. Using the Wii remote, you grab blox and move them, or hurl objects like baseballs, bowling balls, and bombs to knock things down. Sometimes you will get unique toys like the fire hose or the ray gun to knock everything down or repel attacks from doing harm to characters. The blox are made up of various types. The purple vanish blox will disappear when struck and usually separate two explosive blox from each other. The red bomb blox explode when hit and are probably the most fun blox to deal with. The green chemical blox explode when they come in contact with another green chemical blox. Other blox mimic materials like wood, stone and crystal-like gems. In later stages, there are points blox and penalty blox that will add and subtract from your score.

Various level themes such as the old west, tiki island, medieval castles and spooky forests have you honing your skills for the adventure levels where you apply all that you know to solve complex puzzles and challenges. The levels start off easy and become progressively harder to solve along the way. They require you to think about what you are going to do before you throw that bowling ball or pull that blox from the tower (in a nod to Jenga) and possibly sending the whole precariously balanced puzzle to the ground in pieces.

Some levels require you to help characters accomplish tasks, or you must compete against time, but the majority are just good old fun blowing up stuff and watching the mayhem.

Completing a puzzle will garner you either a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal and in some cases will unlock a bonus feature like a toy to use or a prop to use in the level creator.

The level creator is fairly intuitive to learn and once you get the hang of creating, copying, moving and arranging blox, you can create some elaborate levels. There are limits to the amount of items that you can place in a level and the level progress bar will let you know when you have reached that limit. There is no limit to what you can create though. Try creating things that balance or slide or fall like dominoes .You can even set rules up like time limits, or number of shots and allow other people to play your levels.

There is a lot more to Boom Blox than meets the eye. There is a puzzle or challenge to fit any personality. Chances are you will create more levels to satisfy your need to see things go Boom!

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