Boom Blox Bash Party – WII – Review

If you’ve never played Boom Blox,
think of it as Jenga’s evil twin — they look similar, but beneath their blocky
facades, a rigid dichotomy divides the two.

Indeed, Electronic Arts’ celebration
of virtual destruction is the antithesis of Hasbro’s traditional wooden puzzler.
While Jenga emphasizes patience and deliberation, Boom Blox behaves like a tiny
devil perched upon the shoulder, mischievously insisting it’s okay to throw
baseballs at wobbly block towers. A year has passed since it first charmed us
with its simulated calamity, but Boom Blox is back with more tricks and, as if
encouraging utter devastation weren’t enough, an iniquitous new message for
gamers’ malleable minds.

Smash everything you can, and this
time, spread the carnage online.

A follow-up to the acclaimed 2008
original, Boom Blox Bash Party is much more an expansion than a sequel. EA
hasn’t tampered with the prosperous formula that made the first Boom Blox a
success — the core gameplay of the original has been brought to Bash Party with
minimal tweaking, but where the game separates itself from its precursor lies
its biggest selling point.

Bash Party embraces user-generated
content and online sharing in a huge way, creating an enthusiastic community of
architects unrivaled on Wii.

Before you build, however, you’ll
want to destroy, and with Bash Party, it’s never been more fun to do so. The
Boom Blox premise is simple, and Bash Party keeps it that way — each level
presents a deliberately designed pile of blocks and a specific objective for
players to accomplish with tools ranging from baseballs and bowling balls to,
yes, virus-filled biological weapons. Armed before an unsteady heap of blocks,
chaos generally ensues. Some levels require you to hurl baseballs like Nolan
Ryan. Sometimes you’ll use a slingshot to send blocks soaring into the sky.
However the levels require it, achieving your destructive objectives is always a
blast, no pun intended.

As simple as the premise may be,
it’s also a stroke of gaming genius. Like Boom Blox before it, Bash Party is
instantly accessible — just grab a remote, heave some balls and bring the blocks
crumbling down. Casual players can jump into the game with ease, and veteran
gamers will relish in deciphering the strategies required to achieve goals in as
few turns as possible. Forgive the tired marketing cliche, but Bash Party really
is a game for everyone.

Much of the game’s wide appeal is
due to its fantastic, intuitive use of the innovative Wii remote. As often is
the case, simply pointing to aim in Bash Party is a precise change from the
dual-analog doldrums. As rarely is the case, however, the game also makes
exemplary use of motion controls.

To throw, simply gesture a heave
with the remote. The harder you pitch, the more force you’ll have behind your
throw, and it works extremely well.

The gaming industry is obsessed with
the prospect of motion control, but apart from the upper echelon of Wii
software, an overwhelming majority of games haven’t been able to implement
gesturing well at all. Such is not the case with Bash Party—like Wii Sports,
it’s one of the few Wii games you’ll play with gestures and motion, actually
throwing instead of just waggling.

It feels fantastic, and it just
couldn’t be done on another platform.

Complementing the terrific motion
controls, Bash Party utilizes real-world physics that make the gameplay even
more enjoyable and strategic. During the game, the physics force players to
think about Bash Party’s puzzles and their decisions therein in terms of real
consequences, contemplating what might happen if you hit a block at a certain
angle with a certain velocity. The original Boom Blox also had impressive
physics, but Bash Party takes the concept further, introducing underwater and
outer space levels in which the physics are wildly different and force you to
reevaluate your decisions, achievements as technically impressive as they are
fun to experience.

Speaking of achievements, Bash Party
takes a note from other current-generation consoles by implementing an
achievements system, rewarding players for completing tasks such as collecting
medals, causing explosions and more. Also new to Boom Blox, Bash Party features
a currency system that allows players to purchase items or levels without
unlocking them.

For casual players, in particular,
this is an excellent addition. If you’re stuck on a difficult puzzle and can’t
unlock the next one, the game will ask if you’d like to simply purchase it with
the cash you’ve earned in-game instead. It may sound cheap, but rest assured,
some of these puzzles are tough. EA has improved upon the original Boom Blox
with these additions and cool new twists, but the biggest improvement is
undoubtedly the online content. Quite simply, there isn’t much else like it on
Wii.

Bash Party has a level editor
similar to that of the original Boom Blox, but this time, EA went deeper than
Jerry Springer’s final thought — the result is a feature-rich new level editor
that allows a greater level of customization than even the most passionate Boom
Blox aficionado could possibly imagine. All of the game’s blocks, items,
locations and more are available, affording creative players the ability to make
incredible levels with meticulous detail. The best part of this feature,
however, is its slick online functionality. After building a level, players can
easily upload their masterpiece to EA’s servers, making it available for other
Bash Party fanatics to download and destroy. If architecture isn’t your
strongest talent, the service is still useful, as you can download other
players’ crazy concoctions virtually any time you’d like.

It’s a great addition, and it’s been
seamlessly implemented. While playing through a group of underwater levels in
Bash Party, for example, the option to download more underwater levels, as
created by other players, is only a click away—you’re connected to EA’s server
with a simple button press. Alongside its 400-plus levels, the level editor and
user-generated content ensure Bash Party has infinite, almost Smash Bros.-like
replay value.

Of course, the game isn’t quite
perfect. Its blocky graphics — again, no pun intended — are mostly dull-looking
relics of the GameCube era, and as one might expect from such a conservative
sequel, much of the innovation and exciting newness the original Boom Blox bled
has dried up in Bash Party. Once you start throwing fastballs, however, those
criticisms crumble to the ground faster than a shaky heap of blocks. Bash Party
is an absolute riot.

Talk of motion-controlled gaming
revolutions built lofty expectations for Wii, promises that have gone mostly
undelivered as the cloud-born fantasies of 2006 have fallen to the ground of
2009’s realities — the Wii Remote just isn’t the accurate magic wand we thought
it would be. Indeed, many developers have embraced waggle or avoided motion
control altogether, proclaiming through a lack of innovation that, indeed, the
revolution is dead.

EA must’ve missed that memo. Boom
Blox Bash Party is proof.

Gameplay: 8.5
Throwing objects feels fantastic in Bash Party. Like Wii Sports, this is one
of the few Wii games you’ll play with actual motion and not pointless waggle.

Graphics: 6.5
Given the game’s impressive physics and Wii’s relative lack of power, it
isn’t surprising Bash Party’s visuals underwhelm. Its graphics are mostly
blocky, dull reminders of the GameCube, but it does look nicer than the
original.

Sound: 7.0
The soundtrack is a collection of standard background fare, but particularly
if you’re playing with friends, you won’t notice it above the hysterical
laughter.

Difficulty: Medium
Pardon the horridly overused cliche, but Bash Party is a game for everyone.
Novice gamers can focus on carefree destruction, but the game has enough depth,
strategy and gradual challenge to hook experienced players, as well.

Concept: 9.0
Boom Blox was a stroke of gaming genius. Bash Party is even better.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Whether playing the game’s addictive cooperative and versus multiplayer or
simply passing the controller around the room, Bash Party is aptly named.

Overall: 8.5
The list of must-have Wii games with appeal for both the casual and core
player is exceedingly short. To make the cut, a game must be immediately
approachable and easy to understand, but it must also offer challenge and depth
to those who seek them. Boom Blox Bash Party is atop that list.