Wii Boom Blox, a nice puzzle game (be it a bit childish again)

[patrickl]

To get away from my violent GTA IV alter ego I like to play Boom Blox on the Wii. It's a cute puzzle game. The game is a bit of a cross between Elebits (or Eledees) and Jenga. Actually I hope Jenga is the international title of this game but you must know it. It's the one where you stack wooden blocks and then players have to pull the blocks out one by one till the stack falls.

The games makes great use of the Wiimote (mostly the IR sensor).

There are a couple of different types of puzzles. Either destroying jewels by throwing a base ball (or other objects) at the block stacks, or dragging blocks out of the stack (more jenga style). The whole concept is pretty easy. A few short training games introduce you to all the concepts.

The puzzles can be pretty hard to solve. Especialy if you want to solve them winning a gold medal. The trick is that the puzzles also have a skill component involved. So even if you know how to solve the puzzle you still need the skills to get it right. In some cases you can actually solve things with less thinking if you have the needed skills (or luck).

I though this would be a nice game for women, but my surprise my girlfriend doesn't like the game at all. I assume it's mostly that she hates the "skill element" required in the puzzles. She basically doesn't even want try the game out.

The physics calculations look pretty well done. The blocks bounce around like you would expect. The graphics are a bit basic, but for a puzzle game like this that doesn't matter. The characters are cute although a bit too childish for my taste, but again, that doesn't matter since it's a puzzle game.

I haven't even tried the multi player or " build your own level" modes, but I already really like this game.

IGN: Wii Boom Blox