It’s not always easy to find a game that can be played and enjoyed by everyone from your youngest family members to your oldest. BOOM BLOX Bash Party for the Wii is one such game. The sequel to the popular Boom Blox, BOOM BLOX Bash Party is at once simple to play and challenging to win. And it’s a plenty of fun to play as a family.
Pros
- Appropriate for a wide range of ages
- Uses problem solving skills
- An online library of user-created levels means extended game play
Cons
Like Bowling, Only Different
The basic concept of BOOM BLOX Bash Party is that you throw a ball at a pile of blocks and try to knock them down. What makes it challenging is that the balls have different attributes and the goals vary. Some balls blow things up, others make things dissolve, and they all react differently depending on the material of the blocks they come in contact with.
Game play for the majority of the levels will be familiar to Wii users. Hold down the “A” button on your Wii Remote to aim, fling your arm forward like you’re throwing and let go of the “A” button. While this does take a certain amount of coordination, a 3 or 4 year old can easily master it with practice. And, since you can usually take plenty of time to aim before throwing, even newer gamers can handle this one. Timed levels will be more challenging, but they can easily be avoided if they are too difficult.
BOOM BLOX Bash Party for the Family
BOOM BLOX Bash Party can be played solo or with a friend. The multiplayer game has cooperative and competitive modes. I enjoyed playing on my own, but had a lot more fun coordinating my moves with someone else. It’s fun to plan out a strategy together and see if it works. On each level you can work towards a bronze, silver or gold medal. My husband and I enjoyed pushing for gold, while I settled for a passing bronze with my son. This flexibility to decide how you want to enjoy the game makes it less stressful for players of different ability levels.
Keep on Playing and Playing
When you exhaust the more than 400 built-in levels in the game, you can go online (if your Wii is connected to the Internet) and download user-created levels. Some of the built-in game types were less fun for me than others, so I skipped those and went on to the online material. There is a download link in each area of the game so you can find levels similar to those you were just playing. The levels online are rated so you can find those that are most popular, or you can randomly select something. There are some very creative levels in the online database and it is fun to see what other users have come up with.
If you’re really inspired, you can use the built-in level creator to make your own content to play. It’s a nice way to move your kids from being “content consumers” to “content creators.” Upload your levels and see what others think!
BOOM BLOX Bash Party – The Bottom Line
BOOM BLOX Bash Party has multi-player gaming, problem solving and a potentially unlimited number of levels to solve. It’s accessible for a variety of ages and is family friendly. And, it’s easy to pick up for a few minutes without getting sucked in. This is a wonderful addition to the family game library.
Manufacturer Specs:
Platform: Wii
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone