I’m discovering right away that Wii games are significantly harder to discuss than, say, Xbox 360 games because Wii games don’t seem to like things like plot.  So I can’t really do a recap on that, and that’s the case with Boom Blox Bash Party.  In fact, for a game developed by Steven Spielberg, you’d think it’d have more of an actual plotline to it, but no.  Basically, in Boom Blox Bash Party, you throw things.  At other things.  And repeat until a whole bunch of things have been knocked down or blown up or you’ve run out of chances to throw things at other things.  Yeah, I know, simplistic doesn’t even begin to describe it.

But here’s where things get weird.  Inside this tiny little framework of a game (throw stuff at stuff, repeat until out of stuff one way or another), they’ve jam-packed it with things to do.  You’ll throw things to try and knock down a huge tower.  You’ll throw things to try and disassemble a fort made out of what looks like wood blocks.  You’ll throw things to destroy a robot or hunt sunken pirate treasure.  You’ll throw things to make certain kinds of blocks disappear or explode or spread a kind of virus to other blocks and make THEM disappear.  You’ll screw around with turning blocks colors and moving blocks and throwing stuff at blocks and even using a kind of slingshot to shoot other blocks at each other.  You’ll play with ramps and drops and chain reactions.  Gravity will be both your friend and your enemy.  At some points, you will get to work a cannon.

You will search for weak points and the best shot and any of a dozen other things that make me wish I’d taken better notes in my high school physics classes, and I got an A in high school physics!

I found myself absolutely baffled.  How is this simplistic little game managing to serve up this much variety and be this downright entertaining besides?   It’s utterly beyond my capacity to explain, but one thing was clear—I had a LOT of fun playing this game.  In fact, it was hard to stop playing this game long enough to write a review about it.  My elbow is still just a bit sore from all the throwing.

There’s a lot to like about this game, whether you want to explore everything it has to offer (completionists be forewarned—this game WILL consume your life if you let it) or you just want some quiet time spent throwing stuff at stuff without a lot of cleanup time or losing your damage deposit afterward.  Boom Blox Bash Party is great and unfettered fun, the kind of fun that gaming used to be.  It’s definitely not the kind of game you’re used to, and in this market, that’s a HUGE plus.