New games this week: Boom Blox edition

by Justin McElroy { May 5th 2008 at 9:00AM }

After the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, this week's release of Boom Blox completes a hat-trick of really solid recent Wii releases (or, as we like to call it, the "Sorry You Can't Play GTA IV 3-Pack"). Perhaps even more so than the previous two, Boom Blox seems to be an experience perfectly suited to the console, despite the opportunities for it to go elsewhere.

The other big two are (by far) getting the shorter end of the stick this week, with nothing on the Xbox 360 and just the Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year edition on PS3. Check out the full list after the break.

Gallery: Boom Blox

PS3:

Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition

Nintendo Wii:

The Dog Island
Boom Blox
Speed Racer
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk

PSP:

SNK Arcade Classics V.1
R-Type Command

Nintendo DS:

Brain Voyage
Crosswords DS
Speed Racer

PC Games:

Great War Nations: The Spartans
Supreme Commander Gold Edition
Baseball Mogul 2009
Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold
Iron Man
Sword of the Stone: Collector's Edition

Tags: boom-blox, newgames

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Derick @ May 5th 2008 9:06AM

woot

Prof_Chaos @ May 5th 2008 9:35AM

I'm going to get this ASAP. Man, remember when this was just going to be a Jenga clone? Or at least, that's what we thought.

fwacce @ May 5th 2008 9:39AM

What happened to Blast Works for the Wii? It was scheduled to be out on 05/06. That's the only Wii game I've been waiting for.

D_Average @ May 5th 2008 9:47AM

"Boom shake shake shake the room!!"

mr nimblewick @ May 5th 2008 9:53AM

My god. Your avatar looks just like a stuffed puppet I had as a kid.

D_Average @ May 5th 2008 10:03AM

it is THE stuffed puppet you had as a kid. now its MY pet monster

baby sea tuna @ May 5th 2008 3:02PM

It so is. Good choice...but I think he needs himself one of them fancy-schmancy Mario hats.

brutusx00 @ May 6th 2008 4:51PM

holy $#!+, I remember that. The chains handcuff chains break, right? I loved that thing, but sold it at a yardsale for superNES game money. Nostalgia.

samfish @ May 5th 2008 10:04AM

I shall rent Boom Blox from GameFly after I return No More Heroes.
And if I like it...I SHALL PURCHASE IT!

Superstar90 @ May 5th 2008 11:41PM

You will return No More Heroes? A kitten dies everytime someone does that :(

FOXHOUND @ May 5th 2008 10:11AM

I'll rent it, I guess. I haven't found any real "hook" toward recent Wii games lately. MKW is just too damn frustrating on 1P and multiplayer is a hassle to get friend-connected(I sent an invite! Accept it! Okay, now I'll accept that you accepted my invite! Wooooooo...). BRAWL has already worn thin, since getting stuff done for it has been more of a chore and less of fun task than it was in MELEE. At least I *wanted* to put in the effort in that. And yet again, I curse the Friend Code system like Professor Farnsworth does Zoidberg.

Even the pre-owned copy of MLB POWER PROS was nice... especially when looking past the cutesy graphics, it's spot-on in terms of stats, characters, and style. This game definitely needs online play if there's ever a sequel or update, but there's little chance of either.

Here's hoping TIGER'09 is online! Otherwise, I'm probably holding off on Wii purchases outside of VC games until Autumn/Winter'08... and thus, my time & wallet being reacquainted with the PS3 and X360. :\

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ May 5th 2008 10:15AM

I actually haven't had any issues with Kart online at all. Got a bunch of people's codes together on the Kart FC thread and haven't had any issues yet. Even playing randoms has been a much better experience than Smash. But again that is just my experience.

Between Kart and GTA I can't imagine when I'll be able to pick up a new game again...

FOXHOUND @ May 5th 2008 10:25AM

It's weird -- I was able to accept MKW requests from some users and with others, I had to repeatedly either reinvite or reaccept them. Not sure what happened there; but I agree that MKW is better played via multiplayer. In fact, as soon as the Mii Driver was unlocked, I didn't bother with single player mode on my console(however, I helped a local friend with getting their console's savefile nearly done).

Zootittles @ May 5th 2008 10:37AM

I think we can all agree that the friend code system is a bag of poop and bananas.

Mike D @ May 5th 2008 10:50AM

Outside of wiifit, maybe some wiiware games and maybe GH:aerosmith I dont think there's anything worth buying until the force unleashed. Which is fine with me, honestly.

Mr Khan @ May 5th 2008 11:43AM

I haven't gotten into many friended matches (those invitations, at least, are a great step forward from individualized codes, it's like a semi-integrated friend list), but i've been compulsively playing random online matches, where I already have the gold wheel, despite the fact that my win/loss record is about even (if you count a win as top 50% in a match, as for getting absolute first, i've only done that once or twice)

It has one key advantage over Brawl online: It works, consistently and smoothly, it only ever locked up on me once

Zootittles @ May 5th 2008 10:39AM

Sorry Steven, it's against my religion to pay more than $39.99 for a puzzle game.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 5th 2008 11:57AM

Dude what? Do you even know how much content is going to be in this game? Not only will there be hundreds of unique levels for the game, but you'll also be able to make your own levels for both single player and multiplayer. It's even being called the little big planet of the Wii.

For what's going to be in the game, $39.99 isn't a bad price at all.

Zootittles @ May 5th 2008 12:07PM

$39.99? Everywhere else I've looked listed it for $49.99. Yes, $10 is a deal breaker for me, the stingy fuck that I am.

Mike @ May 5th 2008 12:41PM

"It's even being called the little big planet of the Wii. "

You guys are still doing that? Boom Blox and LittleBigPlanet clearly have nothing in common, yet you're forcing comparisons between bullet point features and acting as if they're equivalent or even comparable.

Smash Bros. Brawl was called the Halo 3 killer for months since it was going to have a campaign mode (which ended up being boring), a replay system (which was limited to three minutes), a level editor (which was tile-based and incredibly shallow), and online multiplayer (which is basically like playing the CPU but with aggravating lag).

Just because a Wii game has similar features to an AAA title on another system (like online multiplayer, a level editor, a replay system, etc.) does NOT mean it will be even remotely close to the quality or depth of those games. Remind me how the tile-based editor in Boom Blox is anything like the incredibly robust editor in LittleBigPlanet? Or how aiming a reticle on the screen is anything like playing a cooperative physics-based platformer?

Look, I'm sorry you're not getting the actual LittleBigPlanet, but there's no need to delude yourself into thinking you're getting something just as good. The two games have nothing in common.