Imagine, if you will, video footage from a building demolition. A huge skyscraper has been loaded with carefully placed explosives, so that the building will properly implode when a red button is pressed. Now, imagine that the explosives in the huge skyscraper were actually not placed very carefully at all, and when the building explodes, many buildings around it will also be toppled to the ground.

Now, imagine that you and your friends are the ones that get to press the big red button, without any fear of being charged with a criminal offense for destroying public property. That’s Boom Blox. If you have ever delighted in watching a wobbly building made of dominoes get destroyed and wished that it didn’t take so long setting up the dominoes in the first place, this game is for you. Boom Blox comes only on the Nintendo Wii, which is good, because I don’t know what other console could support a game like it.

At first, when I had heard of the concept for Boom Blox, I thought it would be fun for a few minutes, but without much potential for long-term play. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of different options for gameplay that the creators of Boom Blox – one of whom is none other than Steven Spielberg – came up with. There are modes where you hit things for points, others where you hit things to make them explode, and others where you delicately pull pieces out of towers, attempting to leave the rest of the tower standing. There’s a wide variety of weapons, from bouncy balls to six-shooters to, I kid you not, a fire hose that shoots bowling balls. As for variety in targets, there are Chemical Blox, which only explode when two come in contact with each other; Vanishing Blox, which immediately disappear when hit, and Gem Blox, which are frequent objects of desire for different modes of play.

If the stationary Blox weren’t enough, there are also the block animals pictured on the cover of the game. Some of them have strategic purposes, but most are just there for decoration and to make funny noises when hit. The beavers, in particular, have an annoying, yet infectious laugh.

Now, what would a game like this be without a multiplayer mode? This one has it, for up to four players, and does it well. Much of the replayability will actually come from the multiplayer, playing with other people in the house.

I couldn’t give a proper review of the game without mentioning the level editor. This game comes with a decent level editor, where you can set up your own levels, ready to be exploded at a moment’s notice. The level editor is quite impressive, although it’s also one of my biggest disappointments. There were many times where I’d play a premade level, and the design of it would inspire me to make something like it, only to discover that the level editor didn’t have the pieces in it to build the level I’d just played. As versatile as the level editor is, the fact that it didn’t give me all of the tools that the creators of the game had to build a level was unfortunate.

So, the ultimate question… should you buy this game? Well, my opinion is that you should at least rent it. That’s what I did (from Blockbuster Video, ironically enough). You’ll get your money’s worth from renting it. As for buying it, I wouldn’t buy it for the original asking price of $50, but I’d buy it for $30 if I found it for that price.