Boom Blox was the first game that I bought for the Wii when we first had it a couple of years ago. I chose the game because it looked like a fun party game that all the family would be able to play together.

The game is the result of a rather unlikely collaboration between Mr "E.T" Spielberg and E A games, who are more well known for their sports simulation games such as Fifa soccer. I was interested to see what the result would be of this strange pairing!

The premise of the game is really simple, and the graphics are fun and cartoony, with lots of cutesy animal characters, which instantly makes the game appealing to kids. Generally the game is easy to play, but there are some difficult and frustrating aspects, which I will touch on during the review. The aim of the game, broadly speaking, is to knock down towers of blocks using several methods:

Throw: This is the most simple method of knocking down towers and you have access to different sized balls, such as baseballs or bowling balls, which behave in different ways. You can use you wii remote to select your throwing ange before launching your ball at the tower using a throwing motion with your arm.

Blast: Blast is basically aiming the remote at the screen and using the button to shoot targets. Again, this is very simple to do.

Pull: Pull is a bit of a tricky skill to master and involves lasoing blocks and pulling them out with a sweeping arm motion, a bit like a game of virtual jenga. This is a bit hard for very small kids to do and quite frustrating.

You can also build blocks and use the "create" mode to make your own towers to knock down.

There are different types of blocks in the game and they have different properties when they are hit, such as points blocks, which give you extra points, and chemical blocks, which react with one another when you hit them. This makes the game more interesting and adds a skill level.

The game has several play modes. The adventure mission based mode is for a single player and has 300 levels. The missions are based over four worlds: A medeival knight world, a Tiki Jungle, the wild west and a halloween world. You have to use the various skills outlined above to complete missions and progress through the game.

While the mission mode is OK, the real fun of the game is in the fantastic multiplayer mode. here you can have up to 4 players against each other knocking down blocks and earning points. You can choose to play in a co-operative mode, which is nice if you are playing with very young kids, but the real joy is in the competitive mode, where you are all pitted against each other. this really is the perfect party game and there are lots of different ways to play, although personally, my favourites are the throwing levels where you have to knock out the points blocks.

My kids love the game and we have lots of fun playing together as a family as it is nice and simple to play and anyone can pick the game up. There are a couple of aspects that are slightly hard, such as the pull mode, that I mentioned earlier, but also locking onto your target which can be a bit hit and miss. The trowing mode can really make your arm ache after a while, but I suppose it is good exercise!

In conclusion, this is a great party game and perfect for families to play together. The graphics are colourful and bright and the music cheerful, although I would have liked a bit more music in the game. The controls are simple and intuitive generally, and it makes full use of the wii remote capabilities, so all in all I give this game 4 stars as it is a game that you will return to again and again and has good longevity.