Boom Blox is a videogame, designed by Steven Spielberg that has done averagely well on the Nintendo Wii version. On that version, the game had about 300 single player levels, and another 100 levels for multiplayer gaming.
But on the N-gage version, there’s no multiplayer and there’s only 40 single player levels. There’s a couple more save slots for any levels you create using the level editor, but you cant share these levels with anyone else.
Is it worth getting ? Read on to know more.
Gameplay :
The game mainly takes place on a vertical line. You have score blocks lying around which you’re supposed to force off the screen. It could be off the top or the bottom of the screen or left or right, as long as you get them off the screen. You get +1 for knocking a blue score block off, and +2 points for knocking a yellow one.
But its not that simple. While you are supposed to force the score blocks off the screen, you must try to keep the skull blocks, on screen. If you knock them off, they decrease your score. -1 for a black skull block or -2 for a red skull block.
To do all this, you have a certain number of balls in each level, that you must throw at the blocks. You aim by using the on-screen cursor and fire away.
The laws of physics apply here…mostly. If you hit the side of a block, it’ll move away. Hit it at the bottom, and it’ll jump up. You see where I’m going with this.
To add to the score blocks and skull blocks is a variety of other blocks to make this game more of a puzzle game. You’ve got “bomb blocks” that explode when touched and move all blocks around them, then you have “direction blocks” that move in a single direction when touched, there’s also “magnet blocks” that either attract or repel other blocks, and “teleport squares”, that..well…teleport your blocks to another onscreen teleport square. There’s also moving blocks, ice blocks,chemical explosive blocks and a couple others that all contribute to making this game a bit of a challenge to finish each level.
As you play each level, you can get either Bronze, Silver or Gold trophies based on your score. Bronze being the lowest score and Gold being the maximum. You need to attain atleast the bronze score to progress to the next level. As the game is pretty easy, this is very attainable.
Game Modes :
Unfortunately, theres only one game mode available, and thats single player arcade where you progress through the game level by level. You can choose to replay a level using the level select option.
There’s also a level editor, where you can create your own levels and save them, but I dont know how useful this would be since you cant actually share these levels with anyone else.
Orientation :
The game can be played in both portrait and landscape modes, according to which, the controls can be flipped to be on the other side of the phone. Because it’s a puzzle game it felt comfortable in both orientations.
Some phones, like the N82 do not officially support Landscape mode in some N-gage games, and force you to play it in portrait mode.
Controls :
The controls in Boom Blox are the usual directions with the Dpad and game button 1, or the
center of the Dpad to shoot the ball.
You can customize these to your liking in the options menu.
Graphics :
The game is set in a 2D world with 3D-ish look to it. I’d say the graphics are pretty okay for a puzzle game. The frame-rate always remains solid and is never an issue, and everything on screen is clear and easy to make out.
Sound :
The usual Arcade-y music and sound effects here. Nothing to write home about.
Multiplayer and N-gage Arena :
MAJOR disappointment here. Regarding the N-gage Arena, all you can do in Boom Blox is upload your score and view the rankings, with no real explanation to how you got that score in the first place.
For example, I have Gold trophies in all but one level and my score’s still below 500 compared to the top scorer who’s score is 2500+ .
Scoring point pickups is as easy as the game itself and you should have a neat collection of NGP after a while.
The lack of proper multiplayer is a real disappointment because there’s so much they could have done with this game.
Conclusion :
Because there’s only 40 levels, and since the games so easy to play and goes by so fast, it doesnt take long to finish all the levels in Boom Blox. Maybe just a day or two. Once you’ve done this, there’s absolutely no replay value as you can only replay those levels to get Gold trophies in everything. Thats it, nothing else to do.
The game’s simply not that addictive after the first 20 levels. And its a pity because I was really looking forward to it, since I usually love these kind of puzzle games. Sure, you’ll probably want to finish it, but mostly because of the N-gage points that you unlock as you play through, or the sensation of finishing the game. But there’s no “I MUST finish this level and see whats next” moments.
This game had a lot of potential on N-gage, thats sadly not come to life in its release form. There’s nothing wrong with the game though, everything “works” fine. But there’s nothing “great” about this game to shoot it past the average mark. Some will love this game, some might be completely bored with it.
So is worth the $5.49 price they’re asking for the full version right now ? Not really. Maybe worth the $1.49 one-day pass but even that’s arguable. I’d say its okay for a casual one-day affair.
I’m going to give it a 2 out of 5 overall.
You can find out more about the game over on its Official Game page or if you need tips or help with the game, head on over to the Official Boom Blox N-gage forum.
-Teh Cj
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile things.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
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