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Boom Blox is a game whose pre-release hype went from "wuh?" to "yay!" with amazing speed, and after release its reputation only seems to be improving. Reviews are good and even the sort of rigid fan who screams about EA being the devil may be finding him or herself tempted to play this one. I know it's on the list of games I want to get to playing once Deadline Hell wraps up.

So what the hell is Boom Blox? Unless you went out of your way to follow previews very closely, you probably just know it involved cute cube-shaped creatures and lots of explosions. The full game appears to be more of a puzzle title than an action game, but there appear to be some platformer-like elements to the gameplay. How well does Boom Blox pull off its premise? Let's let the critics tell us.

Boom Blox pulled an impressive series of scores Metacritic interpreted as perfect 100% ratings, and one of them was an A+ from the usually hard-to-please 1up.com. Reviewer Nick Suttner is ecstatic about the title, hinting that it may point the way to a bright future for the Wii and its more casual-friendly audience... and especially for motion controls.

And whether you're tossing balls to knock over point blocks, carefully sliding individual pieces out from a larger stack -- Jenga-style -- or setting off elaborate, Rube Goldberg-esque chain reactions, the motion controls are subtle, responsive, and impeccably precise. The angle of each throw is dictated by where you place the cursor after positioning the camera, and the speed of your throw is reflected quite accurately using the Wii Remote's accelerometer (generally falling into one of three speeds). Boom Blox would be a tough sell with the imprecise motion controls that many Wii games fall victim to, but it so squarely nails every movement that you can forget about the controls and simply enjoy the experience.

GamePro was less enthusiastic but also seemed to appreciate what Boom Blox set out to do, and how well the game managed to pull it off. Reviewer Emily Balistrieri seems to be approaching the title as something that's fundamentally kid's game and a party game, though, which results in a review tone that's very different from the other reviews we'll be spotlighting. Of course, it's logical kids would love Boom Blox, but it does give the uneasy feeling that the game is being pigeonholed.

Conceived by Steven Spielberg when he first played the Wii at the 2006 E3, Boom Blox is like a tech demo on steroids. You throw and shoot items at stacks of blocks that collapse realistically using fancy physics. But the game is so much more than that and it all starts with the insane number of available modes. If you want my recommendation, gather up some friends and jump straight into multiplayer.

It's great that a developer finally realized what a total drag it is to have to unlock party material - all the modes in Boom Blox are available right from the start. Once inside, you can destroy each other's castles for gems, play a slippery game that's sort of like curling, throw baseballs at a toppling tower of points, and plenty more. The solo mode is also a blast but Boom Blox has 'party game' written all over it.

Nintendo Power awarded Boom Blox an 8 out of 10, a solid but not rapturous score. Reviewer Steve Thomason still seemed perplexed with the result of the first of the anticipated "Spielberg" games, and a little disappointed it wasn't more cinematic. The review was positive about what Boom Blox had done, but there's a lot of discussion of what the game wasn't that was ostentatious and distracted in what amounted to a single-paragraph review.

As the first product of the much-hyped partnership between Electronic Arts and Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox comes as a bit of a surprise. Given the legendary filmmaker's background, one might reasonably have expected something deeply cinematic with a strong focus on storytelling. ut what we got was just the opposite, a title built entirely on compelling gameplay. Part puzzle game, part virtual toy box, this Wii exclusive is all about having fun with building blocks. And while the basic concept is simple as can be, the experience is taken to the next level flawless motion controls, clever puzzle designs, and a truly remarkable physics engine. There's just something incredibly satisfying about watching carefully built structures topple (or blow up) convincingly. The game also boasts impressive variety thanks to lots of different block types and myriad ways with which to manipulate them. An extensive single-player offering eases you into things nicely, and though the game is definitely accessible to all ages, later levels provide a pretty stiff challenge (especially if you're trying to earn gold medals). More than a dozen multiplayer modes - oth competitive and cooperative - make the game a blast to play with friends, as well. There's a lot of content ont he disc, and creative types can even build their own stages using the awesomely robust level editor, then share them with friends via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The production values aren't going to win any awards, and some of the mechanics work better than others (the hose is pretty lame), but Boom Blox is an innovative and amusing piece of entertainment worthy of the Spielberg name.

The low score came from GameSpot, curiously enough, who awarded Boom Blox a 7 out of 10 score. Reviewer Aaron Thomas didn't seem very impressed with Boom Blox on any level (though he allowed it was better than the abysmal Jenga World Tour), treating the game as an interesting premise that had failed to come to full fruition during development. He's particularly unimpressed with the game's sense of physics, a feature praised in virtually every other review of the game.

You may struggle if you try to slowly remove blocks by pushing or pulling them rather than yanking them out like magician with a table cloth, and the game sometimes has difficulty recognizing how hard you threw a ball, but for the most part, the simple controls work just fine. It takes a little while to get used to manipulating the camera and how the game's physics--which are both inconsistent and more akin to what you'd find on the moon--affect the blocks. However, once you become acclimated, the difficulty is just right and the game is enjoyable. Its multiplayer component is especially enjoyable and allows four people to play 60 or so puzzles cooperatively or against one other.

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