Tonight we're gonna Bash Party like it's 2009.
Boom Blox Bash Party is the rare example of a developer truly understanding the Wii. Not on a technical level necessarily, but of EA Los Angeles having a grip on the console's philosophy: pick up and play.
Bash Party's simplicity makes it extremely easy to understand. Wii Sports made its mark with an emphasis on presenting activities millions understand, and being approachable in ways few had ever attempted. Bash Party follows that same path by placing the focus on destruction. The building process of anything is difficult; Bash Party shows just how much fun it is to bring something crashing down. We all sing about London Bridge falling down, after all, not going up. Bash Party gives players a wide assortment of simple tools—and a child-like mischievousness—to do just that. Ball in hand, you are tasked with toppling what stands before you.
Boom Blox Bash Party is only simple on the surface; underneath its friendly aesthetic and mechanics is a menacing game that could drive a man to drink. Making progress is easy enough, and if you do ever hit a wall, picking from a multitude of other available stages isn’t a problem. The beast rears its ugly head, however, when trying to achieve the best scores possible. What were once simple towers of blocks become cruel, Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions that require you to find that missing piece to get the whole thing moving. You have to study the lay of the land, looking for that one spot that, were it to crumble, would most quickly and efficiently achieve your goal.
With that said, it would be irresponsible not to note what made Bash Party superior to the original Boom Blox. While its predecessor birthed a lot of what makes the sequel great, Bash Party stood alone on the amount of content it delivered. It refined what made the original so great, threw out what didn't work (escort missions in a game about demolition? No, thank you), and created new aspects that meshed perfectly with its theme.
Hopefully you don't mind a little hypocrisy so late in this article, as I'm about to tell you how awesome it is to build things in Bash Party. Well, not that I built much myself. What makes the creation mode shine is that I can enjoy destroying the works of others. Bash Party allows players to upload (and consequently download) created works for the enjoyment of others. The developers themselves took part, releasing many great stages to even out the onslaught of user-created Mario and Mega Man sprite levels. This great feature of Bash Party sadly came to an end when EA shut down the game's servers.
Boom Blox Bash Party is a shining example of what can be done on the Wii. Instead of down ports and waggle fests, all it took was a little creativity. EA went to great lengths to create a proper Wii game, pulling out all the stops to do so. You do not want to miss Bash Party for the world.
