Boom Blox: Subtly Subversive?
Boom Blox. You’ve probably heard of it, but you may not know that it stars a bunch of characters cooked up by Benicio Del Toro and Johnny Depp after they dropped a bunch of peyote in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
When you boil down the game to its essential element, it’s Jenga on steroids. The game, a collaboration between Electronic Arts and Steven Spielberg, appeals to gamers of all ages in the same way that most casual games do: Take a simple concept (in this case, knocking down blocks) and add a few interesting bells and whistles.
One thing is clear: The art direction caters to the younger audience. Can you look past the dancing animals and truly appreciate the game on the merits of game play and design? Some of you can. But if you stop focusing your attention on the blocks and take a harder look at some of these creatures, you’ll notice there’s some pretty weird stuff going on that’s borderline subversive.
