From a few hours of playing, Boom Blox felt to me like the first really essential Wii game since Wii Sports. My friend and I took turns tearing through the first several levels of a few different single-player game modes, insisting upon replaying every level until we got a gold medal on it. Some types of levels are more interesting than others: Figuring out how to knock down a Jenga-like tower (with optional explosives) in one strike is awesome, but throwing bombs to scare bears away from stealing your gems feels kind of stupid and uninteresting. I’m not sure how likely I’d be to go through the single-player levels again after beating them, but we played for several hours without even getting halfway through, so perhaps there’s enough to keep the average player busy awhile. I guess you can always amuse yourself by throwing things at the cartoon animals standing around if you get bored; they are cute and make funny noises when struck.

Where the game really shines, though, is the competitive multiplayer. (Never mind the bizarre inclusion of a cooperative shooting gallery.) Some games essentially work just like exceptionally elaborate Jenga matches, making the first really appropriate use I’ve seen of the Wiimote’s hyper-precise receptiveness. Some games involve throwing bowling balls at your opponent to knock stuff down. My favorite game mode involved strategically pushing pucks around, trying to slide into high-point areas or knock your opponent’s pucks off the game board. All in all, there was enough to keep players busy for a long time, and coming back for more. Oh, and the music is pretty fun, too.