Picks and pans: 'Boom Blox,' 'Enemy Territory: Quake Wars,' 'Assault Heroes 2'

By JUSTIN HOEGER

McClatchy Newspapers

BOOM BLOX

3 1/2 stars

"Boom Blox" could be called Knocking Things Over: The Game. It's a physics-based puzzle game - the player must use the Wii Remote to throw baseballs, bowling balls, bombs and other items at stacks of blocks. The goal is different depending on the set of challenges selected.

Some task the player with knocking over a structure in as few throws as possible to gain points from gems sitting on top. Others ask the player to hit specific blocks in order to earn points or explode a block pile or send several towers careening into each other.

Another type of puzzle doesn't require the blocks to be toppled, instead challenging the player to use a virtual hand to pick as many blocks out of a teetering structure as possible without letting it fall over.

It's terrific fun and perfectly intuitive to play with physics like this - it's even entertaining to watch a spectacular failure as blocks careen and tumble to the ground. There's a multiplayer mode with several games, including a take on arcade classic "Warlords," and players can create their own puzzle stages and share them with Wii friends.

PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts

SYSTEM: Nintendo Wii

PRICE: $49.99

AGE RATING: Everyone

ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS

2 1/2 stars

The console version of "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" does a decent job of bringing over last year's multiplayer PC shooter.

"Quake Wars" is a fast-paced game, and players must react quickly to threats. The controls have been sensibly and efficiently transplanted to the Xbox 360 controller, but they can't offer the same precise control that a keyboard and mouse do.

The game has an offline campaign mode with AI-controlled "bots," but this is a game meant for online play. Up to 16 players can take part at once, just half the number in the PC version.

The battles are fought by two sides, the humans and the invading Strogg, a half-machine race. Each side has five roughly comparable soldier classes with enough differences between them for each side to feel different when playing.

Each battleground has a series of objectives - typically one side will try to accomplish them, and the other will try to prevent them from being accomplished. As an objective is accomplished the battle lines move forward.

PUBLISHER: Activision

SYSTEM: Microsoft Xbox 360, also for Sony PlayStation 3

PRICE: $59.99

AGE RATING: Teen

ASSAULT HEROES 2

3 stars

An overhead-view two-stick shooter, "Assault Heroes 2" delivers solidly on a tried and tested arcade action formula. There's nothing at all innovative about it, but that's not the point here.

The controls are simple and responsive, the graphics are pretty, the sound is booming and the explosions are big - that's all game like this needs to be fun.

One or two players control armored vehicles and blast their way through everything with a variety of onboard weapons - chaingun, missiles, flamethrower and ice gun, plus limited grenades and area-effect blasts.

The four main weapons can be upgraded, and players can exit their vehicles to reach out-of-the-way items or climb a board a vacant helicopter or some other new ride.

PUBLISHER: Sierra Online

SYSTEM: Microsoft Xbox 360

PRICE: $10 (800 Microsoft Points)

AGE RATING: Teen