Art of Balance (demo)

Family lore has it that my mother's heirloom, crystal pepper shaker was broken when her father-in-law and some of my uncles were stacking whatever happened to be on the table the first time they visited my parents. Art of Balance, if it had existed then, might have saved the day. It's a simple game of stacking one geometric object (no breakable table settings here) on another and seeing if the whole thing stays up.

Prior interest: none

I thought Art of Balance looked like a newly released game from the makers of Jett Rocket reusing the same engine for water and lighting effects. But it turns out the game was released on WiiWare almost a year ago and several months before Jett Rocket. Clearly, it's a low profile game that could use a little publicity.

Odds of purchase: low

As a cash-strapped consumer, a game like Art of Balance which delivers tons of gameplay for a low pricetag, ought to represent a real temptation. Sadly, its niche has already been filled by Boom Blox Bash Party in my library. (Which, come to think of it, is the biggest problem I have with Jett Rocket: it's too similar to another retail game that I already own.) What it comes down to is when I want to play a physics-based puzzle game I can't imagine picking up Art of Balance because Boom Blox just offers me so much more.