Lists of the greatest video games ever made always have one glaring omission: “Boom Blox” for the Wii.

This staggering masterpiece of an entertainment product was made by EA, and Steven Spielberg for some reason, and is quite simply a joy to experience. 

There are several game modes to experience, featuring settings like a volcanic island, some kind of cartoonish farm and a medieval castle. Strange little creatures stand in the background and cheer you on, and I consider them among my best friends. 

One game mode has you doing things like throwing baseballs at numbered blocks, giving you points for how many blocks you knockdown in a single throw.

Another mode is like a virtual twist on the classic game Jenga. It has players take turns removing blocks from a structure without making it fall down. 

Who needs complex stories and state-of-the-art graphics when you have delightful minigames that involve things falling down?

I am not sure to what degree Steven Spielberg was involved in the production of this game, but everything the man touches turns to gold. 

Name a bad Spielberg movie. What? You can’t? Exactly. And no, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is not bad. You just need to lighten the hell up.   

Spielberg is a genius that everyone knows about, but “Boom Blox” features the work of another genius that may not be a household name. He is Mark Mothersbaugh and he composed the soundtrack for this absolute stud of a game. 

Based on his work for “Boom Blox,” Mothersbaugh should go down in history as one of the greatest composers of all time. 

Mozart. Beethoven. Gershwin. Mothersbaugh. 

Pull up the soundtrack on Spotify, unless you hate yourself and do not want to experience pure, auditory happiness. The best track is probably “Mellow Fun Blockland,” but there is not a bad choice. “Volcano Artifact” and “Spastic Hoedown” are tremendous as well. 

Mothersbaugh has an impressive discography, having written the original scores for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “21 Jump Street” and “Thor: Ragnarok,” among others. He also wrote the music for the 2005 game “The Sims 2.” 

I love this guy. 

I love “Boom Blox.”

Perhaps the truest testament to this game’s greatness is that I love it despite being really bad at it. 

I used to believe that it was never fun to do things you are bad at, but then “Boom Blox” came along and turned my insignificant life completely upside down.

I suck at this game, but I can play it for hours and enjoy myself. My only conclusion is that this game is magic.

It was created by forces beyond our understanding. And also Steven Spielberg.

Adam Tumino is a senior Journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or atumino@eiu.edu.