A few years ago I would have said Blitz was better than anything ... but now the sad truth is that game making tools are moving on. If you're doing a 2D game ... there's no reason I can see to use something like BMax over TGB. TGB isn't as restrictive as TGE (appears to be to a beginner) ... it's much like Blitz in that you go in type your code and poof it works. You don't actually need to use C++ either. The script code is every bit the equal to using Blitz for most intents and purposes.
Nah, nothing beats blitzmax + ogremax + ode. All the power and ease of basic combined with all the freedom and expression of C++.
Torque is the tool of the devil. BURN IT.