Consolation Prize

Dr Edgar Herbert is not a happy bunny. He was a top research scientist in the field of Weather Control Enhancements for the AIC but he’s been put out to pasture early. Like any bitter employee Dr Herbert is out for revenge and there’s no better way for a psychotic genius to show his disappointment at his golden handshake then to wreak havoc around the world against his former employees. I’m sure at some-point Dr Herbert may have even cackled to himself and asked for “one miiiiiiilllllion dollars”, and yes that was a deliberate reference to Austin Powers.

Anyway, onto the game. Elements of Destruction is a top down strategy game where the aim is purely to cause as much damage as possible to villages and cities whilst meeting your mission goals, such as “destroy five barns”. At your disposal are the elemental forces of nature enabling you to call down down lightning strikes, topple buildings with earthquakes, or even rip a path of destruction through neighbourhoods with a tornado. The title of the game sums it all up rather neatly really.

Poor old “Sunny Day Farm” is the first victim and a testing ground for your abilities. There are plenty of barns, wind-turbines, and even some poor old cows to unleash your wrath upon but the doctor is not completely inhumane and waits until the farm is devoid of farm hands before commencing his attack.

It’s all pretty good fun, scrolling around the map, summoning the elements and causing mayhem. In essence it’s exactly what I have always found myself doing when playing Sim-City, or games of that ilk. I would spend ages creating a metropolis but then perversely also enjoy watching its destruction from disasters.

Your rampages however don’t go completely unchecked and eventually you’ll have enemy AIC forces trying to put a halt to your progress. Apart from draining your overall power, which limits your ability for elemental attacks, they don’t excessively interfere and are really more of a nuisance than a danger to your health but at least they provide great cannon fodder. In case your power does get a bit low however you can always retreat to one of the recharging stations that are splattered across the map.

There are a couple of little clever touches to the controls which enhance interactivity when summoning an element, and in some ways they mimic the power they represent; Earthquakes require you to tap “A” repeatedly, Tornado’s to rotate the right joystick and lightning employs a slider gauge which relies on your reflexes to get maximum power.

All in all this isn’t a bad little game. It looks fine and it’s quite an original concept and it certainly makes a change from all the shooters and puzzle games on Xbox Live, but there’s a question mark hanging over its longevity. Will it all become a bit repetitive too quickly? The trial only lets you sample a couple of levels and I fear that apart from some new powers there’s not a great deal else to the game. It does however provide an amusing and entertaining diversion.

“Elements of Destruction” is available from Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points and is 101MB to download.