Demolition Inc.

[h1]Overview:[/h1] '[i]Demolition Inc.[/i]' is a top down strategy game based around the idea of destroying specified sections of a city in the most efficient way possible. You play as "Mike", an alien demolition expert working for '[i]SCEP[/i]' a company who had apparently [b]bought[/b] the entire planet and has tasked you to level every city you can in order for them to rebuild the planet into a recreational spot. Funny enough, I went through the beginning cutscene where Mike receives an e-mail detailing the job but found out that the acronym supposedly used for the company doesn't even line up with what the actual name of the company is. '[i]SCEP[/i]' from the looks of it stands for "Society for the protection of endangered planets" but wouldn't that mean the acronym should be '[i]SPEP[/i]', not '[i]SCEP[/i]'. There might be something else to it but I just found that funny. The game isn't [i]bad[/i] but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting when I first bought it over a decade ago. What appears to be a very fun and casual game is met with a rather disappointing and somewhat frustrating gameplay structure which I'll get into. [h1]Gameplay:[/h1] '[i]Demolition Inc.[/i]' throws you into Mike's shoes as he hovers over sectioned parts of a city placing down various hazards to cause havoc in hopes that the chaos will level the buildings he needs to get rid of. The main idea is to manipulate traffic in a way that will cause vehicles to ram into the sides of buildings in order to topple them over. You do this by placing down different items ranging from oil spills that prevent cars from turning, gooey traps to force them to steer a certain direction and exploding cows (yeah don't ask) that detonate when a vehicle drives into it. These are just a few of many items Mike can use to achieve his goal and if he doesn't do it fast enough, the military comes and it's game over. Why Mike can't just take them down himself is beyond me but who knows, maybe it's part of the contract. Now that we got the basic gameplay elements out of the way you might be wondering, what makes '[i]Demolition Inc.[/i]' not as good as it could have been? Well, a big part of it lies within it's gameplay style and the issues many people had with it. The main issue is the idea of having to strategically place hazards as to cause as much destruction with any one item used. This means a huge part of the game consists of the player needing to be very selective with their items and figuring out which item would work best where. Now that doesn't sound too bad especially for a game with strategy incorporated into it and honestly, it isn't during the early stages of the game. It's actually quite fun. It's during the later stages where things start to get a lot more annoying. Items become scarcer and options for completing the objective are just as limited. And might I add, this is just to successfully beat the level, I haven't even gotten to the Star Ranking yet. The goal is to destroy all the high rise buildings in the level but in order to get a 3 star rating (which is required to unlock all the worlds), you have to do it using as little items as possible in the least amount of time. You only start off with a select number of items and although it's possible to obtain more through destroying buildings with item crates on them, they don't help much in later areas. In some levels it's fine as the layout is pretty straight forward but there are plenty of levels where there's no sense of direction to pin your focus on. This is where the developers try to encourage players to be creative and find their own way of clearing the level but when you're only giving them a fraction of the tools they need to get the job done then what can they do? Well that's where the "Black Cow Market" comes in, a special shop where you can buy expensive upgrades that supposedly make the game easier. Starting with the one time use items, the Black Cow is basically an exploding cow with a crazy radius that ultimately helps when you're stuck in a pickle but guess what? It disables leaderboards and exempts the 3 star rating so what's the point? Then there's an item to call off the military if you end up running out of time which I guess is helpful. Then there are the upgrades that don't expire. There are 4 from which 2 of them make collecting debris for extra money easier. One of them increases the max combo to 4 and the last one gives you a 20% discount for mission items not counting the Black Cow Market. Now this is where I started scratching my head because from what I know, the Black Cow Market is the only store in the game so this discount is completely useless as it serves literally no purpose. I might be missing something but during my entire playthrough there wasn't a single moment where this upgrade came in handy. So there you have it, a lucrative store that sells some of the most useless upgrades. I honestly feel like the developers should've made the destruction the core aspect of the game and saved all the stingy item strategizing as a challenge mode or something. Either that or give players the options to buy extra items with money earned. I mean there's a rampage mode where you can wreak all the havoc you want but it's just not the same without the sense of progression. [h1]Controls:[/h1] Basic enough adopting a point-and-click style of gameplay where you pan over a map with W,A,S,D and left click to place hazards. I haven't run into any bugs but when you press 4, the game zooms down to ground level and you're stuck in limbo until you restart so, yeah. Don't press 4. [h1]Graphics:[/h1] Not too bad for 2011 standards. Although I can safely say graphic potential in 2011 far surpassed what '[i]Demolition Inc.[/i]' looks like (queue '[i]Crysis[/i]') memes), it also doesn't look bad for what it is. Destroying buildings despite seeming like you're taking down paper structures is still satisfying enough to look at. Stack that on top of the domino effect mechanic that the developers implemented and it honestly is pretty good for it's time. It's kind of awesome knowing that pretty much everything in the city can be destroy. Hell, even the people roaming the streets can get caught in your demolition job and turn into angels. All in all, dated but for it's time, it's not half bad. [h1]Audio:[/h1] Also not terrible all things considered. The sound effects are fine and fit in perfectly with the world and there's quite a few different music choices which helps with not getting tired of the music after 5 minutes. The intro sequence throws rather heavy rock music while the main menu greets you with a jazzy upbeat track. Meanwhile the actual levels introduce multiple tracks that range from soft rock music to low town jazz themed around city life and space. It's actually pretty cool. [h1]Conclusion/TL;DR:[/h1] '[i]Demolition Inc.[/i]' is a top down strategy game where you destroy buildings as efficiently as you can with the items provided. If you're expecting a spree of destruction and mindless chaos you'll be pretty disappointed as most of the game consists of the player needing to conserve and use very specific items in certain spots in order to achieve the score needed to pass the level. It just ends up being a trial and error marathon until the player finally finds one of few ways to beat the level. It isn't a terrible structure but it [i]does[/i] becomes underwhelming when players that expect to be able to destroy lots of stuff end up discovering they can only destroy what they need to.

Not a terrible game on sale. Kept me pretty entertained, and the little puzzle element to it was cool.

create one game in 2011 have 230 mostly positive reviews makes description one single line refuses to elaborate

3/10. Gets Old Quickly

Very short, not that great.

This is either a horrible cellphone game port or feels like one. don't waste your money.