Few things in life are as satisfying as smashing something to bits. Fences, walls, wood, stone, metal, it all feels great to smoosh into bits and slice into ribbons. Demolish & Build Classic attempts to take that supremely satisfying act and make it the worst feeling, most bland, and detached activity possible. The graphics are terrible, the controls are atrocious, but the radio in your truck has some bangers on it… So yay?
Making Demolition Boring
Demolish & Build Classic feels like a European simulator game, without having that word in the title. The menus are barebone, the graphics have that asset store feel, and the progression is a rigidly structured checklist. You will go from job site to job site in various small hub zones and complete basic tasks like “knock over a bush” or “smash this wall”. The game’s biggest issue is the lack of in-game or controller-vibration-based feedback.
Every time you swing/slice/or hit anything there is zero feedback of any sort. There is no sound effect, no vibration, and no changes in animation. You just swing or hold up a cutting tool and things magically start disappearing or falling apart. The building side of things is no better, with sloppy controls and maddening upgrade paths making any potential joy in it impossible to find.
The most basic part of a destruction-based game is the feeling of satisfaction in breaking things apart. Graphically the title looks like it could easily run on a phone from 2015. Poor textures, ugly skyboxes, and stiff animations all combine to create something tough on the eyes. The one positive is the framerate, which felt like it held at or around 60fps the majority of the time, that is until a lot of dust particles hit and then I saw major slowdown.
The sound effects sound fine enough, and the music selection has some bangers on the techno station. None of it is enough to help overcome the poor progression system, odd map layouts, and constant bugs I had with completing jobs. No part of this game is satisfying outside of sitting in your pickup truck and letting the licensed music play for a few minutes while you cool down after raging at a quest and bugging out for the fifth time in a row.
In Conclusion
Demolish & Build fails at being an enjoyable game in every single way.
Start the discussion at forum.xboxera.com