Just a quick small review since there isn't much to it.
About a week ago, my brother's birthday rolled around, about a day or two before or after my A-Level results came through (I was never good with dates). He was ill at the time so a meal out was a definite no. There was also rumours of him going to the English answer to the German's Oktoberfest, but I refused to fund this since the idea of him and his girlfriend going out drinking for a weekend while my nephew was in my mother's care (the same mother who left my dad when I was seven, never paid child support and rarely saw me and my brothers as we grew up, oh and married an old man who hates kids) was something I didn't like. The solution? Probably a game.
During Steam's many sales, Demolition Simulator appeared. After talks with my brother, we decided that this would be his birthday present. While he was out for the weekend to see his family and his girlfriend's family in Sheffield and Blackpool, I thought I'd take a look at the game I'm paying £10 for (with consent).
Demolition Simulator is a game built around a basic and popular concept: The idea of blowing things up. The urge to let debris fly in an explosion of fire as though the depths of hell were crawling out is a primal instinct that holds true to most men and some women, including myself if I look deep enough into myself; although it may just be the abyss staring back. However, unlike those childish games like Red Faction: Guerilla and Just Cause 2, Demolition Simulator is a game that takes demolition seriously. Don't expect to be busting down walls with a massive hammer or smashing a plane into two tall towers to bring them down to the floor, oh no.
Expect realistic machinery designed to bring down buildings to rubble, expect realistic physics and expect to do what people who really do demolition work do. You're a mans man now, paying and then playing a game version of what some people do for an actual living and get paid for. Eh...As you can tell, I'm cynical about simulators. However, if people enjoy it, then no problem right? Pretty much correct.
Okay, so putting aside my views of simulators like this, demolition work doesn't set out to establish a storyline like most simulators. You go in, you do demolition work and you leave. I decided to go through the tutorials, try a mission (they supply you with 12 missions) and see how I feel. So straight into the tutorial I go. First thing that hits me is this: Wow are the controls somewhat hard to use. Namely with vehicles you're meant to use to demolish things.
You have the driller which has three different moveable parts, but you only have WASD and arrow controls so you have to get the driller to the correct pointer, and then wrestle with the controls so WASD controls movement and arrows control the arm. The wrecking ball, while slightly easier, requires you to adjust the string of the wrecking ball, something I had forgotten the control of as soon as I left the tutorial.
You then use bulldozers and loaders to transport the debris from the group into the boxes. Something that in theory is meant to be easy, but you'll be struggling to drive without causing the debris on the floor to be crushed into a paste, something that is not only hard to notice but also hard to collect all of it with the bulldozer into a bundle. You'll then struggle with dumping waste in bins when they're mostly full. It's generally a chore, not annoying enough to be frustrating but not easy enough to be satisfying.
Now, here comes the stuff that really matters: Is it realistic. In a word: No. Well, some things are realistic like don't expect to break bricks with the driller if it isn't a thin wall since it works by pushing bricks through. However, the idea of as soon as bricks fall lower than about a metre off the ground before they turn into rubble automatically no matter how large the chunks were is something that grinds me to the bone, especially for a game that prides it's self so much on realism. The occasional texture-stretching is also another crime against the game's goal. I couldn't help but think that if they did something like this with the the Valve Source engine and made this as a mod, then it may have been a tiny bit better; or at least may of looked better.
Another major problem I had was the options screen. So surprised at the low resolution, I decided to go to the settings. I doubt this could be more confusing if they had tried. So adjusting the resolution doesn't work so I have to play it at 1080 resolution, the lowest there is. You then get to the graphics and physics part. Most games work on a slider system which works with some tick boxes if you want certain effects (reflections, nudity and smoke to name two of the actual ones used in games and one which I wish was). Demolition Simulator dumps that concept in favour for a ?green or red toggle? system. If this isn't annoying enough, you are then landed with no idea which does what. Does the green toggle make it better? Does the red toggle with worse settings? Nothing is certain and it's very annoying.
In conclusion: If you were going to get a game based on a demolition simulator you would of got this game already, otherwise it'd remain off your shelf. However, stuck between the two because you love the idea of blowing things up, you might want to just play some Just Cause 2 or Red Fraction: Guerilla and settle with that, at least it will be story driven and will give you a feel of escapism and not of having a second job that doesn't pay.
[HEADING=1]Demolition Simulator[/HEADING]
About a week ago, my brother's birthday rolled around, about a day or two before or after my A-Level results came through (I was never good with dates). He was ill at the time so a meal out was a definite no. There was also rumours of him going to the English answer to the German's Oktoberfest, but I refused to fund this since the idea of him and his girlfriend going out drinking for a weekend while my nephew was in my mother's care (the same mother who left my dad when I was seven, never paid child support and rarely saw me and my brothers as we grew up, oh and married an old man who hates kids) was something I didn't like. The solution? Probably a game.
During Steam's many sales, Demolition Simulator appeared. After talks with my brother, we decided that this would be his birthday present. While he was out for the weekend to see his family and his girlfriend's family in Sheffield and Blackpool, I thought I'd take a look at the game I'm paying £10 for (with consent).
Demolition Simulator is a game built around a basic and popular concept: The idea of blowing things up. The urge to let debris fly in an explosion of fire as though the depths of hell were crawling out is a primal instinct that holds true to most men and some women, including myself if I look deep enough into myself; although it may just be the abyss staring back. However, unlike those childish games like Red Faction: Guerilla and Just Cause 2, Demolition Simulator is a game that takes demolition seriously. Don't expect to be busting down walls with a massive hammer or smashing a plane into two tall towers to bring them down to the floor, oh no.
Expect realistic machinery designed to bring down buildings to rubble, expect realistic physics and expect to do what people who really do demolition work do. You're a mans man now, paying and then playing a game version of what some people do for an actual living and get paid for. Eh...As you can tell, I'm cynical about simulators. However, if people enjoy it, then no problem right? Pretty much correct.
It was then, just as the church was being torn down, Fred Phelps knew that the terrorists had won.
Okay, so putting aside my views of simulators like this, demolition work doesn't set out to establish a storyline like most simulators. You go in, you do demolition work and you leave. I decided to go through the tutorials, try a mission (they supply you with 12 missions) and see how I feel. So straight into the tutorial I go. First thing that hits me is this: Wow are the controls somewhat hard to use. Namely with vehicles you're meant to use to demolish things.
You have the driller which has three different moveable parts, but you only have WASD and arrow controls so you have to get the driller to the correct pointer, and then wrestle with the controls so WASD controls movement and arrows control the arm. The wrecking ball, while slightly easier, requires you to adjust the string of the wrecking ball, something I had forgotten the control of as soon as I left the tutorial.
You then use bulldozers and loaders to transport the debris from the group into the boxes. Something that in theory is meant to be easy, but you'll be struggling to drive without causing the debris on the floor to be crushed into a paste, something that is not only hard to notice but also hard to collect all of it with the bulldozer into a bundle. You'll then struggle with dumping waste in bins when they're mostly full. It's generally a chore, not annoying enough to be frustrating but not easy enough to be satisfying.
Now, here comes the stuff that really matters: Is it realistic. In a word: No. Well, some things are realistic like don't expect to break bricks with the driller if it isn't a thin wall since it works by pushing bricks through. However, the idea of as soon as bricks fall lower than about a metre off the ground before they turn into rubble automatically no matter how large the chunks were is something that grinds me to the bone, especially for a game that prides it's self so much on realism. The occasional texture-stretching is also another crime against the game's goal. I couldn't help but think that if they did something like this with the the Valve Source engine and made this as a mod, then it may have been a tiny bit better; or at least may of looked better.
If there's one thing that video-games and films had taught me, it's that buildings being blown up tend not to fall so...Anti-climatically
Another major problem I had was the options screen. So surprised at the low resolution, I decided to go to the settings. I doubt this could be more confusing if they had tried. So adjusting the resolution doesn't work so I have to play it at 1080 resolution, the lowest there is. You then get to the graphics and physics part. Most games work on a slider system which works with some tick boxes if you want certain effects (reflections, nudity and smoke to name two of the actual ones used in games and one which I wish was). Demolition Simulator dumps that concept in favour for a ?green or red toggle? system. If this isn't annoying enough, you are then landed with no idea which does what. Does the green toggle make it better? Does the red toggle with worse settings? Nothing is certain and it's very annoying.
In conclusion: If you were going to get a game based on a demolition simulator you would of got this game already, otherwise it'd remain off your shelf. However, stuck between the two because you love the idea of blowing things up, you might want to just play some Just Cause 2 or Red Fraction: Guerilla and settle with that, at least it will be story driven and will give you a feel of escapism and not of having a second job that doesn't pay.