Review of Demolish & Build Classic

I entered the room like a wrecking ball, but first I felt destroyed.

Demolish & Build Classic
Platform: PlayStation 4, also on PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
Developer: Demolish Games
Publisher: Ultimate Games
Release date: January 12th, 2024
Price: $9.99 via digital download
Availability: PlayStation Store

Demolish & Build Classic isn’t a good game, in my opinion. The game, which is based on the Unity Engine, briefly stops when you enter each of the four harsh regions or even merely pull up to a job site. Although the game allows you to take control of various pieces of gear, such as a concrete mixer truck and a backhoe loader, it often appears as though various inexpensive asset packs were combined to create the game.

Using machinery such as a bulldozer can result in unforeseen issues. I broke my power shovel within the first fifteen minutes of play (costing me a whooping $23 in repairs!) and then I got it stuck while demolishing an old shed. I was worried when I quickly ran out of fuel because I hadn’t seen any gas stations.

You won’t get much assistance when your car suddenly breaks down in Demolish & Build because it just provides button prompts and on-screen to-do lists, in contrast to the extensive tutorials seen in the majority of contemporary games. That is just the harsh reality of the game; you will have to adjust. Since this is undoubtedly a low-budget film, the majority of the music appears to have been taken from a library without any royalties, and there is no voiceover.

Learning via Trial and Error and Glitch

That’s not to argue that there isn’t any fun to be had from Demolish & Build Classic. A tiny bit of enjoyment can be had, at least in an unconventional way. The majority of commercial games aim to immerse players in virtual worlds where fundamental tasks may be completed with little uncertainty. However, Demolish & Build Classic places you in situations where you must solve practically all of the puzzles on your own. It is similar to traveling to a nation where you are unfamiliar with the language and even the most fundamental customs.

Since game “grammar” is the foundation of interaction, the initial task of demolishing a series of columns has a lot in common with the experience of excavation in Minecraft. When you work as a contractor, you will receive jobs in a structured manner similar to that of a role-playing game. You will have to purchase better tools before taking on larger bids. It’s clear that the members of the Demolish Games crew were avid gamers as children. Everything about Demolish & Build seems to have been taken from a different, usually superior game. Additionally, other games quench a want for destruction considerably better than Blast Corps, whether you’d prefer to play Teardown or return to Blast Corps. The fact that D&B doesn’t let you go crazy with its powerful tools and heavy-duty hardware may be its biggest transgression. A passing automobile won’t even get scratched if you use a mallet on it.

Traditional? That is a contentious statement.

Now, though, let’s get back to leveling that shed. I wasn’t sure if using the sledgehammer to bash the hut was helping me, like I wasn’t with many of the portable items in the game. Despite being marketed as a “Classic” and being a port of a seven-year-old game, the game feels like a work in progress because the first few swings provided neither visual nor auditory feedback.

The collision modeling in Demolish & Build just makes things more confusing. Although it appears that your hammer is making contact with a wall or pillar, your swinging is ineffective until the aiming cursor is squarely over an object. Additionally, you’ll undoubtedly become frustrated when you realize you’ve been wasting time because there is no feedback. I have no idea why my saw was just cutting one side of a fence on another job. It might be pointless to try to drive around objects like a dump truck because many of Demolish & Build’s trucks have a tendency to become stuck when scuttling up small grades.

More akin to an edgy escape room

Occasionally, a workaround exists, which resembles a puzzle-meta game. Some fairly obvious fixes entail trying to restart the system, such as by canceling and accepting a contact again. You feel like RoboCop in a Road Roller when you click the left analog stick because it activates “work sense,” which illuminates objects relating to the task at hand. However, there isn’t much explanation provided.

However, there were times when I wasn’t as lucky. I attempted to resurrect a bulldozer numerous times, but the machine would not move. I tried to bring a cargo truck to get some lumber, but I was unable to load the timber. I made the decision to not play fair since Demolish & Build weren’t. I therefore made an effort to learn how other players navigated this part. Unfortunately, they were as baffled as I was. Here, I saw the Let’s Play potential of Demolish & Build as I saw streamers go through a range of emotions that mirrored my own, including laughter, cursing, and occasionally giving up in anger.

In summary

If you persevere, you’ll soon be able to take down buildings with a wrecking ball, become a land tycoon, and assign independent laborers to each property. The problem is that neither the trip nor the destination feel worthwhile. All too frequently, I was caught in a never-ending loop of doubt and boredom that turned into a Sisyphean test of endurance. Allow me to mess things up.

The publisher issued a review code for the PlayStation 4 game Demolish & Build Classic.

Review Overview

Gameplay – 20%

Controls – 15%

Aesthetics – 30%

Content – 40%

26%

POOR

Summary : It should be easy to play games where you use wrecking balls and excavators to raze buildings. Who doesn’t enjoy the catharsis that comes with digital destruction, after all? However, Demolish & Build Classic stumbles through almost every assignment, consistently letting you down with erratic gameplay, ambiguous directions, and monotonous jobs. This feels less like a real sandbox and more like a cat litter bucket.