The first thing I noticed when I went to install Demolish & Build Classic was the digital box art – I had seen this before. After doing some digging on all of the Xbox systems in our house, I noticed that my son had a game titled Demolish & Build with the exact same box art. The only change was the whole “Classic” part that appeared to have been added in MSPaint. This was around the time he walked into the room, looked at the screen, and was perplexed as to why I was installing this. Upon telling him I had to review it, his response was “I’m so sorry” as he walked out of the room leaving me to go about my business. After getting into said business, I feel like I should have taken this as an omen and walked away, but here we are. Unlike any of the other employment simulators I have played from Ultimate Games, I have actually worked demolition here and there – in some situations it’s actually kind of fun. It’s cathartic to take all the frustrations and anger that you’ve bottled up and just let loose with a sledgehammer. Sadly, this is one of those situations where it’s much more entertaining in real life than in a digital world.

Before we get too far into this review, I am going to be transparent and let you know a few things. First off, I didn’t finish the game. This is not because I hated it (that is a fact as well), but because I managed to finally break one of these games, and I did so unintentionally and extremely early into the game. I even went as far as to restart the game from scratch not once, but twice after doing so. Additionally, I was perplexed as to what the difference was between the 2017 version and the Classic option, and it’s essentially a sequel. A poorly made, broken, five-step-back sequel that while the original wasn’t anything to write home about, was mostly serviceable and had significantly fewer issues and more features than this new shiny version does. How do I know this? Well, I installed that version after the fact for comparison, out of equal parts shits and giggles as well as morbid curiosity.

Unlike many of the other sim games on the market, there is a narrative here. It’s thinner than some Section 8 housing drywall, but it’s there and serves its purpose. You play as a peon at a failing construction company and are given basic jobs to earn some cash, upgrade your equipment, and hopefully turn your business around. I wouldn’t know what happened, because again, I couldn’t finish it. The first few missions are basic, acting as a tutorial, and takes no time to show you how terrible this game really is. Swinging a hammer feels awkward, both in its animation, lack of oomph, poor collision detection, and downright terrible destruction effects. I am talking about Red Faction (RIP Volition) on PlayStation 2-level visuals here. This was also one of the many things the original release got right. At least more right.

After a frustrating job well done, I hopped into my pickup truck to drive to the next job site. I was greeted by some of the loudest techno music that sent me into a Vietnam-style flashback to the Dubstep Gun from the Saints Row series (I am really going to miss Volition), which was followed by my wife running down the steps to have a one-woman rave, pumping her fist and dancing to the music as I struggled to shut it off as quickly as possible. I was pleased to find that there is a GTA-style radio option, despite not having any licensed music, that allowed me to switch to a more tolerable rock option. As I set off on my journey through the janky, poorly rendered open-ish world that had so many flickering assets I couldn’t tell if this was just poorly made or an additional feature to go with the techno music to simulate flashing lights, I noticed that my truck was driving itself. No animated figure. Not even a static dude with his arms at his side – it was an empty cab. I am sure this is a nothing burger for most, but again, something the original game managed to pull off.

My next job was where things got spicy for the first time – I was tasked with using a bulldozer to take down some remnants of a building and flatten some bushes. Cool. Easy enough. Or so it would seem. There were some fancy red barrels that you’d find in the likes of your favorite first-person shooter, and after years of shooting them, my brain threw out a light bulb over my head that screamed “those go boom,” which is exactly what happened when I unintentionally (I promise) ran over them. As you can guess, the explosion destroyed my bulldozer. Conveniently across the street was a vehicle spawn point that I figured would just throw out another piece of machinery. Which it did, but it spawned a broken one. I went as far as to keep requesting them and each time, it would spawn in a new area just as broken as the last one. Even restarting the mission left me with a broken dozer. I figured I would just restart the mission, but they were still broken. After replaying the game up to this point, carefully avoiding the explosive bits and making it on to the next mission that thought it would be cute to repeat this issue, I tipped over my machinery which essentially repeated the same series of events, so I threw in the towel.

Since a sledgehammer runs about $100 and destruction of property charges can vary depending on your location, Demolish & Build Classic is an affordable way to experience demolition work, but it’s much less entertaining than the real deal. This almost falls into the “so bad it’s good” territory, but the issues severely outweigh the positives. If you’re really looking for a demo sim, I would recommend the 2017 entry over this one, or you could just apply to work on a construction crew and get money in exchange for your time.

2 out of 10

Pros

• Almost Hits the So Bad It’s Good Mark
• The Game Can Be Easily Broken
• The Techno Music Might Inspire a Dance Party

Cons

• Flickering Assets Are Nauseating
• Broken Mechanics
• Poor Collision Detection
• Horrid Presentation

Demolish & Build Classic was developed by Demolition Games S.A. and published by Ultimate Games S.A.. It launched on NS, X1 and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on XSX. If you’d like to see more of Demolish & Build Classic, check out the developer’s site.

 

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