Retro Replay Review
Gameplay
Elements of Destruction puts you in the shoes of a disgruntled weatherman turned mad scientist, offering you a sandbox of chaos to wreak havoc on unsuspecting cities. The core gameplay loop is simple yet addictive: select from a roster of natural disasters—tornadoes, lightning storms, ice storms, earthquakes or meteor showers—from a menu on the bottom screen, then use the stylus to plot their destructive paths. Each day brings new objectives, whether it’s demolishing a set value of property, toppling a particular building type or achieving a damage percentage within a tight time limit.
Resource management adds a strategic layer to the frenzy: disasters consume energy to cast, and while it slowly regenerates over time, the real trick is to feed on the destruction you cause. Each demolished building grants energy, encouraging you to chain powerful storms for maximum impact. To help you plan your rampages, a mini-map on the top screen tracks building types and health bars, enabling informed decisions on where to strike next.
As you progress through three escalating “weeks,” each with seven distinct days, your disasters level up and unlock special abilities. Level-three tornadoes can carve massive funnels, lightning storms wield fiery infernos you can fan by blowing into the DS microphone, ice storms lay crippling blizzards and earthquakes or meteor showers become devastating when you repeatedly tap their epicenters. Learning how and when to deploy these advanced attacks keeps each session fresh.
The game throws countermeasures at you in the form of specialized buildings—tornado trappers, cloud crunchers, seismic nullifiers and more—which can neutralize or repel your disasters. Repairing and rebuilding drones will swoop in to undo your work, making timing and precision all the more critical. Mastering how to hover your lightning storm over drones or strategically bypass storm-free zones is key to clearing each day’s tough objectives.
Finally, multiplayer modes spice up the experience. A three-player Race mode challenges you to complete objectives faster than your opponents, while Tug-of-War pits your cumulative destruction against theirs in head-to-head chaos. These competitive modes add replay value and let you test your disaster-crafting skills against friends in local play.
Graphics
Elements of Destruction takes full advantage of the Nintendo DS’s capabilities, delivering colorful, cartoony cityscapes that belie the grim havoc you’re about to unleash. Buildings are rendered in clean, angular sprites with clear health indicators, making it easy to track structural integrity and plan your next strike. The overhead view feels just right for keeping tabs on multiple fronts.
Disaster animations are surprisingly dynamic. Tornadoes swirl with convincing particle effects, ice storms blanket districts in crystalline frost and meteor showers streak the sky with fiery comets. These visual flourishes not only look great on the dual screens but also provide instant feedback on the scale and direction of your chaos, making destruction both gratifying and easy to control.
Special attacks come with upgraded animations that emphasize their power. Level-three lightning storms erupt in bright arcs that catch buildings ablaze, while earthquakes manifest as ground-splitting shockwaves that send debris flying. These dramatic effects underscore your progress and add a visual punch to late-game sessions.
Despite the DS’s hardware limits, environmental details such as traffic, small trees and water features populate the map, lending life to a city you’re systematically decimating. The user interface is clean and unobtrusive, with menus and energy meters tucked neatly on the touchscreen, leaving the top screen free for full-scale mayhem.
Story
The narrative in Elements of Destruction strikes a perfect balance of over-the-top humor and tongue-in-cheek villainy. You play Marty Storm, a charismatic TV weatherman whose refusal to sugarcoat dangerous weather costs him his job. When ratings-obsessed producers humiliate him on live television, he chucks the forecast book and reveals his darker side.
Marty’s backstory as a part-time mad scientist provides a fun justification for the remarkable disaster-generating device at your fingertips. His motivations are simple yet effective: prove his former colleagues wrong by leveling the cities that once profited from his silence. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, delivering cheesy one-liners and news bloopers that add personality between destructive rampages.
Each day unfolds like an episode of a sensational weather report, complete with mission briefings from the disgruntled Storm himself. While you won’t find deep character arcs or emotional twists, the premise is engaging enough to keep you invested in delivering ever-greater catastrophes. The story drives the action rather than slows it down, ensuring that narrative beats enhance rather than interrupt gameplay.
Overall Experience
Elements of Destruction is a delightful blend of strategy and chaos, offering bite-sized missions that are perfect for quick handheld sessions or longer playthroughs. The straightforward goal structure—cause X damage to achieve Y objective—pairs wonderfully with the nuanced disaster upgrade system, striking a satisfying balance between instant gratification and strategic depth.
While repetition can creep in after dozens of days, the introduction of counter-buildings, drones and random power-ups keeps each level unpredictable. Multiplayer modes add another layer of longevity, inviting you to pit your cataclysmic prowess against friends for bragging rights. The intuitive touchscreen controls make drawing disaster paths and tapping out earthquake pulses a breeze, even for newcomers.
Sonically, the game delivers rock-driven tunes and bombastic sound effects that heighten the thrill of destruction. The DS microphone gimmick—blowing to spread fire—feels novel without overstaying its welcome. Minor loading pauses are rare and unobtrusive, preserving the game’s fast pace.
In the end, Elements of Destruction is a riotous homage to disaster flicks, packing enough variety, strategy and cartoonish flair to keep city-flattening aficionados entertained for hours. If you’ve ever fantasized about controlling tornadoes or raining meteors down on urban sprawls, this game is a must-play on the DS.
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