Review: Demolition Company

Developer: Giants Software

Publisher: Excalibur Publishing

Demolition Company is one of the latest games to hit the simulation scene, seemingly an amalgam of various other simulations that have come before it, all tied together into one package. You’ll be smashing, blasting and ramming buildings before you’re through with it in your quest to own the best demolition company out there.

Unlike most simulators, Demolition Company has a lot more freedom and choice as to how you approach tasks. Everything is based around your company HQ, where you can take on jobs or enter into tutorials to learn how to use new equipment you’ve purchased. There’s also a ‘Destructomart’ in close proximity, which allows you to buy new vehicles and equipment for jobs. You’re able to wander around on foot between each of these and take them on in any order you choose.

As you begin you’ll be equipped with little more than a sledgehammer, but after a job or two you’ll be allowed to play with some better equipment such as a jackhammer and small wrecking vehicles. Cash earned through jobs is used to buy new toys to destroy with and there’s a huge variety of vehicles available in the game, so you’ll end up using large wrecking balls, long-armed excavators as well as explosives. Most missions require you to own certain vehicles or equipment before you’re allowed to take them on, but anything you’re missing can be obtained straight from the job selection menu, rendering the aforementioned DestructoMart relatively useless for the most part. However, some items sold in the shop aren’t required to complete any missions, so you will have to visit to obtain them.

There are missions based in several districts of the city, from high-class hotels, dock warehouses and industrial buildings. Most missions revolve around the same simple concept: you’re given a building (or part of a building) that needs to be demolished and you can rip it down any way you please. Some missions do have certain requisites, such as demolition without causing damage to the surrounding buildings, clearing a specific area of debris or crushing a certain amount of rubble in the crusher. This gives the game a nice bit of variety, so you won’t find yourself repeating the same actions over and over. Given the fact that you can also replay any missions at any time with any vehicles and equipment you’ve unlocked (apart from explosives which are forbidden in some situations) you’ll always be finding news ways to bring those buildings down. Correct actions, such as careful demolition, will fill up a green bar, which, when filled, will end the mission as a success. Incorrect actions, such as damaging surrounding buildings, will fill a red bar; fill this up all the way and you’ll be forced to restart.

For a game like Demolition Company, vehicle control is important. Typically simulators have complex control schemes (as you would expect), but Demolition Company strikes a good balance, with intuitive controls that have enough depth to give you complete control over your machine. As standard, WASD gives you basic control over your movements – both on foot and in your vehicles – with the mouse buttons and movements giving you control over the other actions. For example, holding down the left mouse button whilst moving the mouse forward might raise and lower the lower portion of the arm of an excavator, whilst moving it side to side will swing the arm side to side. Likewise, the same mouse movements with the right button held down may control another section of the arm. It all works well and whilst it may sound complex it’s easy to get to grips with and allows for precision demolition, if necessary.

As for the demolition itself, it’s a mixed bag. Every building, wall or structure you’re asked to destroy is composed of set blocks of material that separate during demolition. Often it looks like you’re tearing down a LEGO house, and while the blocks have irregular shapes it looks odd and is extremely simple. Using smaller blocks would have given a better illusion of dynamic crumbling. The game physics are somewhat unrealistic, with blocks bouncing around and having an incorrect weight. When trying to transport rubble in a bucket to the crusher you’ll have a hard time getting it there, as pieces will sometimes bounce out before you get to your destination.

Although the game gives you tips and instructions on the correct ways to destroy structures, from experience I can tell you that the best way to bring down a building is to simply ram it until you’ve destroyed enough to fill up the green bar. This isn’t the best strategy on tasks that require precision demolition (trust me, I’ve tried) but it works for the majority. It’s a bit of a design flaw as it ultimately requires little-to-no skill, but you’re more likely to get your vehicle stuck on debris this way, which will force you to get out and break the blocks apart until you’re rolling again.

Demolition Company actively encourages modding, too, with a specific single-player district dedicated to fan-made maps and missions, so it’s easy to get stuck in and play anything you download. You can download vehicles and tools to use as well, so if you’re wanting something a little more entertaining then you can always try out a racing car with a bucket stuck on the front, or go on foot and blow everything up with a rocket launcher.

There is a DLC pack already available for the game, which includes a gravity-gun-inspired ‘Plasma Energy Manipulator’, a pickaxe and a bulldozer. The PEM allows you to grab specific blocks from a building and fling them as you please, the pickaxe is essentially a re-skin of the sledgehammer, and the bulldozer is a good vehicle for ramming buildings. The gravity gun offering is definitely entertaining, but overall the pack is probably not worth the money unless you’re really into the game.

Demolition Company is definitely one of the better simulators I’ve played. The main missions won’t last you more than a few hours, but you can definitely extend that playing time by downloading mods and replaying missions again with new vehicles and tools. Sims are often patchy when it comes to content and amateur in design, but Demolition Company feels more complete and adequately put together (apart from the odd spelling mistake in the tips and descriptions). It’s not as realistic as some may like, but I personally enjoyed it and it’s worth a shot if you’re into simulations.

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