Destructamundo Review

The only thing better than building something up is blowing something apart. Destructamundo's entire appeal hinges on this idea. It may not be the most varied or thought-provoking puzzle game, but it sure is a stylish, satisfying, interactive fireworks display.

Destructamundo's goofy premise follows a fleet of alien invaders traveling from system to system annihilating all the planets they can find. Quirky one-liners in-between levels set the off-kilter tone, but it's the striking artwork that does most of the heavy lifting. Objects have bold flat colors and angular, geometric designs that mesh modern and retro sensibilities. There's a real B-movie vibe to game's take on sci-fi and the constant explosions look and sound like Missile Command. But considering the game comes from the creators of the Bit.Trip series, the quality presentation isn't too surprising.

Fortunately, Destructamundo's myriad of booms and blasts feel as good to activate as they look. Each level gives players three bombs and tasks them with detonating the entire field. Planets are covered with cities, and when a city touches an explosion, it creates another explosion. So the goal is to quickly and efficiently cause a chain reaction to take out the whole board. Place a bomb at just the right spot to engulf cities as the planet rotates and watch them spread the fire to neighboring worlds. It's like knocking over extra violent dominoes.

However, while the system is immediately rewarding, it doesn't quite hold up over the long run. The game tries introducing new tricks like shielded planets, moving cargo ships, and planets with time-delayed combustible cores like dynamite. However, levels can't do much more than just add, subtract, and rearrange planets of varying sizes. And once players get the timing down, quickly blowing everything up and collecting the bonus points becomes mechanical.

Destructamundo may not make your brain explode, but it will scratch your itch to make other things explode. Being destructive isn't always a bad thing.