Demolish & Build 2018
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Ultimate Games
Published By : Ultimate Games
Category : Simulation, Strategy
Release Date : Jan 15, 2020

Most of us probably remember being kids and being absolutely fascinated going by a construction site and seeing all of the massive equipment. Some of us might even have kids ourselves now that carry the same fascination. I know I can’t drive anywhere with my three year old son without him pointing out every excavator, bulldozer and dump truck that we go by. Luckily though, there are a plethora of games now that take these childhood wonders and put us as directly in control of them, and such is the case with Demolish & Build on the Nintendo Switch

As soon as you open the game, you’ll create your own worker profile and be thrust right into the middle of a job. Your boss is calling, not too thrilled that it’s taken so long to get ahold of you, but he let’s it go since you’re already on site for the latest contract he’s given you. Someone has purchased a former-casino and needs some things demolished and removed so they can turn it into a restaurant.

This serves as a bit of your tutorial, teaching you the simplicity of completing tasks on the job. You have a worker’s sense, which sends out a pulse and highlights the objects you need to work on, which in this instance includes knocking down some walls and a couple of statues. After you complete this job you are…yelled at for knocking down the statues and fired. But don’t worry, your co-worker is on your side and quit, leaving you two to start up your own business together.

From here, you will slowly learn the rest of the ropes and what it takes to run your own demolition company. In total, you’ll be able to work in four locations around the world. No matter which spot you’re in though, you’ll basically be running and operating things just the same.

Running your company is as simple as accepting the various contracts scattered around each location. This is one of those titles where it gives you access to “everything” right off the bat, but you’re guided and limited by the equipment you own and the money in your account.

Jobs break down into two areas of concern. The more important ones are your “story” missions, but these only serve as means for expanding your company to certain points. These will get you more and better tools while on the jobs working with your hands, but will also generally leave you in the position to acquire a big piece of machinery for your demolition arsenal.

The rest of the jobs available to you will be odd ones scattered all over the cities you’re working in. A lot of these are placed around and just require you to walk up to the work sign and accept the contract. Again, you’re only limited by the equipment you own or can rent. However, you’ll occasionally get a call for an “emergency” contract that you’ll need to accept within a limited time.

Depending on what you want to get from this game could completely change how you play it. If you’re invested in the story of the game and growing your company to it’s greatest potential, you’ll want to go after the quickest and biggest money. One of the best ways to do this is the emergency contracts that pop up. These will dump significant funds into your account upon completion. If you don’t care about the story and just are in it for the demolition and using the different vehicles, then it really won’t matter how you approach playing this game.

While the game itself is pretty fun to play, this port of Demolish & Build was a pretty horrible one, and probably could have done without making. I actually own and have played the Steam version of this title as well, and seeing how much was sacrificed into bringing this game to the Switch, it’s kept me asking why bother doing it in the first place. If you refer to outdoor screenshots attached in this review, you’ll notice a lot of fog and lack of detail on the buildings. Even on the indoor shot as I’m standing immediately next to a slot machine you can barely make out the image details on it.

In short, while it’s an okay game to play, the lacking visuals make this game much more of a miss than a hit. If you’re dead-set on playing this particular game and can enjoy it despite it looking like it launched on the Nintendo 64, then by all means squeeze it into your library. However, until if and when they try to improve this game on the console, you can get your demolition and construction fix elsewhere on the Switch with the far superior Construction Simulator 2, and you can read that review here.