Elemental, published by Vostu, is a twist on Sudoku. Rather than using numbers though, different elements are placed on the tiled board. Initially, the four elements to be placed are fire, water, wind and earth. As you play more, additional levels are unlocked and new elements are added to the mix. The board starts blank, but with different elements and compounds shown in the background. Example: A block of two tiles may show ice, which means water and wind need to go in those two blocks in some fashion. The easier levels will have a few elements shown in the background of a few single block (meaning that element goes there) and give you a kick start.
There are two game modes: Normal and Survival. In the Normal Mode, you play through at your own pace. There is a timer, but it’s more for scoring than anything else. In Survival Mode, you start out with a clock that counts down. When you finish a level, more time is added and you jumped to the next level. This repeats until you’ve completely run out of time.
As a fan of Sudoku, I found the twist in Elemental interesting, but way too easy. I often play the most difficult Sudoku puzzles I can find. For those of you that enjoy the easier Sudoku puzzles, this game might interest you.
I do want to note that I had problems with the app after about 3-4 days. It would start, be get caught in a loop of “loading”. I don’t know if it was the app or my phone (HTC G2), but I had to remove it from my phone. The game is free, but ad supported, so I wasn’t too upset about removing it.
Rating: 5/10
Published: May 3, 2012 05:29 pm