Destructopus, despite immediately conjuring up images and thoughts of evil, is actually supposed to be a good guy and the hero of the game. Contradictory to his monstrous appearance, the massive octopus is a big softy. That’s because his goal is to take down all the polluters out there that have ruined the planet and its oceans while he slept peacefully in the water’s depths. After waking up and finding himself surrounded by dead ocean creatures, Destructopus is pretty angry. Everything standing in the way our “hero” can fall victim to his anger. This might sound exciting at first, but that excitement soon subsides after only a few minutes of actual play time.
Play consists of moving your Destructopus forward or in this case left to right using the virtual controls on the lower left-hand side of the screen. In addition to trudging along at a snail’s pace, you can also duck to avoid missiles and attacks that might be coming from the middle of the screen or higher. There really isn’t anything beyond that. You can attack the puny humans and buildings via a high and low attack. Your high attack is a monstrous biting smash with Destructopus’s head. The lower attack is a sweeping swipe of a claw. You can also press and hold the screen to release a laser attack from your heroic monster.
Your destructive behavior pays off with points earned in each level. You can use these points to purchase everything from stronger attacks to increasing movement speed. Here’s where things get a little tricky and somewhat deceptive. The items and upgrades you can buy with money earned in the game are mixed in with DLC items that cost real money. So instead of separating paid DLC from items that come in the game, GlitchSoft has mixed them up so that if you’re not paying attention, you can inadvertently pay real world money for items you think are unlockable in the game. I’d like to think this was a mistake, but the design and deception seems intended.
Graphically, Destructopus looks nice and colorful with a presentation reminiscent of classic 16-bit console games. The menus and gameplay all have that classic look. The animations of Destructopus, your enemies and solid environments all stir up thoughts of something you’d see on the Neo-Geo. Maybe that’s because the soldiers and some of the set pieces look like they were ripped right out of a Metal Slug game. The cute graphics aren’t able to make this a winner though.
The pacing in Destructopus is too slow for anyone to really find enjoyment unless the person playing has intense focus and can handle moving along each level extremely slow. Trudging along and unleashing destruction on buildings and humans is fun for a moment or two, but it doesn’t take long to grow bored with this game. The idea of a game that promotes environmentalism is great. It’s nothing new though and has been done better. If you really like slow moving games with the simplest of controls, you might find something to like in Destructopus. Unfortunately I did not.
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Graphics |
7.5 |
Fun pixelated graphics with a colorful range give it a classic look. |
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Audio |
7.5 |
Upbeat music highlights the solid sound in Destructopus. |
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Single Player |
5.5 |
Moving to the right at a snail's pace and doing 1 of 2 attacks. That's it. |
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Multiplayer |
N/A |
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Replay |
4.0 |
Playing through level after level of the same thing won't warrant replay. |
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Overall |
5.5 |
The environmental message is nice, but the gameplay just isn't. |
