Element4l – Review
Element4l takes you on a journey with the four elements to bring love, joy and ragequits to the world.
Story
The story in this game is about the creation of new life, when the love between a man and woman collides. To complete this epic quest, you need to gather soulparts. These parts are hidden in several insane levels with quite a bit of obstacles. Thank God you get to control the four elements Air, Fire, Ice and Stone to overcome anything that’s on your way.
Graphics
The graphics are really nice and detailed, even for the low graphic settings. The game menu gives a peaceful feeling and emphasizes the purpose of this game (although ragequits can occur). The elements are realistic and have their own specific animation. The Fire element has for example some fiery sparks and the Stone element pounds the ground and stirs some surrounding rocks. The surroundings are very lively and danger zones are nicely indicated.
There is a minor remark when you start a level. The graphics are a bit blurry but this disappears when you carry on.
Sound
There is a diversity of music styles and they all fit the game in some way. The music can be relaxing at tranquil moments but it can also be nerve-racking when a more up-tempo soundtrack starts.
The sound effects are nice and suitable for the different elements. These effects really take the game up a notch because you can hear the ice crush when it slides down a mountain.
The downside is that you can’t change the volume of the music. Either you turn it on or off. You can’t turn off the ambience sound, so you always hear some background noises. Another minor remark is that these settings aren’t saved when you quit the game. The music plays again when you restart Element4l.
Gameplay
Element4l is an experimental platform game with no guns or enemies trying to kill you. The only opponent you have is Mother Nature and her fantastic mountains and caves. The creators added some funny quotes that make you smile, even if it leads to your death.
Element4l has a campaign and race mode. The developers didn’t implement a multiplayer mode in this indie game. This isn’t really necessary in my opinion because the campaign is quite challenging and satisfying.
You control the four elements with four controls. Each element has an arrow key as default control. These key bindings can be changed before you start the game. This is really positive because you can play the game with any key settings you want.
The game has a few tutorial levels so you can get familiar with the key bindings. You start as an Air element and you need to search for your friends. These levels give the player the possibility to get some hints when you can’t seem to overcome some obstacles. This is a great way to learn some tips and tricks. A downside is that the game doesn’t give you the opportunity to play the tutorial or not. The tutorial levels have a different name than the normal stages but they are easily skipped (like I accidentally did).
You can use the power of the four elements to venture through all kinds of environments. Each element has its own characteristics. The Air element can float and is capable to drift away with the wind. Fire gives a speed boost and is capable of bouncing against lava walls. These two elements can’t hit the ground because they ‘pop’ to death and you have to restart at a checkpoint .
The Stone element can pound the ground and can increase the terminal velocity due to its weight. Ice is capable of sliding down slopes.
It’s important to change elements to get past obstacles but shifting elements drains energy. You really need to think your actions through and it’s fatal to summon a wrong element. This drains too much energy and can end deadly.
The purpose is to find a soulpart at the end of each level. You can find two extra items during your journey in each stage. These items are called ‘Lost Sparks’ and are hidden on hard-to-get-spots. It’s not an objective of the game to find these Lost Sparks but it’s a nice addition for the hardcore gamers out there.
After you complete the game, you get the SloMo option. This upgrade can be invoked when you press spacebar while playing. SloMo will make everything move in slow-motion. You can use this option to time your jumps or other manoeuvres.
The race mode is available for every level you’ve completed. This game option has leaderboards and shows the fastest player that completed that level. Race mode gives you the opportunity to race against your own ghost. This can be nice in a way because you can see your ghost fail when you breeze through these levels.
Conclusion
Element4l is an experimental platform game that wants to take you on a journey to create life. This indie game has really nice graphics and epic music. This game gives you the chance to relax or stress out for a bit and gives you the opportunity to develop your reflexes at the same time. I can’t guarantee you won’t ragequit though!
Happy gaming!
Element4l - Review,
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The soundtrack of this game is actually quite amazing.