Welcome Time Wasters!
My last week have been an exciting one. I took a trip to Tennessee to serve as a groomsman in one of my best friend’s weddings. It was a great trip and being chosen was an honor, but now I’m back to gaming.
My original plan for this week was to talk about Mobius Final Fantasy. I enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (Review Here) and decided that maybe I should give this new one a try. The only problem was that I didn’t really enjoy it. The game was a little too powerful for my smartphone. This left me with constant FPS drops and a horrible experience. It seemed interesting, but I just really couldn’t get into it.
I decided to stick with browser games this week for my entertainment. It was fitting after being away from my computer for a few days during the trip down south. My exploration of the internet led me to a game called Hitting Stuff at a Building.
Hitting Stuff at a Building is a game much like Arkanoid or Breakout, whichever one was you addiction as a kid. This means that players will spend their time smashing objects into bricks to destroy them. All of the bricks in a level need to be eliminated before the player can move to the next level.
Hitting Stuff at a Building mixes up its gameplay with some intersting concepts. Players control a young boy and can move him around the field. They are also carrying an indestructible badminton and can swing it with the press of a button. It starts out with the player just smacking balls at a building under construction, but more items can be picked up and sent flying at the structure. This includes hammers, nail guns, aerosol cans and more. Each item has its own power and some have unique abilities. This includes the aerosol can exploding after so many hits and the nail gun shooting nails when it’s been smacked.
The player also has a health gauge that they need to keep an eye on. This gauge will go down when the player is hit by falling debris from the building, or the items they’ve launched. Some items hurt worse than others and can end a game really quick if the player isn’t careful. Food items can be picked up to restore health, but they’re kinda sparse. Players can also find buckets to wear on their heads. This reduces damage, but doesn’t allow them to eat, either.
Hitting Stuff at a Building also shakes things up by having the player take on bosses every few levels. These are a neat addition to a game of this style. They also help break up the gameplay, which in turns keeps the game interesting longer.
Players will also run into other enemies besides bosses in Hitting Stuff at a Building. Sometimes levels will have construction workers in them. If the player knocks them to the ground, then they’ll have to hit them with enough falling debris to kill them. If not, the police will be called and the game will end.
There really isn’t much in the way of story to Hitting Stuff at a Building. It’s just a game about a boy that wants to destroy a building under construction. However, this doesn’t mean that the game isn’t littered with personality. After completing each level, players get to see cut scenes involving the kid’s attempt at destroying the building. This includes aliens coming down for a visit, surfing with a shark and other comedic skits.
What really helps those cut scenes along is Hitting Stuff at a Building’s presentation. The entire game looks like a 5th grader’s notebook came to life during a particularly boring math lesson. It’s a great presentation that sticks out and adds a good bit of flavor to the game. As much as I like pixel art and retro graphics, it’s nice to see a game with something different. Now if only the same backgrounds weren’t used over and over again.
The audio in Hitting Stuff at a Building is great. There are several songs in the game and many have heavier guitars and such. This audio fits well with the destructive nature of the game. It also has a couple of tracks from an indie band named Sulek. While I love indie games, I’ve never been much into trying indie music. I did enjoy what I head in the game, though. So, maybe I’ll give them a try.
If there was one bad thing about Hitting Stuff at a Building, it would be its length. The game takes a long time to finish and there’s no checkpoints at all. It’s a little disappointing, but at least it isn’t hard to leave a separate browser up with the game running while working on other projects.
Overall, Hitting Stuff at a Building is a fun game. It takes a classic genre and mixes it up with new ideas. The game also has a unique presentation and the music is quite enjoyable. By all means, go check it out when you’ve got some time to kill.
Hitting Stuff at a Building earns 4 GiN Gems out of 5!