Elems: Windows Phone Game Review

Elems is a Tetris styled game for your Windows Phone where you try to form groups of fuzzy little creatures, Elems. Line up four Elems of the same color and they disappear from the game board. Elems has three game modes to keep things interesting.

Game controls will take a little time to get used to but overall, Elems is a decent little game for your Windows Phone.

The main menu for Elems has sound/music controls in the upper left corner with a help section button in the upper right corner. At the bottom of the screen you have options to review the game in the Windows Phone Store and access to the online leaderboard as well as viewing your gaming achievements.

Game play is similar to Tetris in that you have combos of Elems dropping from the top of the screen. You move them side to side and rotate them so they will fall into place and match other Elems already sitting at the bottom of the screen. You have arrow buttons on either side of the screen for horizontal movement and a rotate button just below both arrows. Swiping down at the screen will drop the playing piece faster. A preview window is screen right and will show the next playing piece coming into play.

Create a group of four of the same Elems and they disappear from the screen earning you points. Groups can be more than four and have to connect in some fashion.

Elems has three game modes to choose from.

Classic: A Tetris styled game where you try to remove as many Elems as possible before the stacks reach the top of the screen.

BlockWar: A similar game as Classic except annoying blocks will drop occasionally, blocking any combos that you may be working on. You'll have to find a way to work around these blocks to avoid the stacks from reaching the top of the screen.

ClearMaps: This is a multi-level game where you have to create groups that will eliminate the blocks that are on the screen. You do so by creating groups adjacent to the block which in turn will remove the block. Your playing pieces are limited and your goal is to eliminate all blocks.

Elems is a fun game but the game controls are a little frustrating at times. I'm not sure if the controls need to be more prominent with say an online directional pad or just easier to see. The three game modes helps Elems from getting stale and the ClearMaps can be rather challenging to get the sequence and placement of pieces just right to eliminate the blocks. All in all, Elems is a decent game worth trying.

Elems is a free, ad supported game that you can grab here at the Windows Phone Store.