Element4l is quick to deploy its order of operations. The enduring object of a platformer is to get from one end of the level to the other, a facet Element4l obeys with four different mechanics. As a bubble, you can use any acquired momentum to jump up and forward. Turning into an ice cube allows you to smoothly glide over a surface and pick up additional speed. The rock can be employed to bash through barriers or fall quickly. Turning into a fireball makes for rapid, if not risky, forward momentum. Every mechanic, except for ice, is governed by a circular energy meter limiting its use.
Each of Element4l’s mechanics comes with its own set of risks. If the bubble touches any surface, it pops and sets you back to the last checkpoint. The fireball will generate a similar fail state if it touches anything other than horizontal fire walls. Ice is as close as Element4l comes to a default state, resting your energy meter and creating the most momentum, but it’s also susceptible to poisonous green surfaces and fire pits. The rock appears to be the most pragmatic tool, inwardly risking your performance rather than your progress.
Momentum is the key effectively making your way through Element4l’s sixteen levels. Efficiency, at least through the first few areas, is found in properly managing curves as a means to gain acceleration. By looking at a curve in a level as a veritable half-pipe, you turn into an ice cube to ride it up, use the bubble to jump even higher at the apex, and then turn into a rock on your way down just before you make contact with the surface. Turn back into an ice cube and you’ve found a way to turn yourself in a veritable rocket.
It’s all much easier said than done. You learn a lot on the way, but other lessons can be taught my seeking the advice of Element4l’s resident expert, Mr. Smooth. He only appears if you’ve goofed up a particular checkpoint five or so times, but provides a perfect visual example of what’s required to proceed. This obviously takes the thrill of discovery away from Element4l’s inherent challenge, but it still leaves the responsibility of execution to the player. It’s important to note that Mr. Smooth’s example isn’t the only way to progress in Element4l, and following him exactly will never lead to the lost sparks hiding in tiny pockets around Element4l’s levels.
Element4l comes with a trial-and-error means of progression, as (or at least I found) I was rarely making it through a level without dying ten or fifty times. I’m not sure if this is an intention or a consequence. In the few times I was able to do everything correctly based on instinct, Element4l almost felt like Sonic the Hedgehog cruising along a breezy level. Other times I was repeating one specific portion of a single sequence over and over until I absolutely nailed the execution. There’s little room for error, and those without the patience necessary to deal with repeated failure may not take kindly to Element4l’s unrepentant difficulty.
Oddly, Element4l carries a sweet sense of personality along with it. There’s very little of a narrative to speak of, but a disembodied text occasionally appears onscreen to offer words of encouragement. It’s often there to celebrate an earned sequence of gleeful freefall, but sometimes it pops up to reference Indiana Jones or Tony Hawk. It’s also widely congratulatory, accompanying your own sigh of relief upon conquering a particularly difficulty sequence. The smiling face permanently etched on your ice cube is another sly touch of personality, but it’s Element4l seems prepared to offer.
Visually, Element4l only seems interested in supporting its mechanics. Its fuzzy presence, occasional desolate nature backdrop, and evening sun bear the mystique of a surreal dreamland where sentient ice cubes have places to go, which would be interesting if not for how often Element4l repeats its own tricks. It’s pretty, but only for a short while before it all boils down to pure mechanics. Still, Element4l rarely gets in its own way, which is all you can ask of decent platformer.
If there’s any true fault to its platforming, it lies in how Element4l deals with its checkpoints. Frequency is fine and fair, but proper positioning needs some work. Too often I would find myself without the requisite momentum necessary to properly deal with the challenge in front of me, often resorting to a quick succession of fireball + bubble + ice cube to get me going. Seeing Mr. Smooth coast along with the momentum of an error-free run was likely the only workable solution to his presence, but a lack of a proper demonstration, at least in these instances, can handicap an otherwise lost player.
Element4l comes alive when its being completely inventive with its mechanics. Sequences toward the end do some interesting things with wind and momentum, forcing the player to engage their elements in a couple of surprising ways. For example, the fireball’s forward momentum only works when heading to the right, so any reverse traversal requires a bit of consideration. Likewise, using the fireball as a momentum stopper against wind makes for a few engaging sequences.
Element4l offers slightly more than its sixteen levels. Once beaten, you can also race Mr. Smooth through each level. Other races, in one-off sequences consisting of lapped sequences, also become available. There’s also the matter of lost sparks hidden throughout the normal levels, but after beating one I wasn’t exactly motivated to go through it all again. The sigh of relief was a more effective draw than an attempt at perfection, and I was only going to get the former once.
In the end, Element4l’s success comes down to how often you find yourself arching your back forward or swaying left and right, hoping, inexplicably, that it could be the literal tipping-point to victory. Making people do silly things is real life is the intangibly odd checkbox of any accomplished platformer, and Element4l makes good on providing the player with a sense of honest and earned accomplishment. This doesn’t account for its shortcomings, but it makes them easier to ignore along the way.
