Generally I've felt that StarDock has been better at the mechanical side of game development than the artistic side. I've felt that their game designs have all been great, really fun, smart, and ballsy. However, artistically, I've felt that their games usually lacked a strong cohesive style.
Elemental marks a break in that for me. I think there was a conscious decision on their part to make elemental have a very strong iconic style. The visuals are just beautiful, already - even with most of the graphics incomplete, BECAUSE of the strong style.
What bothers me then, is why the music also does not reflect this. The music to this game is - so far - very generic, and could go over any fantasy game, or even almost any game that takes place in a medieval setting. There is no strong melody - Do you catch yourself humming the melody from the game after having played? It doesn't have any strong sense of direction in terms of instrumentation - it's heavy on the percussion, but other than that it's just your standard "pseudo-orchestral" fare.
My point overall is that the game LOOKS like a beautiful, unique piece of art. It SOUNDS like someone is playing some generic game or watching some b-movie set in a fantasy/medieval setting.
