Hi Frogboy, Kyro, Stardock and forum users.

I finally managed to play for about 3 hours last night and thought i would share my first impressions.

This is before the patch so things will have already changed.

It was hard for the excitement not to have been sapped a little by these forums because of the abundance in negativity. So when i first loaded the game it was with a slightly heavy heart.

The intro played and it wasnt bad, the backstory was told well enough and the stylised graphics did the job. It could have been better but it wasnt bad. I started the campaign and instantly drew a sigh of relief. The ingame graphics suit the game perfectly. I really like them.

I wandered around and found it initially a bit confusing because although the campaign tells you to do something it doesnt tell you how. So with a bit of trial and error i managed to complete the first few quests. I got a city up and running and really like the way it visually changed when i upgraded it or when it grew in size. A nice touch.

Unfortunately after an hour of the campaign i couldnt contain my desire to make my own character so i saved the campaign, went to the main menu, pressed start new game and it crashed to desktop.

Oh well, i knew this might happen from the forums so i started again and pressed new game which worked this time.

I created my character using a system which is unsurprisingly indepth choosing my appearence, stats, background, spellbooks, traits etc. I had a really good time creating my character. By the time i was done i really felt that this king looking at me was indeed my character.

When i started the game i was again treated to the beautiful, if barren, surroundings of the world and i started my travels. I found a location filled with resources and made my city. In the sandbox game you feel like the city you create is yours as well due to research. Once you research a bulding in the civic tree you can build that building. Now i dont know which research tree is more powered or whether it is better to do a bit of research from each tree or go full on in one and i dont care. I was having a lot of fun choosing my research and reaping the rewards from breakthroughs. The new weapons, the new buildings, the new spells. Its simple, but oh so effective.

I met Gunusk and enchanted a bear (sound familiar?) and completed the three stones quest earning my king a nice sword.

Its hard to describe exactly where the gameplay fits in because it handles strategy and roleplay pretty well.

After two hours of play i have to say my concerns were nullified. I noticed a few bugs, a few glitches which irritated a bit. But nothing game breaking.

I am not a fanboy, not of Stardock or anyone else. (Though i do like the way Stardock develop and communicate) but i really really had fun with Elemental. Recently i have played games to kill time or relax. Elemental is a game which offers genuine fun to be had. A game worth lookign forward to when you are unable to play it.

I do think a modicum of imagination is required to really feel the rewards the game can offer though.

Right now i would give it a 8.9 out of 10. Give it a few weeks and i think this may well be a classic. 9.5 maybe, we shall see.