MegaCity maker Vostu gets down to earth with Elemental on Android

As it attempts to win over the judgment of the courts, Vostu attempts to win over the hearts of Android gamers everywhere with Elemental. The Brazilian social game maker released the game from its São Paulo studio today to the Android Market for free. The game is said to be a twist on the classic puzzle game Sudoku, swapping boring numbers for more exciting elements.

Players combine various combinations of the classic four elements--earth, wind, fire and water--to unlock brand new elements within each puzzle. As players create new elements, they're guided by Professor Nicolas (or should we say Nikola?), who looks as if it could be a passerby in the Professor Layton universe.

Elemental presents its puzzles in a 4 by 4 grid, and players must create new elements by placing existing elements within the sub grids. However, like Sudoku, you cannot have more than one element in any given row or column. Nikola--sorry, Nicolas--will guide players through the more complex grids and element combinations. There are two game modes in Elemental: Story and Survival.

The former throws players into different worlds to collect certain elements and move on, while the latter is a race against the clock to complete grids. Of course, Elemental is made social via OpenFeint, which allows players to compete in real time by sharing achievements. (So ... technically real time?) Vostu said in a release that it plans to use OpenFeint in future mobile titles. If only this were coming to iOS--normal Sudoku just doesn't do it for this writer.

Click here to download Elemental on Android for Free Now >

Are you a Sudoku fanatic? Could a mobile social game like this feed your need for (annoyingly) complex matching puzzles? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.