Review: Deadly Creatures
I understand that I have an unnatural tendency to enjoy and praise off-beat games more than their conventional counterparts. Even if a game has a few flaws, I'm more than happy to look past them if I feel that the game's developers sincerely made an effort to create something "new." This isn't to say that these unusual games get a free pass from less than glowing criticism of them, but they must at least display a creative content that must surpass their flaws. As rare as these circumstances are, the instances in which something truly comes up with creative solutions and is executed to the point where I don't have to make excuses for it are even rarer and extraordinary.
Recently I've had the most utmost pleasure to have played one of these exceptional titles, THQ/Rainbow Studios' latest Wii effort entitled Deadly Creatures. In short, I feel that this is a game that deconstructs one of popular genres today and rebuilds it as one most surprisingly evocative and awe-inspiring experiences that can be seen on consoles today. It goes places no other console game to knowledge explores, features brilliantly simple motion controls, and presents its unusual story and characters in such an intriguing manner I found myself playing "one more chapter" well into the night.
Just to get the obvious out of the way... Yes, Deadly Creatures is that Wii game where you play as a tarantula and scorpion to battle with other insects and reptiles. Yes, the combat is the same brand of over the top fighting that you could expect from things like God of War and Devil May Cry. No, the team at Rainbow Studios never misses an opportunity to fully take advantage of this very different cast of characters and setting.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what makes this game that good...
While this game may be a far cry from the "Hard M" violence that you would expect Kratos of Dante to perform, the action seen in Deadly Creatures is just as brutal, and the story arguably features a much more sinister narrative. In place of the standard demons, devils, and other mythological baddies with their eyes set on world domination, you see animals fighting for survival on a moment-to-moment basis. This instinctive and "natural" approach doesn't require ridiculous amount of back story cut scenes to enjoy its direct story of vengeance and death.
Each chapter of the game is made up of either a tarantula or scorpion level. While both creatures control and behave similarly, each one features some specialized abilities that the other will not possess. For instance, the scorpion features more close range abilities and the tarantula is able to use some range-based battle maneuvers to get the slip on enemies. Occasionally, the separate stories of the tarantula and scorpion will cross cross pathes with each other (resulting is some very interesting combat scenarios) as well as a pair of humans that are searching the dessert for something that may best lie undisturbed.
Even when the tarantula is crawling up the walls and ceilings of the rustically beautiful landscapes, controls remain easy to pick up and even integrate intuitive and effective motion controls. Instead of a waggle-thon that most Wii games fall prey to, Deadly Creatures utilizes motion activated combat cues in a way that can be easily performed by the player but rarely misidentified by the game's programming. And since both bugs use the same vocabulary of motion controls, switching between each of the characters is straightforward.
While these are all good things, this arachnid-fueled adventure truly shines in presenting the player with an incredible atmosphere and story. Going into this game, I was hoping for the best in both of these areas while expecting the worst. The story told here is a fascinating "Western" styled yarn that never loses focus of the realities that surround its main characters, human or otherwise. It's cruel in its honesty and never lets the player forget it. The fact that much of it told without spoken dialog should attract every Out of This World fanatic to this title. It may lack the Japanese flare of moody titles like Ico and Super Metroid, but Rainbow Studios took a lot of notes and execute their own take on these deceptively simple "gameplay-as-story" mechanics.
Another area that Deadly Creatures profoundly impressed me in was with the boss encounters that punctuate some of the chapters. These moments of colossal intensity were perfectly matched with their magnified scale. As a resident of Florida, I'm frightened enough of poisonous snakes and insects to begin with, but when viewed from the perspective of the tarantula in the game these animals become larger than life beasts. Beating these creatures will take more than just a brute force attack on weak spots, but mastery of your abilities and a little bit of clever on your feet puzzle solving. Completing these sequences was absolutely as thrilling and memorable as they were designed to be.
If you've read this review up to this point it should come as no surprise to hear that I love this game. I realize that the game is on the short side (approx 6-7 hours) and that self-proclaimed "hardcore gamers" will detest having to exert physical effort in order to play it, but I could not care less about these narrow minded and trivial grievances. For me, everything this game promises from a creepy story to its crawly combat is delivered with lethal precision. If you are even remotely interested in this game, go ahead and buy it now. Deadly Creatures is not to be missed!
10 out of 10
Game-Boy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Reviews on 20 May 2009
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: deadly creatures, rainbow studios, reviews, thq, wii
Just purchased the game here and thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of it. I like how the controls have some motion input, but nothing too complex and they only add to the attacks, instead of dependent for their execution.
Hopefully it will do well enough to warrant a sequel. More spider/scorpion action, or some other critters would be an interesting take.
I rented this game a while back and I definitely agree, this game is not to be miss. Unfortunately I've been on the broke side of things so I've been having to hold off, but I do plan on picking this game up some day. (Hoping for a summer drought to catch up on some games, but it doesn't seem to be happening yet...)
This is actually good news cause I've been looking for a good quality game that' short cause I don't have much time as I used to...