Deadly Creatures

The Good
Deadly Creatures is one of the most original concepts seen in a while. Not only on the Wii, but on any platform..

There's a lot that Deadly Creatures does right. The intricately interwoven tale of a simple scorpion and tarantula who happen to cross the paths of two treasure hunters becomes an unexpectedly subtle and compelling tale that makes the tiny, bug-sized world become colossal and epic in scale.

First off, the graphics are beautiful. The scorpion, tarantula, and other wildlife are nicely rendered an fludily animated. Those who face the "ick" factor from creepy crawlies will find the skittering and subtle movements unsettling at best. But it's the landscapes and level design that take the real prize.

Whether skittering across children's toys, through pipes and broken televisions, or even an entire level devoted to an abandoned truck, there is a lot of variety in the game. The discarded world of man takes on a creepy ambiance in a larger scale, and the paths taken will cause your creature to explore every point of interest in full detail. The game is full of subtle animation, great lighting, and a sense of wonder as this landscape you crawl across turns out to be a broken terrarium or a discarded pizza box.

The sound is wonderful, and a true highlight of the game. The music is subtle and non-obtrusive, except for major action sequences, where it flares like a full Hollywood blockbuster. While the music is good, it is also here that ambiance wins out. Bugs crawling, dirt crumbling, even the sound of the desert itself gives silence, yet more than enough to listen to. It is a lonely journey to reach the final destination, but there is plenty to see, hear, and even fight.

The additions of Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton make for some confusing "Really?" choices, especially considering their star power being used for a game like this, but like the other elements, they are subtle, never overused, and simply help to create a deeper narrative than expected for a game such as this. The cuts scenes for the bug world are exciting, and sometimes a little unsettling.

The control works well. The Wii Remote is largely used well, with some clever applications of the motion involved. The tarantula and scorpion handle differently, but are intuitive and easy to alternate between their play styles.

Deadly Creatures offers some inventive platforming as well. It's a fun game that is a more traditional style game than what is usually found on the Wii. For those who complain that the only games to be found on the system are pet simulations and party games, this is a great adventure title that is a solid answer for more creative and original content on the Wii.

The Bad
There are, however, concerns that come into play as the player nears completion of the game.

For starters, as my creatures neared the final levels, it almost felt like the programmers started to run out time in adding needed polish to the game. For starters, some textures, however infrequent, start to look pixelated and out of place. As pretty as this game is, it makes those bad textures stand out all the more. There was also a point where I fell through the world. It only happened once, but it was disappointing no matter the frequency.

The camera will fight the player at times. There are times that my crawling protagonist would get backed into a corner, and I couldn't see well enough to protect myself, which in turn became a flailing waggle fest to get myself out of the situation and simply survive. The motion controls largely work, but there is a little bit of flailing involved for some of the fighting moves. Fortunately, there methods of attack for each creature are varied enough to keep that from becoming too frequent.

The biggest disappointment was the ending. The human characters, in contrast to everything else in the game are ugly. Scruggs, one of the treasure hunters is not well done when forced to confront him, with clipping issues and animation that is not on par with the rest of the game.

Keeping spoilers in check, I didn't agree with the last "boss" fight. Everything else in the game had a natural progression. It felt "real" or a matter of circumstance, or even coincidence. The final conflict seemed too "forced" in that regard, especially since a certain task had to be repeated more than once, which would have been enough to remain believable.

The ending cinematic must be pointed out. It is one of the most poorly rendered, sloppily animated, dark and muddy looking videos that doesn't even look fit for a Sega CD FMV game. It's such an abrupt slap in the face when the game goes from being one of the prettiest titles on the Wii to some of the worst video compression seen in nearly 20 years. Short, confusing, and ugly. As good as this game is, prepare to be disappointed.

Finally, if you hate things such as spiders, scorpions, and other insects and vermin, this isn't going to put you at ease regarding your dislikes, and the title is not going to change your mind.

The Bottom Line
Despite its hideous looking ending, Deadly Creatures is a beautiful looking title overall. It's inventive and ORIGINAL, with solid level design, interesting scenarios, and compelling gameplay. The music and ambient sounds are also some of the best the Wii has to offer, and while Hopper and Thornton still seem like such an odd vocal choice, they retain the "subtle" aspect this game works so hard to maintain.

The story and narrative remains interesting from start to the final level providing an intriguing background tale. The final conflict is questionable, but it wasn't enough to diminish my overall enjoyment of the story. If anything, it just raises questions as to why they would allow such sloppy elements in the final levels to grow in such a unique and fun title.

Adventure-starved Wii gamers would be foolish to pass this title up. Despite its "bugs" (pun intended), it's one of the best titles on the Wii for this year so far, and major kudos to the developers to bringing something so fascinatingly creative to the game playing table.

Recommended.

The Good
I liked alternating between tarantula and scorpion which keeps the game interesting. Good save configuration that doesn't leave you beaten to a pulp and having to backtrack your steps too much. While the environments are dull and drab they are what you would expect in the middle of the desert, and the music and sound effects are just right. Many times I got a "Borderlands" vibe while playing the game, which was nice. Creep factor doesn't get too overpowering.

The Bad
Lots of camera issues, especially during fight sequences, where the camera changes focus on the enemy instead of where you want it to point, which ends up being an off-handed way of saying "you can't do anything else till you kill the bad guy". I would also often throw the game into a visual loop, as if it didn't know whether to point behind me or in front of me which ended up giving me a strobe like effect. Objects such as plants and debris block view of enemies. Controls seem overly tough to compensate for lack of content reducing the experience to a fighting game than a hunt and gather experience. I often felt like the adaptive AI was letting me win because of the control scheme. One particular battle seemed to end abruptly with no conflict after about my fifth try. I don't like to be too stressed out when I play a game but don't hold my hand.

The Bottom Line
If you ever wanted to feel what it was like to be a big bug, here's your game!