Deadly Creatures
Encyclopedia
Deadly Creatures is an action
video game for the Wii
. It is developed by Rainbow Studios
and published by THQ
.
and a tarantula
and engage in brutal combat against other arachnid
s, insect
s, rat
s, and reptile
s.
The two creatures have different playing styles, with the scorpion's levels featuring more action-oriented gameplay, while the tarantula is more stealth oriented, with less linear levels. The Wii Remote
and Nunchuk are used for both movement and attacks, with motion controls incorporated for special attacks and finishing moves, while the tarantula also utilizes the pointer function to shoot webs. New abilities are also gained as the player progresses through the game.
Along with dispatching common arthropod
s such as pill bug
s, cricket
s, beetle
s, and wolf spider
s, most of which can be devoured to regain health, the player also faces bosses
including a Gila Monster
, a rattlesnake
and eventually a human
. The clashes between the creatures are described as similar to monster movies, with a similar impact to battles in King Kong
and Jurassic Park
albeit on a smaller scale.
and Dennis Hopper
), are looking for a location in the desert where they believe gold from the American Civil War
has been buried. The story is told from the point of view of both a tarantula and a scorpion with both creatures often seeing the same thing but from a different perspective, both also being stalked by a rattlesnake that the tarantula battled in the first level, as well as continuously fighting each other. When Struggs and Wade finally find the civil war gold, Struggs turns on Wade, knocking him out with a shovel and taking the gold for himself. On his way back to his gas station, he finds the tarantula and rattlesnake and keeps them in glass tanks, the tarantula climbs her way out of the tank, with the rattlesnake escaping as well. Meanwhile, the scorpion finds his way into Struggs' gas station and "battles" him by repeatedly stinging his crotch. Outside the tarantula is attacked by the rattlesnake and the two fight on one of the station's gas tanks. Struggs chases the scorpion outside and is startled by the rattlesnake. Both the tarantula and scorpion are able to flee, and Struggs shoots one of the gas lines by mistake causing the gas tank to explode, presumably killing the rattlesnake. Wade's narration at the beginning of the game implies that Struggs survived, having gone into a coma due to the explosion and being bitten by a Gila Monster during his battle with the scorpion, now muttering about "deadly creatures" in his sleep. Wade believes that the only "deadly creature" around is Struggs himself. The scorpion and the tarantula manage to escape the explosion and meet each other once again, but this instead of fighting this time, they decide to simply leave each over alone. The game ends when a piece of the Spanish gold coin flies toward the screen and lands on the ground.
For promotion, Rainbow Studios released a fake "behind-the-scenes" video dated from January 2008 revealing a motion capturing
session involving a scorpion. However, the video shows a computer generated creature from the game itself with motion capturing dots on its body doing tasks.
scored Deadly Creatures an 8/10, praising the game's refreshing premise and its "uncommonly provocative" storyline, tight controls and impressive soundtrack and graphics, but noted occasional framerate and camera problems. GamesRadar
praised the combat and level design, but also had issues with the camera. Eurogamer
criticised the camera, combat and collision detection, and praised the game's premise, animation and environments. They scored the game with 4/10. Gamespy
scored the game 90/100 and found that the clever level design and the variety of traversal techniques (burrowing, web-grappling and wall-crawling) presented both a great challenge and a nice diversity in activities for the game. Edge
had a similar reaction to Eurogamer, scoring the game with 5/10. Zentendo responded very positively, and scored the game with 90/100. The game won the "E3 Best On Show '08" runner-up award at the E3 gaming conference of 2008.
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
video game for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
. It is developed by Rainbow Studios
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
and published by THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
.
Gameplay
Deadly Creatures allows players to play as an unspecified scorpionScorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
and a tarantula
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...
and engage in brutal combat against other arachnid
Arachnid
Arachnids are a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs, although in some species the front pair may convert to a sensory function. The term is derived from the Greek words , meaning "spider".Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial...
s, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s.
The two creatures have different playing styles, with the scorpion's levels featuring more action-oriented gameplay, while the tarantula is more stealth oriented, with less linear levels. The Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
and Nunchuk are used for both movement and attacks, with motion controls incorporated for special attacks and finishing moves, while the tarantula also utilizes the pointer function to shoot webs. New abilities are also gained as the player progresses through the game.
Along with dispatching common arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s such as pill bug
Armadillidiidae
Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of other woodlouse families, members of this family can roll into a ball, an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals...
s, cricket
Cricket (insect)
Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
s, beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
s, and wolf spider
Wolf spider
Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, from the Ancient Greek word "" meaning "wolf". They are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short...
s, most of which can be devoured to regain health, the player also faces bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
including a Gila Monster
Gila monster
The Gila monster is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora...
, a rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
and eventually a human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
. The clashes between the creatures are described as similar to monster movies, with a similar impact to battles in King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
and Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
albeit on a smaller scale.
Plot
Two humans, George Struggs and Wade (voiced by Billy Bob ThorntonBilly Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
and Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
), are looking for a location in the desert where they believe gold from the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
has been buried. The story is told from the point of view of both a tarantula and a scorpion with both creatures often seeing the same thing but from a different perspective, both also being stalked by a rattlesnake that the tarantula battled in the first level, as well as continuously fighting each other. When Struggs and Wade finally find the civil war gold, Struggs turns on Wade, knocking him out with a shovel and taking the gold for himself. On his way back to his gas station, he finds the tarantula and rattlesnake and keeps them in glass tanks, the tarantula climbs her way out of the tank, with the rattlesnake escaping as well. Meanwhile, the scorpion finds his way into Struggs' gas station and "battles" him by repeatedly stinging his crotch. Outside the tarantula is attacked by the rattlesnake and the two fight on one of the station's gas tanks. Struggs chases the scorpion outside and is startled by the rattlesnake. Both the tarantula and scorpion are able to flee, and Struggs shoots one of the gas lines by mistake causing the gas tank to explode, presumably killing the rattlesnake. Wade's narration at the beginning of the game implies that Struggs survived, having gone into a coma due to the explosion and being bitten by a Gila Monster during his battle with the scorpion, now muttering about "deadly creatures" in his sleep. Wade believes that the only "deadly creature" around is Struggs himself. The scorpion and the tarantula manage to escape the explosion and meet each other once again, but this instead of fighting this time, they decide to simply leave each over alone. The game ends when a piece of the Spanish gold coin flies toward the screen and lands on the ground.
Development
The game's concept was inspired when lead designer Jordan Itkowitz had a dream about using the Wii Remote to control a snake, slithering through the grass and striking a mouse. In brainstorming, the idea of the snake and other creatures were left on the cutting room floor, leaving the scorpion and tarantula.For promotion, Rainbow Studios released a fake "behind-the-scenes" video dated from January 2008 revealing a motion capturing
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
session involving a scorpion. However, the video shows a computer generated creature from the game itself with motion capturing dots on its body doing tasks.
Reception
Deadly Creatures received mixed reviews. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
scored Deadly Creatures an 8/10, praising the game's refreshing premise and its "uncommonly provocative" storyline, tight controls and impressive soundtrack and graphics, but noted occasional framerate and camera problems. GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
praised the combat and level design, but also had issues with the camera. Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
criticised the camera, combat and collision detection, and praised the game's premise, animation and environments. They scored the game with 4/10. Gamespy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
scored the game 90/100 and found that the clever level design and the variety of traversal techniques (burrowing, web-grappling and wall-crawling) presented both a great challenge and a nice diversity in activities for the game. Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
had a similar reaction to Eurogamer, scoring the game with 5/10. Zentendo responded very positively, and scored the game with 90/100. The game won the "E3 Best On Show '08" runner-up award at the E3 gaming conference of 2008.