- Deadly Creatures
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Deadly Creatures 
Developer(s) Rainbow Studios Publisher(s) THQ Designer(s) Jordan Itkowitz Platform(s) Wii Release date(s) Genre(s) Action Mode(s) Single-player Rating(s) Media/distribution 1 Nintendo optical disc Deadly Creatures is an action video game for the Wii. It is developed by Rainbow Studios and published by THQ.[1]
Contents
Gameplay
Deadly Creatures allows players to play as an unspecified scorpion and a tarantula and engage in brutal combat against other arachnids, insects, rats, and reptiles.
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.[2] 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.[3] New abilities are also gained as the player progresses through the game.
Along with dispatching common arthropods such as pill bugs, crickets, beetles, and wolf spiders, most of which can be devoured to regain health, the player also faces bosses including a Gila Monster, a rattlesnake and eventually a human.[3] 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.[1]
Plot
Two humans, George Struggs and Wade (voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper)[4], are looking for a location in the desert where they believe gold from the American Civil War has been buried.[5] 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.[6] In brainstorming, the idea of the snake and other creatures were left on the cutting room floor, leaving the scorpion and tarantula.[3]
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.[7]
Reception
Reception Aggregate scores Aggregator Score Metacritic 72/100 Review scores Publication Score Edge 5/10 Eurogamer 4/10 Game Informer 7/10 GameSpot 7.5 GameSpy 90/100 GamesRadar 8/10 GameTrailers 7.3 IGN 8.0/10 Nintendo Power 7.5/10 Official Nintendo Magazine 81/100 Zentendo 90/100 Deadly Creatures received mixed reviews. IGN 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.[8] GamesRadar praised the combat and level design, but also had issues with the camera.[9] Eurogamer criticised the camera, combat and collision detection, and praised the game's premise, animation and environments. They scored the game with 4/10.[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.[11] 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[citation needed].
References
- ^ a b IGN: Introducing Deadly Creatures
- ^ IGN: Hands-on Deadly Creatures
- ^ a b c Gamesradar: Deadly Creatures - first look
- ^ Deadly Creatures Nintendo Wii Video - Game play Trailer - Voice Talent Reveal
- ^ Deadly Creatures Nintendo Wii Video - Making of Featurette with Dennis Hopper
- ^ Interview: How Rainbow Studios Dreamed Up Deadly Creatures
- ^ Deadly Creatures - Motion capture doc
- ^ IGN review
- ^ GamesRadar review
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
External links
Categories:- 2009 video games
- Action video games
- THQ games
- Wii-only games
- Wii games
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