- Select Your Merciless Alter Ego: Battle as the bloodthirsty mon, Ignatius, or Nadia, the lethal femm.
Product description
-------------------
Action Adventure
From the Manufacturer
---------------------
Legend has it that on London's blackest night in 1834 the secret
Brotherhood of Hecate rediscovered the lost key to the darkest
regions of man's unholiest fears. It is said that through this
arcane act they released into the dark foggy streets of London
the most horrifying creatures the world has ever known. But
facing these monstrous beasts were two mysterious warriors. And
on this eful night they engaged in a decisive battle to
deliver the e of millions from these demon spawn.
P.when('A').execute(function(A) {
A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse',
function(data) {
window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100);
});
});
Review
------
It's like David Bowie said, "y Monsters." Kalisto
Entertainment's Nightmare Creatures sees 19th century London
threatened by an onrush of gruesome beasts brought forth by the
evil Adam Crowley (sort of a mix of the 1920's "wickedest man in
the world" Aleister Crowley and The Muppet Show's Animal) and his
sinister cult, the Brotherhood of Hecate. It's your job to wipe
out these most unholiest of unholies and their master - either as
the young American swoman Nadia or Ignatius, the
staff-wielding monk.
While Nightmare Creatures has been likened to a hybrid of Eidos'
Tomb Raider and Capcom's Resident Evil, that's not an entirely
accurate analogy. The title takes place in a spooky 3D world that
you view from a behind-the-back perspective; and that's where any
comparison to either of the games pretty much stops. The game
runs at a jaunty 30+ frames per second with up to four monsters
simultaneously onscreen and with little or no slowdown, though
admittedly, the environment is kept fairly dark and/or misty so
that you can't watch the graveyards, alleys, sewers, and the like
being built up around you. It's less a criticism than an
observation, since the darkness can easily be attributed to
"atmosphere."
But catacombs and cesspools aside, the real mood-setters are the
monsters. You will encounter fifteen distinct types of creatures
(ranging from zombies to giant spiders, dog-sized rats to
werewolves, hellhounds to harpies, and three-headed ogres to
flaming imps) and five different bosses, such as the Yeti, a
four-headed fire-breathing serpent, and old Crowley himself. All
have distinct powers and attack styles, making them quite a
caliginous handful when an unpredictable, varied group pounces on
your character all at once.
To combat these nasties, the characters are each equipped with a
rudimentary or staff, which can eventually be upgraded to
more lethal devices such as spiked clubs, double axes, and
machetes. Beyond the basic wherewithal to attack these monsters
in the first place, you also have a variety of fighting moves at
your disposal. Additionally, there are quite a few power-ups to
be found, such as single- and burst pistols, half and full
s, mines, fire bombs, and freeze, confusion, and berserker
spells. And while the list may seem excessive, you will need all
of this to stay alive. Besides the proficiency of the enemy
creatures, there's an ever-dwindling adrenaline bar, which
measures the a of the natural stimulant in your system that
must remain full to keep a Crowley-concocted poison from
destroying your system. You can keep your adrenaline high only by
continuously seeking out and winning battles.
And fighting the creatures can be a lot of fun, at least early
on. They're very well designed, and their animations give them a
sense of life. And power-ups such as the razor (which lets you
slice them in half or quarters) are quite a kick. In fact, you
can lop off the monsters' heads and their bodies will often still
chase after you.
Altogether, it's a moderately interesting and original game
package, though it definitely has its downside. For instance,
after being made to execute about four full leaps, you must
complete a number of difficult running jumps while
avoiding/fighting several large, poly-tentacled monsters. Since
falling into water kills the character off and the section is
fairly far into the level, you don't get many chances to practice
your technique before having to start over from scratch. If,
hypothetically, the area had a series of connected catwalks to
run through while battling the beasts or if the jumping function
wasn't so entirely awkward to deal with, the level would've been
much more enjoyable. While this is less of an issue later on in
the game, the weakness of the fighting engine then becomes more
readily apparent. Though there are reportedly 30 combos in all,
you really will only end up using about six to eight. Since the
more complex moves are significantly harder to pull off
(especially with those attacking creatures interfering and all),
you'll end up jamming on the kick or slash buttons with an
occasional block or dodge. And while the thought of having to
keep fighting throughout the entire game can seem pretty
appealing, it loses its charm after you die several times trying
to explore or find your way.
While it does have a lot of nice elements, Nightmare Creatures
ultimately ends up as a fairly disappointing experience. That's
really quite a shame because the potential and premise were
clearly there for it to be an incredible game; it just feels like
it came out of the development oven a few months too early.
Perhaps the extra time and effort that seem to be missing from
this title will appear in a sequel. We'll just have to wait and
see. --Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
See more ( javascript:void(0) )