Impossible Creatures | 
 enlarge
| From: Microsoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $17.27
You Save: $2.72 (14%)
New (3) Used (8) from $15.45
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 9736
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me
Genre: simulation_games
ESRB: Teen
Media: CD-ROM
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 98
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 3 x 2.2 x 0.6
Model: V08-00010
UPC: 805529045910
EAN: 0805529045910
ASIN: B000069IL1
Release Date: January 7, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An incredible strategy game featuring combat animals. Use the wonders of genetic mutation to combine animals and create unstoppable custom battle units. Need a scout? A bats radar is excellent, especially when combined with a spitting cobra's deadly ranged attack. How about an elephant and a shark for the ultimate amphibious tank? With thousands of combinations every battle is a new experience.
Amazon.com Review
Genetic research and cloning are all the rage today, but they gripped the imagination of 19th century authors as well. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells--particularly as evident in Wells's Island of Doctor Moreau--theorized how human scientists (mad, of course) could combine different creatures to make new hybrids. That's the goal behind Impossible Creatures, a rather vanilla real-time-strategy game with one heck of a cool twist. The story concerns adventurer/big-game hunter Rex Chance and his skirmishes with a mad scientist bent on world domination through animal engineering. Rex has to gather DNA from animals and combine them in his Creature Lab, giving rise to such oddities as the Shagle (shark/eagle), Eleph-Ant (elephant/ant), Bull-o-Dile (crocodile/bull), and whatever else you want to come up with. The missions of the single-player game are linked with a strong backstory that's nicely flavored with touches straight from adventure serials of the '40s. But the game's limitations are also clearest in single-player mode. It's just a regular old real-time strategy game at heart. The creature gimmick is cool, but once you figure out what critters you need, it becomes dull. Multiplayer mode is a different story. You can load up to eight creatures to form an army, selecting the beasts you can use in the match. This means, potentially, if you load the wrong beasts your opponent can swarm all over you. The fun comes when you start strategizing on how to beat your enemy's army with the Creature Combiner interface. Of course, in order to really enjoy this feature you need to play the same opponent more than once. That's not an easy task, thanks to the lackluster multiplayer matchmaking service offered by Impossible Creatures (as compared to, say, Age of Mythology). It would be better if you could customize armies during the game, but real-time pacing precludes that option. The graphics are great, the audio is too, and you can't beat the concept. It could be a better game, and there are better real-time games out there, but none of them let you make a Skant (skunk/ant) or a massive Sperm Grizzly (sperm whale/grizzly bear) and who wouldn't want to do that? --Andrew S. Bub Pros: - Combining creatures is just plain cool
- Challenging multiplayer
- Great backstory
Cons: - Shallow gameplay
- Poor pathfinding
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 Great game, poor support February 8, 2008
A. Goodman (Louisville, KY United States)
Well, the game is a lot of fun, hence the reason for the 5/5 on the fun, but the overall score has to be lower because the patches released by the game developer (Relic) for additional content simply don't work. Apart from the annoyance on the patches not installing, the main game is fairly stable, but you cannot enjoy the free "Insect Invasion" expansion back because of the patch update issues. This game is fun and has a lot of potential, but alas it is very much DEAD in the support department.
 Impossible Creatures March 31, 2007
T. Findlay (Ottawa)
Firstly, this game is RAD!
It is so AWESOME that you can design your own armies!
The campaign stinks.
It is too hard to beat the THIRD LEVEL!
It also is not very good because you can not get more buildings than in the DEMO!
The other and better animals in the full version give it a big bonus in my thoughts of this awesome strategy game.
Imaginative idea, fun to play August 6, 2006
GHV (Southampton, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This game boasts something that no other RTS can offer- mixing two different animal species into one amazing creature and then sending them to wage war against other freakish armies.
There are so many different animal combinations that every battle is different and new. You can mix a lobster with a ram, giving you an amphibious unit that can charge up beaches and gore foes with its horns. By combining an eagle with a piranha you can create a flying fish that swoops down on enemies, tearing them with those impressive piranha teeth. Add a polar bear's limbs upon the body of a killer whale and you have a large walking tank that can traverse both land and sea. These are just some of my favourite combinations and there are many more.
The idea of mixing the creatures and making your own fighting units, each with their own strengths and weaknesses is a very imaginative, fun and interesting concept, but this game is definitely not the best RTS around. For example, the maximum number of units your armies can comprise of is a mere 75- that's including workers (in this game called henchmen).
However, this game does introduce some other good points other than its imaginative selling point. Some animals, such as wolves, lions and hyenas are pack hunters and therefore, when fighting in groups of four or more, recieve an attack bonus. Similarly, as oxen, rams, elephants, etc, are herding creatures, when they are combined with other animals they gain a defense bonus when in attacking in groups. These are nice extras and also feature the skunk's 'stink cloud' capability to stun foes and the whales' 'sonar pulse' to reveal an area of the map momentarily.
The maps themselves are average, with players battling on either a snowy, grassy or arid desert-like maps, each comprising of land- sometimes separtated by water- dotted with areas of coal and geysers to generate electricity with certain structures.
Overall, this is a good game with a different, interesting selling point that will keep anyone amused even if they are not a fan of the RTS games.
 Great and Imaginative Game! September 25, 2005
Gary Eller (Anchorage, AK USA)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This game is a lot of fun, and it is really imaginative. I like mixing two creatures together and testing their strengths. Andrew, age 10
Fun but impossible! April 29, 2005
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This game is a lot of fun. It doesn't have much reason to be rated Teen. This game takes lots of thinking. It is very fun to battle. I love this game!
|
|
|
