Creatures (Jewel Case) | 
 enlarge | From: Creative Wonders
Category: Video Games
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $2.65
You Save: $7.34 (73%)
New (6) Used (14) from $0.19
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 15297
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Nt, Windows 98, Windows 95
Genre: Childrens Virtual Pets Software
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Jewel Case
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 95
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4
Model: CRE3844AE
UPC: 772040770051
EAN: 0772040770051
ASIN: B00002SAMQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: "* In white Sleeve, No Manual Included. LOWEST SHIPPING RATES! BRAND NEW * ALL ORDERS SHIP IMMEDIATELY! * SEE OUR SELLER RATINGS * EMAIL CONFIRMATION ON ALL ORDERS * WE SHIP INTERNATIONAL"
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| Features:
| • | Modeled after actual biological systems | | • | 14 concepts of language to guide and influence your Norn | | • | Five growth stages | | • | Pets display "real" feelings from hunger to happiness | | • | Multiple kits help provide optimum care / Share your creatures with other owners through email and the Internet |
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Product Description
The original Creatures game was set in Albia. It featured Norns, Grendels, and a few minor inhabitants of Albia to occupy the player's creatures. There was no set objective - although players were given a "score" in the Breeder's Kit, no restrictions were placed on gameplay, and breeders, COBblers, and even norn torturers were free to pursue their own objectives. . . Pentium 60 or faster Double Speed CD-ROM (300k/sec) 16-bit Sound Card 256 Colours @640x480 8MB RAM & 40MB of hard drive disk space
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Great September 4, 2008
S. Des Rivieres (Detroit, MI USA)
I absolutely love this game! I started playing it years ago at the age of 12 and actually lost the CD-rom and I was so excited to have found it online. The product came in great condition and I received it fast. I am very pleased with this purchase.
Forget all your other pet simulators! July 6, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
So what exactly is Creatures?
It proclaims itself from the tutorial movie that came with it that it is "the most advanced comercially available life simulator in the world" (which is no longer true, because now there are sequels). Creatures is an A-life simulator, in which you are in charge of caring for Norns, fuzzy little things that their creators left behind on their home world of Albia as they went off to find a new planet.
This is a 2-D game taking place on a disk-shaped planet; the edges are where everything occurs in the game, while the "faces" of the disk are inhospitable and never explored. The game world has many things in it, such as toys, tools, herbs and poisonous plants, scavengeable food, and other creatures besides your Norns.
Norns begin their lives hatched from eggs, and you can start your world with eggs from the Hatchery or Norns you received from elsewhere. From the moment of a Norn's birth, the complexity of biological life's processes are simulated in it, right up to the time it dies. Norns have chemicals and neural networks just like real life does, and everything they do is in response to their environment and is not preprogrammed.
Norns must be taught how to survive. Above the incubator where you can hatch eggs is a learning computer where you can teach your Norns all the concepts they need to express themselves and communicate with you. Of course, Norns are born being able to speak a language of their own resembling gibberish, but you have to teach them English in order to figure out what they want and command them to do what you want.
Not that they'll always do that; Norns have a free will of their own, just like us. However, just typing in a command and seeing your little pet do what you say is an absolute thrill every time it happens.
Norns learn by a system of punishment and reward, and can remeber past experiences and form simple concepts. You must teach your Norn how to live on its own by tickling it or saying "yes" to good behavior, or slapping it and saying "no" to things you want to discourage. Take the example of teaching your Norn to eat food for the first time. First you would show the Norn some cheese or a carrot and make sure he's paying attention to it. Then you tell him repeatedly "food" until he learns what it's called. Finally you tell him to "push food" in order to eat it. (The verb "eat" is used only in the sequels to this game; for now, you tell a Norn to "push" stuff whenever you want him to do something with it.) And once he eats the food, you reward him, and he links this reward to eating, and will be more likely and able to feed himself in the future.
After a few minutes, you and your Norn can set out the explore the world. There are vehicles your Norn can use to get around. Birds flutter about, fish patrol the ocean, and honey can be gathered from the bees' hives. Your Norn may catch a disease and possibly pass it on to others. There are herbs he can eat to get better, or toxic look-alikes that will make him sick or even kill him. Toys of various kinds are scattered about the landscape. And of course there is the mean, ugly, nasty Grendel, whose only goal in life is to beat up your Norns, eat all their food, inject them with glycotoxin and spread disease. It is possible to teach and raise a Grendel just like a Norn...
Later, your Norns can breed and produce natural eggs. With each passing generation, Norns differ slightly from the previous generation, allowing them to continuously adapt, evolve, and improve. You can use various applets to monitor your Norns. And when they die, you can even set up a tombstone for them, complete with a picture of the Norn and an epithet.
This is a complex game, and not recommended for people who want simple, quick, and consistent results. This is a game that models real life, even if it does so in a way you cannot understand or don't want to happen. There are many different chemicals and genes that affect how your Norns work...part of the fun is figuring out what they do.
This is a game I have been playing for a really long time now, and I definitely intend on getting the sequels sometime soon. If you can, be sure to at least give this game a try.
What kind of Norn will YOU raise?
I Like Creatures December 16, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I Did'nt like creatures cause I did'nt know what it was about till now it is the greatest game in the whole world!
Simply amazing for its time, or any time July 16, 2003
Richard Veysey (Lamoine, ME)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This game is amazing but worrying.The game is 2-D, but that won't matter, you don't "control" the creatures. There are no pre-programed creatures or behavior. The artificial inteligence demonstrated by the norns (the species of the creatures in this game) makes furbees look like those dolls that have a string you pull to make them talk (no offense to furbee lovers, especially if I can't spell furbee). Your role in this game is to be the "terrarium keeper". You have to try to keep them alive, happy, and healthy in the world they live in, which, although it isn't huge, will keep you happy. Your tool is the hand, with which you may pick up food, other animals, toys, interact with objects, and pet or dicipline your norns. You may have up to seven or eight norns in your world at a time, but you can export norns for future use, or give them to a fellow creatures player. The ultimate goal in this game is... well, I guess it is up to you. One goal is to create norns with strange or unique traits, such as colored skin or imortality. Also there is a score, affected by births, deaths, and your norns health. However, if you are interested in this game, there are two sequels, Creatures adventurtes, and other games with a similar premise, which you can find right here on Amazon. The worrying thing about this series is the artificial intelegence, which sometimes almost seems alive. What does this say about us? If we can program a computer to emulate life increasingly well, including comunication, what is to say that someday we may create something that is a computer, and yet alive. It seems imposible, but if it will happen, it looks as though the day is close. Frightning, isn't it?
Classic September 3, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this game when it was first released, and it has never ceased to amaze me... Because of the open-ended nature of gameplay, this title provides infinite replay value. As if the initial demonstration of very well constructed artificial intellegence (and hormone) systems wasn't enough, the real pleasure of this game is attained through discovery of how much of the norn's behavior can be controlled through both selective breeding and learning experiences. The social interactions are complex enough to keep you busy for a while, too. This title is still worth its initial price, and this reduced offer is certainly not one to pass up.
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