50. Deadly Creatures

(Wii, Rainbow Studios, 2009)
Do you know what people love? MASSIVE SPIDERS.
Sorry, did I say love? I meant "horrifyingly detest" Spiders probably place somewhere between used medical syringes and anthrax on the cuddle list of most humans. They are amongst Earth's most hated denizens. Mankind is foolish though, As one of nature's bravest, most agile and hardest working creatures, the spindly wonders do nothing but good for the world and are far more useful to humanity than you are.

THQ's Deadly Creatures is one of the most recent and most original games to make the list. The result of a dream by a developer at Rainbow Studios, Deadly Creatures tells the intertwining tale of a Tarantula and a Scorpion going about their business in a harsh desert, played against a background story of two men searching for buried civil war gold.
The player controls our two unlikely heroes alternately through the arid plains and grasslands. As they are animals doing their thing, there is no "objective" as such, you just scuttle through the 360 degree terrain, using your wits and survival instincts to overcome an array of attackers such as rats, spiders, bugs, mosquitoes and a deadly rattlesnake who chases our friends in a running battle throughout the game. What will happen when the protagonists meet and how will their existence affect the gold scavenger's plans?
The Wii is infamous for having a disgusting array of non-games, with Nintendo occasionally busting out a fan favourite sequel to keep the dedicated happy. Deadly Creatures is a true oddity for the console, with no direct objective, mute protagonists and the only plot coming from events taking place overhead, Creatures is like nothing else and comes across more an experiment or even an experience than it does a videogame. It's a mixed bag really, the Wii control system has so-so relevance as game could just as easily be controlled with analogue sticks and the boss fights generally come down to drawn out quicktime battles. On the plus side, the attempt to capture the microscopic landscape is done with great style and the animation on the critters themselves is wonderfully realistic and creepy. The combat is frankly surreal, with your levelled up character dishing out hilarious set-piece beatdown combos worthy of Jason Bourne, which is badly juxtaposed against the "real life" aspects of the game. The gold digging backstory is played with great aplomb by resident psychos Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton and there is genuine intrigue in how the Spider and Scorpion will become relevant in the humans adventure.

So the gameplay is just Ok, the controls generic and the visuals and sound are very good, but the real story here is the concept. In a world of yearly updates, generic sequels and embarrassing shovelware, Deadly Creatures is something truly original and one of those rare examples of a game where it's ability to scuttle up the charts is irrelevant.
Deadly Creatures was never going to turn the gaming world on it's head, it has no guns, no boobs, little dialogue and features some of the most feared animals that crawl the earth. Rainbow Studios can hold their heads high and proud that they devised something different and interesting and held it aloft as their labour of love.

Deadly creatures did fair in the reviews but was soon forgotten by the majority of gamers. It seems that, just like it's eight legged star, it is a misunderstood thing of beauty.