Impossible Creatures

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000069IL1
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: January 7, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,255 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

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

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly fun RTS? Impossible! Yes, Impossible Creatures!, November 30, 2002

By 

Daniel Skyler Schulz (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impossible Creatures (CD-ROM)

I've spent quite a bit of time with the demo and I'm adding this game to my Christmas Wish List. Over the years, I've tried a number of different RTS games and, frankly, the notion of "gathering resources & building structures" faster than the AI or your on-line opponent just never hooked me. In Impossible Creatures, Relic Entertainment has introduced the concept of player-designed units to the RTS genre, opening a whole new challenge for the player: Zebra+Ox or Zebra+Leopard? Not to mention an intruiging storyline involving our protagonist's long-lost father.

Mission objectives go well beyond the "Destroy Enemy Base" type of play, including collecting DNA from different animals to add to your unit creations, protecting innocent bystanders, discovering new technologies. And all within the first couple of missions.

Graphically speaking, this game is above par, providing a full 3D world for the player to interact with and manipulate. The camera can be positioned, rotated and zoomed to just about anywhere. Perfect for when you want to watch closely as your Coyopine makes mincemeat of the enemy. The animation is top-notch, as are the special effects and textures.

The sounds are also well done, though I do find some of the repeated alerts annoying: The creatures are under attack! Yes, I know that, I put them there to draw the enemy in! Oh well.

I've finally found an RTS I *want* to play! So come on, let's see what kind of creatures you can make!

-- sky

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, imaginative strategy gameplay, March 15, 2003

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Impossible Creatures (CD-ROM)

Impossible Creatures lets you play strategy in an unique way - by morphing together your own creature combinations!

First, the background. You're an adventurer in the 1930s whose father is missing. You track him down on an island, where you hook up with a woman to take on a mad scientist.

The basis of both of your armies is creature morphing. In essence you go around finding new creatures and snagging their DNA. You then go into your lab and can combine the body parts of ANY TWO CREATURES, and create your own uber-creature with the best of both!

This means the game is pretty much infinitely playable and is amazingly fun in multiplayer. Do you like dolphins and zebras? Why not combine the sleek swimming of the dolphin with the kicking hooves of the zebra! You can combine tigers and wasps. Leopards and oxen. The combinations are pretty much endless and it is quite a thrill to see how each one works out.

The missions in the game each call for certain tactics, as you learn how to go over, under, and through obstacles. But really the best gameplay comes when you take on other humans, and see how your favorite combos fare against their favorites.

Even if you're not into the fighting part, the creature creation can be quite fun on its own. An enjoyable, imaginative strategy game for all ages.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very innovative Game!, December 15, 2002

By 

"psycane" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impossible Creatures (CD-ROM)

I downloaded the demo of this RTS-Game and I must say, it's one of the most exciting and innovative games of the RTS-genre I've seen. The story about the lost father of the main character is not like the epic story Warcraft 3 is based on, but none the less it's very interesting.
But the really interesting aspect of "Impossible Creatures" is the possibility to create an army by mixing the DNA of 50 different creatures (Shobsters for example: a mix of sharks and lobsters). The possibilities of combinations are nearly endless. In Multiplayer you will never meet the same type of army in different games because every player has his own unique army of combined creatures.
Everybody, who's interested in RTS-Games and who wants to play something different than the typical standard-RTS, should order this game.