Deadly Creatures

"Meh ... so what?"

Camera 8 – Although there are instances when the camera gets a little wonky , given how much it does, it work remarkably well. It manages follow you upside down, up walls and everywhere else. The few times it gets shaky or stuck don't hamper the flow and are easy to get out of.

Sound 7 – A bit silent for my taste, but the near total lack of sound does suit the mood. Additionally the voice acting is very well done.

Graphics 9 – Which are some of the best on the system, and really focus on what matters. The human characters might appear a little cartoony, but that is easily forgiven since the creatures and the environment look so dang pretty.

Gameplay 5 & 9 – The scorpion (the 5)'s only saving grace is the elaborate finishing moves. Other than that most of the time will be spent literally just walking around waving the Wii remote around. The tarantula (the 9) operates much better. He (or she) gets to jump, rip of Link's Hookshot with webbing, shot webbing, and sneak attack from a distance. The boss fights, which don't happen nearly enough, are especially fun relying more on stealth and avoiding death than killing the enemy. The only flaw is a weakness in the rest of combat, which can get rather tedious.

Now I know what you're thinking, “How did this game only get a five from this guy? So Here's why

Graphics & Camera (again) – Fantastic but who cares? Since navigating can get so twisted and confusing, mostly you will hold 2 and go wherever the Great Mystic Arrow points. I could have passed a portrait of Mother Theresa in a Mighty Ducks jersey and not noticed. Sure I could have explored, but that arrow is so good, why not use it? The camera doesn't help, staying close by in the long exploration sections and avoids actually focusing on the surroundings.

Sound (again) – Yes, the sound technically fits, the desert is a quite place. However, the sound lacks that eerie quality that makes you jump when a cricket chirps, maybe. Instead there's a dull, annoying silence, or at least until you turn on All Things Considered on NPR in a desperate attempt for noise.

But now for the REAL reason
Story 0 – Imagine if you will an amazingly awesome video on youtube, but instead of being allowed to just watch it you had to stop every thirty seconds to play Mario for an hour. At first this sounds fine until your fourth hour or whenever you inevitably no longer care about playing for fun, you just want to see the end because of all the time you already committed. That's what the story is like, short flashes of plot followed by long sections of running to the next cut scene. Worse still is nothing you do matters until the very end, so neither the scorpion nor the tarantula has a reason to follow the humans, other than the Great Mystic Arrow.

Replayability 0 – Duh. Oh, and there's grubs if you care.

Overall 5 – I feel bad giving this game a 5 since it is one of the few more sophisticated titles and THQ has said that if this game doesn't sell they'll go back to making dull mini-game collections. On the other hand, buying this game gives the impression Wii owners will accept anything even remotely serious and gives THQ the go ahead to produce more elongated cut scenes. So rent it if you must, but don't fall into THQ's trap.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/09

Game Release: Deadly Creatures (US, 02/09/09)