Welcome to my nightmare - Review By Wheat
In 1997, French developer Kalisto brought us the interesting (if
underwhelming) third-person horror/adventure known as Nightmare
Creatures. Now, as is so often the case with mildly successful games,
a sequel has been developed. Yes, Nightmare Creatures II has come to
the Dreamcast, hot on the heels of the Playstation version on which it is
based.
The story? Adam Crowley, the villainous "bio-sorcerer" (that's "bad guy" to
you and me), has returned a century after his defeat at the weapons of
Father Ignatius Blackward and Nadia F., the heroes of the original
Nightmare Creatures. His welcome back party takes the form of a
vicious massacre of the Circle, which is a secret society that has devoted
itself to protecting humanity since Crowley's original defeat. Herbert
Wallace, former member of the Circle and unlikely hero #329, is captured by
Crowley and subjected to his vile experiments. After unspeakable torture
and mutilation, Wallace manages to escape, only to wind up in the
psychiatric ward of the local nuthouse. There he spends his days wrestling
with his awful past and disfigured face, until a vision of his friend
Rachael stirs him to action. No longer content to rot in his padded cell,
Wallace grabs the ax some careless physician left by his bed and resolves
to put an end to Crowley (either once and for all, or until Nightmare
Creatures III).
As you might expect, Nightmare Creatures II is a gratuitously
violent tour of mutant filled Europe. Armed with an ax and an assortment of
power-ups (guns, toxic gas, and incendiary devices to name a few), our
mentally unstable hero does the only things such tools will allow to
anything and everything of the undead persuasion. Wallace has two
different modes for movement -- one used for exploring the 3D terrain, and
the other for doing battle. NCII employs a combat system with a
Zelda 64-style lock-on camera. To spice up battles, the game
features a combo system to string together different ax swings and kicks,
and fatalities for those who prefer to customize their killing.
The exceedingly bloody dismemberment of the undead with an ax... sounds
like a winning formula, right? Read on to see if Nightmare Creatures II
can cut it.
The Good
The enemy designs are occasionally inspired. |
Nightmare Creatures II features dozens of nicely scripted sequences
throughout the course of normal gameplay. Monsters rise from the grave,
hellhounds climb down walls, and poor Wallace gets thrown around like a
chew toy. Between each stage, a transitional video showcases more of this
carnage while further acquainting us with our disturbed hero. The
monsters' special attacks are done nicely (although sometimes with a poor
transition leading into to the animation), and Wallace's fatalities
(special execution animation for each enemy) are a riot.
The original Nightmare Creatures suffered occasionally from poor
camera logic, which made it difficult to get any useful view of the action.
Thankfully, that seems to have been addressed in this sequel. While still
not perfect, I can't think of any similar third-person view games without
similar minor flaws. During combat, the camera repositions itself
automatically to keep your target constantly in sight. Also, the hero's
controls change to movements relative to your opponent (i.e., left and
right circle the enemy), so you intuitively know where to expect Wallace to
move without having to think how he's positioned relative to the camera.
A terrifying pile of polygons shambles out of the strangely-close fogline. |
Some may appreciate NCII for its more or less wacky approach to
horror. Kalisto successfully avoids cheesiness by adding a sick sense of
humor to the game. The blood pouring from enemies and from our hero is
delightfully excessive, and Wallace's violent fits and fatalities are
enjoyably spasmatic. Plus, there's something intrinsically
humorous about a zombie futilely continuing his attack even after you
lopped off its arms and head ("merely a flesh wound"... yeah, you knew that
was coming).
Lastly, the game comes complete with some thoughtful extras. A
practice mode (known as "therapy") teaches you the game's two combo
attacks, and lets you try them out on an everlasting supply of
zombies. Some in-game objects such as chairs and glass can be smashed with
your ax, catering to those nihilistic tendencies (although if you ask me,
more objects should be breakable). Finally, it's worth mentioning
NCII's extra VMU animation, since some companies don't even bother
with them.
The Bad
As the relative size of "The Good" suggests, I have many a
complaint about Nightmare Creatures II. Lets start with what must
be the most serious offense: the sheer monotony of playing. Despite the
combo system and special power-ups, Kalisto just didn't come close to
making the actual fighting engaging or enjoyable, which is a high crime for
a game based almost entirely on combat. Dealing with enemies requires
blocking until you're taunted, then delivering one of the two very simple
combo attacks over and over. Each takes three button presses, with very
little timing required. This is made even less gratifying by the weak and
unsatisfying sound effects. Also lame is that you typically don't fight
more than one monster at a time. Even if you're surrounded by two or three
enemies, you're usually only in danger of being attacked by the one your
camera has locked on to, with few exceptions. Once he/she/it is dispensed
with (and allowing time for the full fatality animation), the camera
chooses your next target and you begin again.
Next: (Much) More Bad, and The Final Word
RSS Feeds