Several real-time strategy (RTS) titles have hit the market during the past eight months that are clamouring for the hard-earned money of gamers around the world.
In fact, several gaming forums have been dedicated to discussing which of Warcraft III or Age of Mythology has the merits to call itself the best RTS of 2002. The genre is looking very healthy indeed with Command and Conquer: Generals scheduled to hit the local market towards the end of the month.
Another RTS title that has seen quite a bit of hype is Microsoft`s Impossible Creatures. I can just hear cynics say that Microsoft is guilty of overkill by releasing another strategy title so soon after Age of Mythology. But I suppose if you have as much money as it does and a stake in so many development houses, then you would want to bring out as many titles as possible too.
I recently had the opportunity to play with the marketing gold version of Impossible Creatures. The marketing gold version of a game is essentially the final version of code before a title is released to the retail market. Unfortunately, the final version has been released in the US early in January so a preview on the beta code seems like a moot point. However, getting my grubby little hands on a title as promising as Impossible Creatures did go a long way in easing the pain of being so far behind overseas markets.
As with almost every RTS title on the market, Impossible Creatures offers a campaign mode, a single player free form mode and a multiplayer component.
While the campaign mode was very unstable in the beta version, it seems to have a decent storyline that manages to draw the player in. Although the atmosphere seems overdone at times, it is a fitting tribute to all the B-grade sci-fi movies of the 1950s.
The campaign is set in 1937 with the player taking on the role of war correspondent Rex Chance in his search for his lost father, scientist Dr Eric Chanikov. Chance`s search takes him to the Isla Variatas in the South Pacific where he quickly discovers the reason for his father`s disappearance, the Sigma Technology. It is this technology that is the cause for the hype surrounding the title.
The Sigma Technology allows the player to combine any two of more than 50 animals to create a new military unit. This means that you can take the wings of a bat and put it on the body of a sperm whale to create a flying monster that should cause concern to anyone with a clean car.
Now why would anyone want to do such a thing? Well, mostly because the sheer variety of permutations and its benefits are dizzying. Think of it this way. If your opponent has a strong army of a specific combination of creature, you can tinker in your laboratory and create a creature to counteract it. No more complaining about how one race is stronger than another. In Impossible Creatures, all players` armies are created equal. The difference is in what type of army the player is able to create. In a sense, this is what RTS games are all about - strategic thinking.
It might seem daunting for new players, but you quickly get a feel for what type of creatures should be combined and which ones are best left to fall into the ectoplasmic puddle of failed experiments on your laboratory floor.
The one problem I do have with the game is its combat system. The nature of the game sees you spending a lot of time creating new creatures. However, when it comes to using them in combat, it is over very quickly. You rarely get a chance to micro-manage your units in the same way you would be able to in titles such as Command and Conquer. This is probably a double-edged sword since there are some RTS players who would prefer to adopt such a hands-off approach. The combat system is probably going to see the game missing truly classic RTS status amongst hard-core gamers.
While I will have to wait until the final version is available locally, I must admit that Impossible Creatures promises to keep RTS fans glued to their computer screens for many an hour. The game should be worth the asking price alone for the high replay value it offers by allowing the player to constantly create new armies to use against other players online.
Now I wonder what will happen when I combine the head of a lemming with the body of an elephant?
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