Review #169: Nightmare Creatures

  Dated... but fun. But very, very dated.

 Nightmare Creatures was a third person horror game that differed from the norm. While most horror games back then would have you managing ammo and a limited inventory space, alongside some simple puzzles, Nightmare Creatures decided to forgo all that, and go for a more action oriented route, and a surprisingly good combat system.

 Game takes place in 1834, London, after an outbreak of monsters take the town by storm. It falls upon the ears of Father Ignatius and Nadia that an Adam Crowley is behind all the monsters running rampart, so both heroes decide to track him down. It's a simple setup, with little more narrative throughout the game, limited to a few lines of text before each stage. Characters don't get any kind of development, but I enjoyed the setting and the art style they used. Monsters look fairly creepy, and there's something charming about a zombie that can sidestep like Muhammad Ali.

 Controls are awful. Well, not completely, combat works fine, the problem lies everywhere else. Firstly, the game employs tank-like controls, y'know, left and right turns you around instead of making your character move. This is very imprecise, and probably remnants of a different direction the game was gonna take. Oh, and don't bother using the analog stick, it makes it even worse. Sidesteps are mapped to the shoulder buttons, but I found no use for them in combat, the circle button(Block) is all you need. Another huge problem the game has is the camera, when engaging enemies in combat, it will move around to give you a better view of your character and the enemy, and this is fine, but sometimes when turning around, it will decide to choose some awkward angles, this is more of a rarity, but it's usually coupled with a second issue: Platforming. I've established that the controls are imprecise, well, some stages feature platforming and it works terribly, worst of all, missing a jump means losing a Life, and trust me, you are gonna need those. Stage 4 is the worst offender, and has all the issues I've mentioned... so far.

 Combat works fairly well, Square and X can be used to start combos, but some combos actually involve the other two face buttons. Both characters, Ignatius and Nadia, have a very decent amount of combos, and both characters play very different from each other. However, as good as the combat is, most of the time, as soon as you land a clean hit on an enemy, you can just mash one button until they die. Rounding up your arsenal are items that you can find, these range from healing supplies, to guns, mines, dynamite or even freezing powers. You can also sever the enemy's limbs with the stronger, longer combos or while using the Berserk item.  If the game got one thing right, it's the combat.

 The game can get fairly challenging, and if you run out of lives, it's game over. One thing I didn't like in the least was the Adrenaline meter. Going too long without killing an enemy will make the adrenaline gauge drop, and once it's depleted, you'll start losing HP steadily. It's a pretty annoying mechanic, levels are kinda large, and you need to explore them, whether to find items or the much sought after extra lives, or maybe to find the trigger that will open the door blocking your path. The game has a ton of secrets, which makes the Adrenaline gauge fairly unwelcome, heck, the N64 port actually allows you to turn it off. I heard that bosses are supposed to be easy, but for the life of me I don't see it. I couldn't finish a single boss without losing, at least, a life. Make it about ten for the last one. You can also use cheats(Or finish the game) to gain the ability to play as the different monsters from the game(Sadly, it seems to be random which monster you get each level), or even get unlimited items and lives.

 The game's graphics have their ups and downs. On the upside, enemies look great, and the environments are highly detailed. The game uses very dark colors, alongside mist effects and the dreary look the textures give to the objects, it looks very nice. However, it's a bit too much for the PS1 to handle, and in turn means that there's a very short draw distance, most of the time you'll be staring at the black unknown. Animations have certainly seen better days though! The music I liked fairly much, it's nothing special, but it suits the game and helps set the mood.

 I'm gonna be fairly blunt here, the game has aged terribly. Controls are a... nightmare, the amount of damage enemies can deal in a few hits is borderline unfair, the animations look very unnatural to say the least, levels can get very confusing and the adrenaline gauge keeps dropping to add to the annoyance, and the platforming sections? Absolutely dreadful. And despite all this... I kinda like the game, it may be partly due to nostalgia, since I loved this game when I was younger, but I can't deny that I can have fun with this game, while acknowledging that time hasn't been kind.
 5.5 out of 10.