Review #698: 64 Memories - Nightmare Creatures(Nintendo 64)

 Nightmarishly bad.

 Part I: The Flashback
 Would you believe me if I told you that I used to love this game? Oh yes, when I was younger, this game was my jam. I think the fact that one of the characters was named "Ignatius" really helped. I have rather fond memories of playing with the 'Play as a Monster' cheat too! Plus, the dismemberment mechanics felt so good. They still do, one of the game's few highlights. What's more, I gave the PS1 version a very undeserved 5.0 in my review a few years ago, and this version is supposed to be better!

 Part II: The Review
 Since I reviewed the identical PS1 version I'll keep it short and simple: It's awful. It's a survival horror-ish beat'em up game in which you play as either Ignatius or Nadia as you chase Adam Crowley through England. The game is made up of 16 levels and four bosses, levels are huge mazes full of secrets to find and monsters to fight. If anything, I appreciate how many secrets the game has, and they are always full of necessary healing items or offensive one-time use items to help you on your quest.

 There's only one thing you need to know: Tank Controls. With a beat'em up game they just don't work very well. You are supposed to sidestep or attempt a pitiful dodge and wait for openings to attack, but even on the easiest difficulty settings the monsters are just too powerful, and if you find yourself facing more than one, well, good luck. A and B are your two attack buttons, but for whatever reason a few combos use the Jump and Defense buttons to perform attacks, that said, combat controls don't feel very responsive. Heck, as a whole, movement feels very sloppy, the jumpy frame-rate doesn't help in the slightest. The original PS1 game had an Adrenaline gauge, that once depleted would start sapping your health away. It was a horrible design choice on a game with so many secrets to find, switches to hit and large levels, but in the N64 version you can actually turn it off, which makes this the best version of the game, even if it's lacking voiceovers and the FMVs.

 Nightmare Creatures is a pretty bland game that is only getting worse with age. It's not completely awful, I think the art direction is brilliant, stages and monsters look great, and I love how crunchy the dismemberment feels, but as far as the rest of the game goes? It's too clunky and sloppy.
 3.0 out of 10