Software:Impossible Creatures

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Short description: 2003 video game
This page is about the 2003 video game. For the 2023 children's novel, see Impossible Creatures (book).
Impossible Creatures
Cover art featuring a tiger-headed scorpion
Developer(s)Relic Entertainment
Publisher(s)Microsoft Game Studios[lower-alpha 1]
Director(s)Alex Garden
Producer(s)John Johnson
Designer(s)Jay Wilson (lead)
Quinn Duffy
Andrew Chambers
Damon Gauthier
Programmer(s)Shane Alfreds
Writer(s)Duane Pye
Jay Wilson
Composer(s)Crispin Hands
Platform(s)Windows
Release
  • NA: January 7, 2003[1]
  • EU: February 28, 2003
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Impossible Creatures is a 2003 steampunk real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Its unique feature is that the armies used in gameplay are all created by the player, and involve combining two animals to make a new super creature with various abilities. The concept was inspired by H. G. Wells' novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. The player-created armies are capped at 9 creatures; each one is a combination of any two animals from a list of 76 (51 with no downloads). Many animals possess inherent abilities and players can multiple such abilities or compensate for weaknesses as they plan units and armies. There is an extensive single-player campaign as well as online multiplayer functionality with different game modes, add-ons, custom maps, mods, and scenarios.

Impossible Creatures was followed up later by a free downloadable expansion entitled Insect Invasion, which added new creatures and abilities to the game. The last official add-on for Impossible Creatures was released in 2004.

On November 12, 2015, Impossible Creatures was released on Steam as Impossible Creatures: Steam Edition, by THQ Nordic. Relic Entertainment and Sega relinquished the rights of Impossible Creatures to THQ Nordic after it was revealed that neither THQ nor Microsoft Studios owned the rights to the video game.[2]

The Steam version includes all patches and expansion packs released in the past, the IC Online servers re-implemented through Steam's cloud service and the game's modding software development kit included in the package alongside the Mission Editor originally available within the game's files. Steam Workshop support came out in Patch 3.[3] The Steam Edition is also optimized for modern computer systems and software. The game was also released on GOG.com shortly after it appeared on Steam.

Gameplay

Campaign

This mode consists of 15 different missions, spanning over a group of islands in the South Pacific known as the Isla Variatas, indicating the variety of environments presented to the player, ranging from jungles, deserts, or Arctic regions. The protagonist Rex Chance is required to collect animal DNA throughout the campaign in order to add more animal varieties to his army of combined creatures.

Multiplayer

There are three game types available during multiplayer mode, which allows for up to six players at once. In "Destroy Enemy Lab", the first to destroy the enemies' laboratories is the winner. Due to the strategy of destroying an opponent's lab without actually defeating their army, Relic in its mod Insect Invasion added a defense shield that can be researched and then turned on to protect the lab, at the cost of 35 points of electricity per second. In "Destroy Enemy Base", the winner is the first to destroy all enemy buildings, including the lab. In "Hunt Rex", each player is given a special unit, Rex Chance, and players must hunt down and kill other participants' Rex Chance units. Multiplayer games can be played via the IC Online (ICO) service, via a LAN connection, or by connecting directly to the host player's IP address.

Plot

Dr. Eric Chanikov was one of the brightest scientific minds in history, but after a failed experiment causes the Tunguska Event and kills his wife, he goes into willing exile at a chain of remote islands. There, he reports the creation of the Sigma Technology, a method which makes it possible to fuse two creatures together into a single organism. These reports are ignored by the scientific and mainstream communities.

In 1937, believing that his last days are upon him, Chanikov sends a letter to his son Rex asking him to visit. Rex, a disgraced war reporter going by the name "Rex Chance", travels to the archipelago. Discovering that his father died at the hands of the evil tycoon Upton Julius, he vows to avenge his father's murder. He is assisted by the late Chanikov's assistant Dr. Lucy Willing. With her help, Rex quickly learns the power of the Sigma technology they were working on, as well as more about his family's past. As he spends time around the Sigma technology, latent abilities are made manifest within him. These abilities make him increasingly superhuman, allowing him to directly assist his Sigma Creatures in battle.

Lucy's and Rex's progress is slowed by those loyal to Julius: Whitey Hooten, a whaler whose Sigma-created creatures are slow and powerful, Velika la Pette, a high-strung aristocrat who relies on aerial units, and Dr. Ganglion, a mad scientist fond of using creatures most would call abominations. Each main enemy has control over an island chain with different climates: from winter conditions, to tropical, to desert.

Julius is confronted and defeated at the end of the game. The reasoning behind Rex's latent abilities is at last revealed: he is the accidental first product of the Sigma technology, a human combined with thousands of animal traits, which explains why Rex has developed these abilities throughout the game. As the game closes, Rex is shown with his pupils missing, a trait common among Sigma-created creatures.

Development

The game was originally called Sigma: The Adventures of Rex Chance.[4] According to early previews, players had to tranquilize creatures and bring them back to the base to collect their DNA. In the final product, though, it is enough for Rex to shoot a creature to collect its DNA. This only applies to the single-player campaign; in a regular multi-player skirmish, all creatures are already available.

Although it would not be released on Steam until 2015, Impossible Creatures was one of the first titles that Valve used to demonstrate Steam in 2003. This was probably due to Valve and Relic’s close relationship; as both had worked with Sierra Online.[5]

The development of the 2015 remastered edition involved recreating much of Relic's postlaunch work on the SDK and Insect Invasion add-on, as well as rewriting the multiplayer networking for Steam and modern firewalls. Before and after the Steam re-release, the Tellurian mod—which adds many creatures, maps, and balancing tweaks—became a large focal point for the game's community.[5] In fact, fixes made by the Tellurian mod developers were integrated back into the base game in an official patch.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic72/100[6]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGameStarStarStarHalf star[7]
Edge5/10[8]
Eurogamer7/10[9]
Game Informer7.5/10[10]
GameProStarStarStarStar[11]
GameRevolutionB[12]
GameSpot7.9/10[13]
GameSpyStarStarStar[14]
GameZone8.5/10[15]
IGN8.3/10[16]
PC Gamer (US)85%[17]
The Cincinnati EnquirerStarStarStarHalf star[18]
Entertainment WeeklyC[19]

The game received "average" reviews according to video game review aggregator website Metacritic.[6]

Maxim gave it a score of eight out of ten, saying that "Once you get past all the gamesmanship, you can concentrate on bitch-slapping Mother Nature by creating twisted beasts that would make Jack Hanna brown his khakis."[20] However, The Cincinnati Enquirer gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and said that its gameplay "doesn't match the title's ingenious premise."[18] Entertainment Weekly gave it a "C", saying, "If most real-time strategy titles are elaborate versions of rock-paper-scissors, Impossible Creatures is the world's most sophisticated game of rock."[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Impossible Creatures [2003 - PC"]. http://www.ign.com/games/impossible-creatures/pc-14840. 
  2. ↑ Hillier, Brenna (23 November 2015). "The improbable journey of Impossible Creatures". Videogaming247. https://www.vg247.com/2015/11/23/the-improbable-journey-of-impossible-creatures/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Impossible Creatures Steam Edition - PATCH 3 - Fixes & WORKSHOP support - Steam News" (in en). 2016-03-29. https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/324680/view/5280989840369106684. 
  4. ↑ "Net gamer". December 1, 2001. p. 237. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240606220725/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/148842710/. Retrieved June 7, 2024. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The improbable journey of Impossible Creatures". 2015-11-23. https://www.vg247.com/2015/11/23/the-improbable-journey-of-impossible-creatures/. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Impossible Creatures for PC Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/impossible-creatures/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. 
  7. ↑ Deci, T.J.. "Impossible Creatures - Review". AllGame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=33544&tab=review. 
  8. ↑ Edge staff (March 2003). "Impossible Creatures". Edge (121): 100. 
  9. ↑ Fahey, Rob (February 25, 2003). "Impossible Creatures". http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_impossiblecreatures_pc. 
  10. ↑ Brogger, Kristian (March 2003). "Impossible Creatures". Game Informer (119): 90. http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200303/R03.0729.1810.12472.htm. Retrieved April 17, 2016. 
  11. ↑ The D-Pad Destroyer (February 26, 2003). "Impossible Creatures Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/computer/pc/games/reviews/28012.shtml. Retrieved April 18, 2016. 
  12. ↑ Silverman, Ben (January 2003). "Impossible Creatures Review". Game Revolution. http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/impossible-creatures. 
  13. ↑ Kasavin, Greg (January 9, 2003). "Impossible Creatures Review". http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/impossible-creatures-review/1900-2908353/. 
  14. ↑ Osborne, Scott (January 16, 2003). "GameSpy: Impossible Creatures". GameSpy. http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/impossible-creatures/5534p1.html. 
  15. ↑ Tha Wiz (January 12, 2003). "Impossible Creatures - PC - Review". GameZone. http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/impossible_creatures_pc_review. 
  16. ↑ Adams, Dan (January 9, 2003). "Impossible Creatures Review". http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/01/09/impossible-creatures-review. 
  17. ↑ Poole, Stephen (March 2003). "Impossible Creatures". PC Gamer: 86. http://www.pcgamer.com/archives/2005/07/impossible_crea.html. Retrieved April 18, 2016. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Saltzman, Marc (January 28, 2003). "Clumsy combat hurts 'Creatures' concept". The Cincinnati Enquirer. http://www.cincinnati.com/freetime/games/reviews/012803_impossiblecreatures.html. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Wolpaw, Erik (February 7, 2003). "Bad Breeding (Impossible Creatures Review)". Entertainment Weekly (694): 90. http://www.ew.com/article/2003/02/07/impossible-creatures. Retrieved April 18, 2016. 
  20. ↑ Boyce, Ryan (January 7, 2003). "Impossible Creatures". Maxim. http://maximonline.com/entertainment/reviews/review_games_4783.html. Retrieved April 18, 2016. 

Notes

  1. ↑ Published digitally by THQ Nordic as of 2015
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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