Overall most helpful review

Posted on: January 8, 2010

booljayj

Games: 116 Reviews: 1

Addicting and Frustrating

I was first exposed to Creatures when I was very young. At the time, I didn't know what to make of it. I was playing someone else's game, and as such was already presented with a fairly large group of fairly intelligent norns. I thought that the creatures were charming, and that it was fun, but I didn't really see it as a game. However, it was forever stuck in my mind after that point. Years later, I find it posted on GOG. I ask myself, "should I buy it?" To which I heartily reply, "hell yeah." Forced to now see it in it's entirety, I can now make some very basic points about Creatures. 1)It's a very ambitious game, one which they may have missed the mark on, 2) Regardless, it's complexity is intriguing enough to keep me playing it from time to time, and 3)For anyone who was exposed to this game early on, the feeling of nostalgia is incredible. So far, I can't bring myself to play for more than an hour every week, but each hour is full of very real surprises and feelings of victory and pride.

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Posted on: September 18, 2012

Zero_Yielding

Verified owner

Games: 845 Reviews: 11

Creatures Revolutionary aLife Experiment

Creatures 1 and 2 try to simulate A-life in a 2D digital terrarium - a disc world inhabited only on the edges. C2 is a larger world including rudimentary seasons and weather systems and feral species called ettins and a "genetic splicer" to cross-breed species and some slightly puzzle-like aspects. The world is called ALBIA. The Creatures are depicted as small cutish fury animals called NORNS. There are gadgets, flora and fauna they interact with. A creature called a Grendal roams around Albia spreading disease and hitting Norns. To start Albia is devoid of Norns. The player selects Norn "eggs" from a "hatchery". The egg is placed in an incubator, hatches and a Norn is born. The player can teach them to survive in their environment thru a series of processes including a "computer" that provides a small vocabulary. They can then be communicated with by typing simple instructions. They go thru a life cycle of infant, child, adolescent, adult to elderly. They communicate with one another, interact in their environment, eat and sleep, procreate, and die of either disease or old age. The Norn lifespan is about 15 hours altho this varies. Ensuring offspring survive and breeding particular strains of Norns may be challenging. Albia is complex. The Norn "brain" consists of about 1000 neurons. They experience "emotions" and "feelings." They can evolve slowly over generations. This is more pronounced in C2. It can be enhanced thru apps designed to both monitor health and alter them thru "chemical" and "genetic" manipulation. Visually both games appeal - C1 having a warmer more traditional appearance and C2 being more cartoon like. A drawback is the limited environment and all objects have a sort of predetermined use. A pretty background is just that and adds nothing to the environment. When these games were released some saw them as edutainment for children. Years later they continue to provide hours of enjoyment to players of all ages. Averaged Creatures 1 and 2 Rating 66%

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Posted on: February 4, 2012

blinkyblueyes

Verified owner

Games: 32 Reviews: 2

Cute nostalgia

I played this game almost obsessively in my early teens and searched far and wide for the updated version so I could install/play on my win7 laptop (and incidentally found GOG-heaven at the same time!). However, once I had installed the first Creatures, which was my favourite in the series, I quickly got fed up with how high-maintenance the Norns - it takes hours of coaxing and endless "push" repetitions to make them do anything at all! I must say, I do not remember them being so stupid. Maybe when I was younger, I didn't have such a low patience threshold and didn't get aggravated at the impossible feedback loops (Norn is exhausted therefore will not eat, Norn is hungry therefore will not sleep). What a shame... the dream is dead :(

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Posted on: January 2, 2010

WelshBastard

Verified owner

Games: 11 Reviews: 1

An old game, but not a bad game by any means.

For many of us, our first introduction into the realms of artifical life, or for us around my age, introduction into sciences, was this game series. In a time where the artifical life & simulation genre was dominated by "The Sims", many of this games fans stood strong dispite the numbers, and still do till this day, dispite the lack of intrest we've been seeing. And this is all for good reason, because, you'll never experence anything quite like these games. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creatures, the first game in the double pack of games, takes place on the abandoned world of albia, with all of the significantly more advance beings (The Shee) fleeing the planet many years ago, to find a new world. With only 6 of the Shee's greatest artifical life creations, the Norns, the player must ensure the survival of the speices against all odds, against the threats that loom in the caves below, and the beautifully designed trees of above, from both plant and life, including the Disease Ridden Grendels, a much less sucsessful experiment (Though, some would disagree) of the Shee. The Norns you raise are very much alive, they have thier own emotions, brains and even genetics which will mutate over genorations for evolution, maybe you'll end up with a race which are hardened enough to eat the most dangerous of plants, or one which will fear the heat and strive in the cold. The possbilities are endless giving the game endless life. This is evidenced even further with the free add-ons and player created content, including new food, new animals, even new norn spieces, allowing your gene-pool to be even deeper. A huge world dying to be explored. A speices to save. A journey like no other. Welcome to Albia. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creatures 2, the second and stronger part of the two, improves on the formula set in the first game in every way imagenable, graphics, music, adventure possiblity, player created content, gene diversity, EVERYTHING is improved upon. Set years after the first game, albia is thriving and alive, until a great volcanic eurption scars and splits the land apart, the anciant shee's labs are finally revealed, and with that, new beauties, and new dangers lurk, from a much more dangerous Grendel, to the all-mighty Borland creature, which only rears its head in spring time on a certian day, striking fear to all sea life. The Gameplay is largely the same, aside the inclusion of unlockables, by exploring the world with your norns, you can unlock new kits, an ability to veiw the world without a norn needing to be selected, or most amazing, the ability to now select Grendels, or the new Creature, The Kleptomanic Hoarding Ettins. The greatest thing of Creatures 2 aside it's larger scope, improved gameplay and beautiful world? The genetic splicer, which will take two creatures, even if they are of different speicies, like Grendel/Norn, and merge them into one, allowing unbelievable combination possibilities. A beautiful world dying to be explored. Three Spieces to save. A journey like no other. Albia just got bigger.

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Posted on: October 22, 2015

janettejablonski

Verified owner

Games: 12 Reviews: 1

Creatures:The Albian Years

I love the series, always have. However, even with the upgrades that GOG has done I still have a ton of issues with the games not running properly. Especially every time windows updates or directX changes, etc. If you get lucky enough to play the games smoothly then it is totally worth it. However, do keep in mind the chances of sometimes having access and other times the games not functioning makes for unpredictable game play. I have tried searching high and low and even looked for direct support from GOG but it seems every time one error or bug gets fixed a new one arises. Whether its total game crashes or simply certain menu's in game not working it does get extremely frustrating. The bottom line is the game just does not have enough regular support/maintenance so expect stretches of time that the game will not work. My most recent experience is despite the site saying compatible with Windows 10 almost every menu in game is not working without crashing. Beyond the technical issues though the games themselves are awesome.

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