Creatures 3
by Mindscape
|
List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Video Game Reviews of Creatures 3
Customer Review: Mind numbing and frustrating
Summary: 2 Stars
I really wanted to like this game. I've owned it for several years (and never played it) and with the upcoming Spore, I really wanted to sate my need for some fun AI entertainment. Sadly, this simply was not it.
The premise for a great game is here. This is a game that takes a lot of patience. And I mean a LOT.
Starting out - if you plan to use the native interface rather than a cheat code to teach your Norns how to speak, be prepared for a lot of clicking on everything on the screen, over and over and over for each norn.
Now onto the "game" part. Scattered around the ship are various power-ups that you'll need your creatures to retrieve. Spend a bit of time getting these gathered up and... now what?
From here, it becomes an exercise in tedium. Because ultimately, this is a game that has no real goal. You'll have to set the goal yourself from a limited number of options.
Your creatures do think, but their needs are similar to those of a two-year-old. If you have a custom agent that produces food, 90% of your creatures will live directly next to this agent for the duration of the game, stuffing their faces and chittering constantly.
In the end, I could not even complete my own goal without extreme frustration. All I wanted was for my creatures to mate and have lots of babies. But making this happen seemed like an exercise in futility. I spent hours trying to find the perfect mating conditions. I dropped my 10 norns in a big norn orgy and encouraged them to kiss each other. I moved two norns out by themselves to a secluded island retreat and encouraged them to kiss each other. I moved small groups of female and a male norns out, fed them fertility potions every minute, and encouraged some group smooching. I spent hours trying to turn my norns into breeding machines, but they are stubborn little buggers. I only squeezed out a few measly pregnancies after hours of efforts.
Finally, I was very frustrated at the overall lack of information. Far too often, a creature just up and dies. Well, once it's dead, it's too late to glean any information about WHY. Did it starve? Was it cold? Did it catch bacteria? Who knows - it's dead, and there's no autopsy. Before it dies, you'll just have to hope that you can magically tell that its sick. Sometimes the norn will tell you it's ill - otherwise you'll just have to read its limited facial expression, or spend a lot of time zooming over it with the Medical reader to see if you need to send it to the sick bay. That's not really very difficult to do, but I prefer a bit more explicit emoting when a creature is not well, instead of having to guess. And when a seemingly well creature simply dies, it's very frustrating to not know why it happened.
In summary, I had the following issues:
1) Unclear information about my norn's inner workings
2) Limited actions/intelligence in the AI
3) Lack of goals (which is fine if you love a completely open sandbox game)
Customer Review: C3 is the most awesome game I have ever played!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thousands of years ago, the Shee created three species.They were norns, ettins, and grendels. Norns are adorable things that look like a mix between a puppy, a kitten, and a mouse. Ettins are creatures that love heat and will steal machinery, so lock it up! Last but not least, my favorite, the grendels! Sure, they kill norns and ettins, but I think they're cute! Don't underestimate them, though! I suggest you use downloads From the websites www.creaturescaves.com and www.creatures.amberz.net to protect your creatures! Now for a history lesson ;). Creatures 1 & 2, took place on Albia, a planet wich is, well, literalty flat. Creatures 3, however, takes place on a spaceship called the Shee Ark. The Shee left Albia, searching for a more spherical home (dumb reason to leave your old planet, eh?). That was centuries ago. This is now. You've discovered the Shee Ark. The fate of the norns, ettins, and grendels is in your hands now. If you want to know any aditional info, go to http://creatures.wikicities.com/wiki/Main_Page.Customer Review: Cute Game
Summary: 4 Stars
I must admit this version of Creatures completely blew away the other two. I loved the other two as well but, to an extent. You couldn't controll the norns or grendals as well as you can in this game. In fact, you can literally pick them up and move them around with you mouse after activating a certain device.
(This helps with saving them from drowning, or falling into a trap, or being injured or killed any other way.)
There is no blood in the game, but if you happen to accidentally feed a creature to the pirannah, little bones will fly about... Norns, the creatures you start out with are very cute, and can teach their children volcabulary, if you teach them enough. (The ancient stone helps a lot) However, it would be nicer if there were more combinations of coloring and patterning in the breeds... their offspring get a little repetative.
One can also learn a little chemestry, using Antibodies and Antihistamines to cure illness with the chem lab, and learn what diseases each grendel, norn, and ettin can become infected with.
The enviornment surrounding each creatures habitat in also interesting to study and interact with- though it's hard to keep them separated when they become a certain age. One can introduce new fish and help other spieces of fish thrive in the ocean layer, or throw a few pirranah in and watch them take over the tank. You can create new shades of rainbow shark, and help the hog survive in the norn's home area. watch a baby hummingbird grow, try to save the freshwater fish.
Overall, it's a real great game- you can replay with a different scenerio, splice ettins and grendels together, or ignore them and play with the ecosystem. n.n
Customer Review: Best Creatures yet
Summary: 5 Stars
This game blows away the previous versions! And can be docked to "Docking Station" for a huge combined world where norns can roam freely throughout cyberspace. Totally addictive and absolutely a blast!Customer Review: THIS GAME IS THE BEST
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this game when I was 9 years old. It became my favorite game. In the game you have to take care of norns, ettins or grendels(you decide!)You can breed norns and ettins in the same world together, of course you can also have grendels there, but the problem may be, that the grendels can sometimes kill norns and ettins, so I recommend to breed grendels in separate world. The fan-made addons all around the internet make the game much more interesting to play! Norns are cute, so are ettins(they've became my favorite breed, lately) and (suprise!)I also think that grendels are cute! I highly recommend this game to everyone above the age of 8.