Creature Shock Special Edition (Saturn) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
223A playthrough of Data East's 1996 FMV-based shooter for the Sega Saturn, Creature Shock Special Edition.
Played through on the medium difficulty level.
Creature Shock was one among many in the glut of FMV games that were created in the early 90s, and it generally adheres to the same template as did games like Cyberia, The Lawnmower Man, or Critical Mission.
It was developed by Argonaut (yes, the SuperFX people), and was originally published by Virgin for Dos PCs in 1994. Console ports for the 3DO, Saturn, and PS1 (Japan only) followed in 1996.
Creature Shock, like the above mentioned games, primarily focuses on "mazes," wherein hubs are connected via a series of connecting "corridors." Movement is handled with prerendered CG FMV cutscenes of your character walking down these corridors, and anything else (puzzle elements, enemies, and the like) are 2D sprites that have been superimposed over the background video. Despite the graininess of the video compression and the plasticky sheen of the character models, both a consequence of the game's age, the graphics look great. The animation is smooth, transitions between walking clips are virtually seamless, and the art ditection effectively sets the dark, creepy tone for the game.
I love some of these monster designs! The whole "eyes on stalks" thing creeped me out so much as a kid. It's still pretty trippy to watch now.
The sound also deserves credit - the soundtrack is great if you like 90s synth music, and though the music isn't always entirely fitting for the scene, it's generally pretty enjoyable to listen to. I only wish that the sound didn't cut out everytime cutscenes switch camera shots. It can be pretty jarring.
Like most 90s FMV games, however, the game suffers when it comes to gameplay. The mazes are needlessly confusing and you'll soon get lost unless you constantly hawkeye the compass, and the level layouts never change, so once you've beaten it once, there's literally nothing left to do. The shooting mechanics are also pretty unforgiving. Until you practically memorize where and when enemies appear, you find yourself getting killed left and right, and even once you have it all down, the fidgety cursor still had the tendency to foil your efforts at the most inopportune times. It was definitely a smoother experience on the PC using a mouse.
The 3D action stages are brand new for the Saturn port and replace the spaceflight stages from the original game. They certainly look better than they did using the PC version's scaling 2D sprites, but they are a bit of a mess to play. There's no feedback telling you when you've hit something or have been hit, and there's no crosshair, making lining up shots more frustrating than it should be. Overall, it's more entertaining to watch than it is to play.
But despite the utter mess made of the gameplay, I really enjoyed Creature Shock. I've always liked FMV games, warts and all, and Creature Shock is a reasonably well done one. The funky controls and the trial-and-error game play are par for the course in this genre, and it's no better nor worse than any other similar game of its era.
But for me, the high quality CG renders, the creepy atmosphere, and the excellent creature design made it an enjoyable experience, but your mileage will probably vary with your appreciation for the interactive movie genre.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
Visit for the latest updates!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NintendoComplete/540091756006560
https://twitter.com/nes_complete