Creatures Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]

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Developed by Apex Computer Productions and published by Thalamus in 1990

I think 1988 - 1990 saw the Commodore 64 at the height of it's powers. Sure, 16-bit computers and consoles were available, but brothers John and Steve Rowlands turned out an absolute classic game that showed what the C64 was capable of both graphically and sonically.

The game focuses around Clyde Radcliffe, a fuzzy-wuzzy who must rescue his chums from some pretty hostile aliens across several stages of platforming, shooting fun.

Clyde has a range of weapons at his disposal, each of them upgradeable from a shop that is accessible between stages, providing Clyde manages to collect enough pet creatures during the level. In addition to regular weapons, Clyde also has a super flame-breath attack that can be charged up by holding down the fire button. However, not all enemies can be destroyed, which means that you have to work out how best to navigate past certain groups of enemies.

The real crowning glory in the game is the torture stage, where Clyde must race against time to save one of his buddies from being gruesomely dismembered by the aliens (think chainsaws, circular saws and plenty of blood); the game has a slightly darker more mature sense of humour that belies it's cartoon-like graphics.

So, one of the best games on the C64 for sure, but there are a couple of niggles. Firstly, there are certain boss monster sections at the end of each level that require you to have purchased the right weapon from the shop; it's impossible to beat the boss without the weapon and this can be really infuriating considering the fact that the levels can be quite challenging to even reach the boss. It's obvious that the developers wanted you to get there and realise which weapon you actually needed, but it's still annoying. You'll only make the mistake once though.

The only other problem is there seems to be a couple of bugs in the sprite collision code. During one boss section, a minion on the left of the screen collided with me whilst on the right; quite easy to see since enemies die when they collide with you.

With those niggles aside, this remains one of the best games to ever grace the C64 and I'm sure it will forever be remembered fondly by anyone that owned it.
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