Impossible Creatures - PC Games

The missions of the single player game are linked by a pretty good tale, nicely flavoured with touches straight out of the adventure serials of the 1940s. But the game's limitations are also clearest in single player: it's just a regular old real-time strategy game at heart. The creature gimmick is cool, but once you figure out what critters you need, it becomes dull.

Multiplayer is a different story. In multi you can load up to eight creatures into an army and those are the beasts you can use in the match. If you load the wrong beasts your opponent can swarm all over you. The fun comes when you start working out how to beat your enemy's army with the Creature Combiner interface. The only problem here is that to get that point you have to play the same person more than once. That's not an easy task, thanks to a lacklustre multiplayer matchmaking service (as compared to that in, say, Age of Mythology). It would be better if you could customise armies during the game, but real-time pacing precludes that.

The graphics and audio are great and you can't beat the concept. It could be a better game, and there are better real-time games out there, but none of them let you make a Skant (skunk ant) or a massive Sperm Grizzly (sperm whale grizzly bear) and who wouldn't want to spend time doing that? --Andrew S Bub