Gameplay
Teaming up with Konami and Universal Studios, Kalisto has created a more technically superior game to the first, while also solving most of the dilemmas that the first game posed, including redundant gameplay, nasty graphics, and much better interface. The game plays in a third-person perspective, with fully realized 3D graphics, polygonal characters and backgrounds, and interactive environments.
The story starts players off 100 years after the first game, in 19th century Paris, at the time of the French Revolution. The evil scientist Dr. Adam Crowley has returned with a mad scheme to unlock a busload of dangerous monsters on the city, in order to destroy its inhabitants and take control of Paris. Clearly, the world is next. But in his haste, he's left unwatched his experiment/patient, Herbert Wallace, who you get to play in a haze of dreamy, confused episodes that blur the lines of reality and dream. Your character seeks vengeance and also a re-unification with female friend Raqueel Donnerty, who assists you in your quest.
Having played more than my fair share of this game (I beat it more than once), I can tell you that the driving force in it is not the story, which essentially has been hacked to pieces by chopping out the role of Raqueel. In the original design of the game -- and just like the first title -- you could play two characters, Wallace and Raqueel. But apparently Kalisto took Raqueel out of the picture (because playing both characters was too confusing), and while that doesn't effect the core of the gameplay it shredded the story, which is a confused patchwork of omissions and pointless cutscenes (however cool they may look).
Thankfully, this game doesn't rest entirely on the shoulders of storyline. No, this is a hack-and-slash action game in 3D, coupled with a Zelda-like combat system, simple combos, and some fantastically satisfying fatalities. Key-based and physical puzzles also play a part, too, but not much. What drove me to finish this game wasn't the storyline, which is less satisfying than an Archie and Veronica comic book, but instead was finding out what new creature was next on my kill list. After the first level, in which a handful of monsters appeared, each level introduces at least one new monster, each of which is designed with great imagination and flair. French developers always have been known for their design, and Kalisto's creatures are no exception. These polygonal constructions are wild looking, well-animated enemies that you'll look forward to seeing and killing. They range from cat-like hybrids, tentacled mutants, two-legged humanoid frogs, to several variations of zombies, voodoo masters, and spider-like things that crawl on walls and ceilings. In short, while there weren't as many enemies as I would have liked to see they are very cool looking.
The control system is two part. While you wander around looking for clues, you'll be able to walk, run, climb (ladders, steps, boxes and crates), jump, swim, fight, and use weapons. Once in the perimeter of a creature, the freestyle mode switches to a magnetized combat system just like in the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, except automatic, not manual. In it, your regular moves switch to fighting moves. You can attack with your axe vertically, horizontally, use uppercuts, block, strafe, backup, and various combinations of these. The attack list is shamefully short, especially compared to the first game, which had lots more, and anymore who's played a videogame can master the moves in about five minutes. It feels great to pummel the characters, but more moves would have been greater appreciated.
While the fighting itself makes up the bulk of the game, once you have mastered your short list of moves, there isn't too much more to NCII. Which brings me to a point. This game is about killing cool looking creatures, wherein each creature must be fought in a different way in order to beat the level, and ultimately, the game. Right? That's where the fun lies. But because there are about 15 or fewer creatures, and many of them don't require much, if any, intelligence to defeat them, once you've played a few levels, there isn't much point to the rest of the game. To propel gamers to the game's end, NCII needed a much better story (it essentially has none), and a greater diversity of creatures and ways in which to beat them. The game needs more moves, guys! More intelligent creatures! These patterns are easy! C'mon!
Adding to the fighting system is a spell casting system, and the ability to pick up more ammunition, health pick-ups, and reach and use Save Points. The Spell Casting system is quite abundant and the spells quite hilarious. Players use spells such as Gory Spirit, turning enemies into ice, which with one hit can shatter them to bits, Jar of Flies, which pops enemies like a balloon into an explosion of blood and guts, and more. The bigger list includes Earthquake, Crown of Thorns (which lights your axe on fire), Napalm, which sends a fireball toward your enemy, and more. There are several kinds of ammunition, too for your guns.
Finally, the Fatalities are well worth trying on each and every creature. Once a creature's health has been depleted to a low level, he or she is vulnerable to your fatality. By pressing a certain combination of buttons (which is easy), Wallace automates into a pre-scripted animation, and he takes the thing out. Not all of the enemies have their own death animation, but most do, and they're a scream.
As for the adventuring and puzzle solving, the game is simple and straightforward. It's cool that several of the levels include underwater environments. I personally hate dying underwater in a game, and there is enough leeway in NCII so that you can reach point "A" without drowning every five seconds. The interface of everything, from doors to picking up items is simple, too. Most areas, such as ladders and climbing objects, are automatically recognized as such, and your character instantly does what he's supposed to do. You simply walk over items to pick them up. Also, the interactive and breakable and moveable objects add to the game's technical finesse, too.
Graphics
The folks at Kalisto have definitely shown they're capable of programming for PlayStation. While the Konami marketing guys claim there are no load times, it's not all true. The game is designed much in the way Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is, in which levels automatically load up when Wallace opens the next door. What is true is that there are almost no load times. Hey, compared to most EA games, that damn fine with me. But there are instances when the game pauses for just a second, as it loads up, and sometimes it's just plain annoying.
Kalisto's art design is also great. I already mentioned the cool creature designs, but the environments also deserve mention. Besides being incredibly dark, the levels range from old 19th century cemeteries, gothic churches, and museums, and movie houses, to one level in which you climb up the Eiffel Tower! The textures and overall vision of the levels is exceptional.
But what I like best is that the entire game is told with an in-game engine, whether it's the introduction or the cut-scenes themselves. Everything uses the robust in-game graphics engine. And there are lots of them. There are the standard in-between scenes, but each level is filled with cut-scenes that activate when a monster appears, when a creature animation is tripped, or when a puzzle is solved.
Sound
The infamous sound of Rob Zombie, who every gamer should know by now, graces the soundtrack of NCII. Luckily the same old song that killed every game in 1998 and 1999 isn't here, and what's actually likeable about R. Zombie's appearance is that his music is used to compliment cut-scenes that appear like movie scenes. Many of the in-between level cut-scenes are executed with a stylistic bent that's rarely been done in videogames. They're more like an MTV video than anything, and they do the game justice, as does the music.
As for the sound effects, each creature has his own her own sound, and each is deftly performed with the appropriate amount of comic and horrific touch that makes the game so much fun. The death sounds are especially good. Usually with a narrator, which in this case is the British voice of Wallace, the voice becomes quite monotonous, and here I never felt that way. Thankfully.
Verdict
As 3D hack-and-slash games go, Nightmare Creatures II has a lot going for it. It's comical, gory, and taps the adrenaline of action gamers with perfect precision. It's a wild, bloody romp, and in that it's good. Of course, it's too simplistic for its own good, and for anyone who wants to play a game for more than three of four levels will probably grow bored with this. You'll want more creatures to kill, more fatalities, a better story, and more strategy in your fights than this.
Funnily enough, the PlayStation version is probably preferable over the Dreamcast version. The PlayStation version really pushes the system to its max, and looks pretty damn good for a PS game. So, for those folks who're really looking forward to a new action-based gore-fest, well, here you go. The Dreamcast version is exactly the same game in every aspect, more or less ported from the PS version and doesn't look significantly better to warrant buying that version.
