If there is a game that can make you smile and shiver down your spine at the same time, it is the Creatures duo by the Rowland brothers on the Commodore 64. The cute furry Fuzzy Wuzzies in pastel colours lure you into thinking this is an innocent children's platformer — until you hit the famous bonus levels, where your friends end up in ingeniously sadistic torture machines and you have only a few seconds to save them.
The game principle combines a classic platformer with collecting and logic elements: you walk through levels, neutralise enemies and advance to rescue your kidnapped kinsfolk. The real star, however, is the technical execution. The game excels in fluidity, colour palette and detailed animation, which on the eight-bit Commodore seemed almost impossible. The Rowland brothers were masters at wringing out hardware and Creatures became a demonstration of how far the C64 could be pushed.
The developer background is itself a legend. Steve and John Rowland were among the most respected programmers of the British eight-bit scene and their work on the Commodore 64 came out via the publisher Thalamus. The game was released at the start of the 90s, at a time when many were already writing the console off in favour of the emerging sixteen-bits — all the more surprising for how fresh and modern it looked.
The second part, Creatures 2: Torture Trouble, shifted the emphasis even more towards those nerve-racking torture scenes and became famous for its black humour and difficulty. The combination of sweet presentation and surprisingly dark content gave the series a unique personality that those who remember it still recall to this day. For many Commodore fans, Creatures represents one of the peaks of domestic production.
The cultural significance of the series lies precisely in that contrast: it proved that an eight-bit game could be technically top-notch, funny and surprisingly cruel all at once. It belongs among the titles that repeatedly appear in rankings of the best games for the C64 and that illustrate why the British scene had such a reputation.
Why play: For the stunning graphics, addictive gameplay and unforgettable combination of cuteness with black humour that has no equal on eight-bits.
Game 15 of 121 for Commodore 64
