Deadly Creatures

Deadly Creatures is a 2009 action-adventure in which the player alternately takes control of a desert scorpion and a tarantula wandering both below and above the surface of a remote American wasteland. Instead of a human hero, the entire game follows the world through the eyes of two small creatures, who must fight their way through hordes of insects, snakes, and other predators, while their fates gradually intertwine with the story of human characters searching for a lost treasure hidden somewhere in underground mine shafts. Battles play out in a series of quick combos and special attacks - the scorpion stabs with its pincers and tail and can also deliver a crushing grip, while the tarantula combines jumps, venom, and rapid movement across walls and ceilings, so the two heroes' combat styles differ noticeably and the player must adapt every time the game switches perspective.

On Wii, the game made full use of motion controls - fights played out through gestures with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, which gave the combat a raw edge, though sometimes at the expense of precision. The graphics were above standard for Wii at the time, with a finely modeled terrain, caves, and desert surface that the player explores from a viewpoint just a few centimeters above the ground, so ordinary stones and plant roots look like massive rock formations. Another distinctive feature is the involvement of actor Dennis Hopper, who lent his voice to one of the human characters and gave the story an unusual Hollywood flair rarely seen otherwise in Wii-exclusive titles.

Contemporary reviews praised the originality of the concept and the atmosphere, but criticized the inconsistent camera and sometimes confusing combat in enclosed spaces. Deadly Creatures never became a commercial blockbuster, but among Wii players it earned a reputation as an underrated game with a fresh idea, one that fans looking for something on the console other than family titles and Mario games still return to today. Even years later, it comes across as a bold experiment that would likely never have been made on another platform, and precisely for that reason it remains one of the most interesting, technically demanding achievements on Wii.