As a huge fan of dual-stick shooters (Top DSS's) I found Creatures to satisfy almost everything I want to see in a game. Great graphics, great controls, great gameplay, and great sounds.

Creatures: The First Blood (developed by playus soft) is a survival dual stick shooter (LIke Minigore), and your objective is simple, either kill a certain number of monsters, or last for a certain amount of time. Seems simple enough, and that's because it is. However, the premise always seems easy at first, actually being able to complete the missions will prove to be much more difficult than first thought. After about the 3rd level I found myself running away lots more, than actually fighting the creatures. The swarm of beings that surround you may seem overwhelming at first, but have no fear, as there are a large amount of weapons and gadgets that will help you along the way. First you have your standard machine gun, with unlimited ammo. Then you pick up the shotgun, and ammo will drop randomly from the monsters as you kill them. The rocket launcher is next, again random ammo drops from killing monsters, and then you have your rail gun, which shoots a large electric beam in a straight line, and like you may have guessed, ammo is randomly dropped by the creatures.

There are two types of level designs in the game, the first is a large open room in which the objective is to kill a certain amount of creatures. In the second area you are stuck behind a barrier and a wall of spikes, large amounts of creatures will come from the opposite side and try to push the barrier backwards forcing you into the wall. However, keep the monsters from pushing you back for a certain amount of time and you beat the level.Throughout the levels the enemies will occasionally drop 2 different type of area of effect gadgets (AoE's). A shield, and a automated turret. The shield protects you from the incoming horde for a limited amount of time (I found it very helpful in the barrier levels) making it a defensive only gadget. On the other hand the turret is an offensive only gadget (Again the devs have done a great job balancing the available weapons and gadgets), and will last for a certain amount of time, targeting any enemy within a certain range.

The graphics are very well done, providing great animations and a smooth frame rate for my second generation iPod touch. I have yet to experience any drops in frame rate, or bugs. The UI is very well laid out, easy to navigate, and designed to add to the overall dark atmosphere. The team over at playus soft, has done an amazing job creating one of my favorite dual stick shooters this year. The sounds are also well done, everything is dubbed and synced correctly, the gun sounds are very realistic and the music again adds to the dark and creepy atmosphere. For the small team over at playus soft, I give my grandest congratulations, on releasing a game that provides a great amount of content for the low price. The only thing I would like to see is more game modes. Survival is quite fun, but does become boring after a few hours of gameplay. My suggestion is that they include some type of story mode. Having you play threw a majority of enviroments, all the while attempting to figure out what exactly led to the creatures attacking you. All in all , great game, lots of content, very entertaining, and very well made. I tip my hat off to you playus soft for a job well done. Keep the games coming as I cannot wait to see what you have to offer next.

It seems that devs are creating amazing games for the cheapest of prices, pick this up in the AppStore now for $0.99. This being said I consider it to be the "Editors Choice" for dual stick shooters of the year, thus far.

Gameplay Video:



 
Creatures: The First Blood on the AppStore