This is ultimately a game that is much simpler than it looks, but its still a blast to play with all of its intricacies.
The game's main storyline takes place at a set of islands in the pacific ocean. The whole fiasco begins when Rex Chance gets a letter from his long lost father. So Rex Chance goes to these islands in search of his father, and finds his laboratory deserted. After an incidential encounter with the pompous Upton Julius, Rex Chance teams up with Lucy Willing to stop Upton Julius from executing his plans of world domination. The story itself is quite simple, but the characters are all entertaining and there is quite a bit of comic relief to be seen during the single-player campaign.
The basic gameplay of Impossible Creatures is split into two sections, the actual battle, and the creation of your creatures. You'll undoubtedly want to devise your own personal army rather than use any of the pre-set armies that come with the game, so you'll have to go to the creature chamber. The creature chamber lets you combine two creatures into a hybrid. The abilities, cost, and tech level of the unit heavily depends on what creatures you used and what body parts are used. Certain body parts give you abilities, while others just help (or potentially harm if you had a better body part in place) a certain stat line. All units are divided into 5 tech levels. Higher tech levels result in better, but more expensive and late-game creatures. This phase can be VERY adedicting as you try to create good combinations for your army. This phase can go on for hours if you really get into it! The only complaint against the creature chamber is that there was some potential for comic relief here, but this chance was completely passed over, as there could of been some humor in seeing your creature come together. Instead, the change is just done automatically, with no special effects or anything like that. The second phase is the battle itself, and this isn't nearly as interesting as the creature chamber is. Impossible Creatures essentially plays like old C&C games. Your most powerful creature? Might as well be a Mammoth Tank however way you look at it- so what are you waiting for? Spam it! Just like C&C, once you reach higher tech levels, there is little to no reason to keep using the lower tech units- just start spamming the new ones. The use of combined arms is rarely necessary with well-designed armies, so the game generally quickly boils down to who can get their most powerful creatures the fastest.
Graphically, Impossible Creatures is good looking all around. The creatures all look great, with only occasional glitches to be encountered in the creature chamber and some iffy movement animations for certain hybrids. The game also has some great looking environments. Impossible Creatures doesn't do nearly as well with sound however. The creatures all make simple noises that get repetitive very quickly, and combat noises are also very simplistic. Fortunately, the voice acting for the campaign is very well done and helps bring the characters to life.
In the end, Impossible Creatures is a game with a seemingly complex premise, but ultimately turns out to be quite simple in practice. The actual RTS gameplay is old-fashioned and simple, but the creature chamber is a blast to use. If your interested in making your own armies, Impossible Creatures could be the RTS for you. Just don't expect revolutionary gameplay.
Pros: Addicting creature creation system. Challenging and enjoyable single player campaign. Decent AI. Decent graphics. Good voice acting.
Cons: Very simplistic RTS gameplay. Recommendable for: People who want to make their own armies and still enjoy old-fashioned C&C style gameplay will adore Impossible Creatures. Gamers who prefer more complex RTS gameplay however will be disappointed.