Crack It!/Crack It!.iso/CONTENT/CREATURS/CREATURE.TXT

Text File | 1998-02-06 | 17KB | 523 lines

                             Creature Shock

       ⌐ Argonaut Software and Virgin Interactive Entertainment, 1994

           Solution and hint guide ⌐ Mike Marcelais, August 1997

Introduction

Creature Shock is a unique combination of an action/arcade game combined
with the exploration and discovery more often associated with role playing
or adventure games. Unlike most action games, the enemies in Creature Shock
have only one or two weak spots and can only be damaged by shooting them in
those weak spots. Hence, combat is at a much slower pace and is far more
tactical than merely reflexive.

While a hint guide like this can't help your reflexes at all, it can
provide three very important tools:

  1. Maps of each of the exploration levels.
  2. Detailed information about the creatures you will find on that level,
     including weak spots, strengths and weaknesses.
  3. Other general hints to help you survive longer.

All information was gathered through actual playing of the game; no
information was gleaned directly out of the program, through other hint
books, or via actual programmers who worked on the project. As such, there
may be errors in this information. Deal with it.

General Information

Mostly, this guide is to help during the exploration missions. The arcade
sequences (missions 1 and 3) are very straightforward and require practice
and dexterity.

Monsters: There are four things you need to know about a monster: where to
hit it, how many hits it can take, how much damage it can deal to you, and
where it is. The location guides below always list monsters in this format:

   * 4 hits, bite 2%, claw 1%
   * Weakness: Eyes

The first lines gives you the vitals. It takes 4 hits to kill this monster;
the critter will cause you to lose 2% of your health when it bites you and
1% when it claws you. The second line tells you the only place on the
creature that hurts it. Note that often, these locations with either open
or close (like eyes) or be covered by arms (or whatever the monster
substitutes).

Arcade sequences: There are also many locations where there is an arcade
sequence. Instead of having one nasty creature, you have an entire screen
of nasty creatures. There creatures do not have a weak spot; a hit anywhere
on their body will kill them. Those creatures are listed like this:

   * Arcade: 24 hits (3 each), shoot 1%

This means that there are 8 creatures, each of which take 3 shots to kill
(for a total of 24 hits). They can shoot at you for 1% of damage. Sometimes
there will be more than one group of monsters in the shooting gallery. In
this case, each critter gets its own line.

Wandering creatures: Each area also has creatures that just wander around
and make life miserable for you. These creatures are described in each
mission, but do not appear on the map, nor are they detectable by your life
scanner. Unlike normal monsters, they just appear, try to strike once or
twice, and then leave.

Damage: Your health is listed as a percentage; 100% is fully healed, 0% is
dead. When a monster strikes you, it reduces your health by the amount
listed -- if you're in easy mode. In medium mode, all damage is doubled,
and in hard mode, all damage is tripled. The mode does not seem to have any
affect on your weapon; 8 hits is 8 hits, regardless of the level of
difficulty.

Dying: Dying is never a good thing, and you'll probably do quite a bit of
it in this game. Each creature that kills you has a unique way of doing so;
many of them quite entertaining. The only "boring" deaths in the entire
game are the creatures that swallow you whole. Once you are comfortable
surviving in a world, you may want to intentionally die to see what the
different death scenes look like.

Also, be sure to die during the fifth mission for a grizzly scene.

Maps: I think the maps provided in the rulebook are about the most useless
piece of garbage I've ever seen. The actual corridors in the ship seem to
match up to the one provided in the rulebook in the loosest possible way,
the rooms also barely line up and trying to follow the map in the guide
gets you into more trouble than it is worth.

Anyway, my maps try to match the actual appearance of the corridors and
rooms in the game. Compass directions are labeled at every location, in
addition to "appearing" to be the correct direction. Direction 0 is north
(or up) on your compass. Direction 1 is NNE, the first tick mark next to
north on your compass. And so on. [4 is east, 8 is south, 12 is west].
Labels assume that you are in the room or intersection and are facing that
corridor.

The game plays many tricks with the compass. Sometimes, in order to reuse
graphics for a room, the amount of the turn on the compass will be
radically different than the amount of the turn in the pictures. In
general, this is fine, but causes some real confusion in a few rooms.
Always trust your compass.

There are three kinds of corridors. The "normal" corridors are colored in
black and are what you would expect from corridors. "Tubes" are colored
blue and are narrow and winding passages. Not all of the turns are drawn on
the map; only the entry and exit points are noted. You cannot turn around
when you are in a tube. "Chutes" are colored red and are very much like
tubes. Chutes are very steep and you can only slide down in one direction.

Mission One: Mission to Saturn

Not a lot to tell here; just a fairly straightforward shoot-em-up as you
fly through space. Just keep moving and keep shooting.

If anyone has hints that makes this easier, let me know. As it is, the
level is plenty easy enough.

Mission Two: Aboard the Alien Ship



Wandering creatures:

  1. Worms. These worms crawl along the corridor towards you. Be especially
     careful of the ones that slither along the ceiling to get you.

        o 3 hits, bite 1%
        o Weakness: Head
     The worms will strike once and then leave.
  2. Bats. These very large bats fly erattically around the corridor.

        o 3 hits, bite 1%
        o Weakness: Head (which is amazingly small)
     The bats will strike once and then leave.

Locations:

A: This is where you start the level. Right after you get off your ship,
you are charged by eight gun-wielding monsters.

   * Arcade: 8 hits (1 each), shoot 1%

B: As you wander down the corridor away from the main entrace, you
encounter another one of those gun-wielding monsters. Except that this one
seems a little meaner.



   * 1 hit, shoot 1%
   * Weakness: Circular spot in center of chest

C: This room contains a green pool filled with some sort of liquid. When
you walk near the pool, a large green serpent erupts from the pool.



   * 8 hits, bite 2%, claw 1%
   * Weakness: Eyes on the eyestalks

D: There is a small dog that jumps out into the corridor to greet you.



   * 4 hits, byte 2%, claw 1%
   * Weakness: Eyes

E: The chamber on the wall in this room holds a red energy sphere which
will increase your weapon's capacity by 50%.

F: In this room, there are several small spiderlike creatures (which shoot
fireballs at you) and large hornets (which sting)



   * Arcade [hornets]: 6 hits (2 each), sting 2%
   * spiders: 6 hits (2 each), shoot 2%

A chamber on the wall holds a dog (like the one at location D) which jumps
on you. This does not cause you any damage.

G: A giant blue spider with red markings descends from the ceiling here.



   * 8 hits, web 15%
   * Weakness: End of tail (where the web is shot from).

H: A large worm is crawling down the tunnel towards you.



   * 2 hits, swallows whole
   * Weakness: Open mouth

I: The chamber in this room contains a red energy ball that will restore
you to 100% health.

J: This room contains a column of that same green liquid that was in the
pool at location C. Clearly, this stuff is not water. As you get near, a
water serpent, like the one found at C, rises out of the column to greet
you.



   * 8 hits, bite 2%, claw 1%
   * Weakness: Open eyeballs on stalks

Note that while this creature is similar to the one at location C, it is
not the same creature. Killing either one will not make the other go away.

K: Spiders drop from the ceiling as you cross this large chamber.



   * Arcade: 48 hits (3 to drop, 3 to die, each), shoot 1%

L: When you turn to the southeast (direction 6), a large blue spider lowers
itself into the corridor from behind you. You must turn around and attack
it or it will automatically kill you.



   * 8 hits, tail slap 6%
   * Weakness: End of tail.

M: The wall cupboard contains a red energy ball which increases your gun's
capacity by 50%.

N: A large wall spider scurrys down the corridor toward you. The weakspot
mentioned below stays hidden for the spiders first two attacks.



   * 16 hits, bite 3%
   * Weakness: Green spot on stomach

O: Another spider, just like the one at location L appears here. However,
instead of attacking you, it just crawls towards you.



   * 12 hits, swallow whole
   * Weakness: Green spot on stomach

P: If you exit this room in direction 5, then another of the blue spiders
descends from the ceiling.



   * 8 hits (4 to drop it, 4 more to kill), bite 3%, web 15%
   * Weakness: End of tail (where the web is shot from)

Q: This room is exactly like room F, except there is no wall container.



   * Arcade [hornets]: 6 hits (2 each), sting 2%
   * [spiders]: 6 hits (2 each), shoot 2%

R: The chute here splits into two halfs and you have moments to decide
which way to go. Left takes you safely down the chute; right takes you
safely to the stomach of a waiting worm.

S: Final Battle As you enter this large corridor, the captain of the Amazon
starts walking towards you. As she gets near, she transforms into the large
beast found on the cover of your Creature Shock game box.



   * 32 hits, bite 2%, claw 3%, headbutt 1%
   * Weakness: Eyes

Mission Three: Mission to Tethys

Basically similar to mission one, this mission does have one very important
hint to help you survive.

As you may have gathered from the mission introduction, you need to follow
that pod that appears through the canyons. Don't worry, you can't shoot the
pod, but you can lose track of it. Several times, a second pod will appear
and then the two pods will go down different paths. Always follow the blue
pod, never follow the red pod.

Mission Four: Inside the Dome



Note that this mission cannot be played on "easy". Damage values listed
below are for the medium difficulty level.

Wandering Monsters:

  1. Corridors only Mines. Spherical spiked balls of death that fly
     towards you.

        o 3 hits, strike 2%
        o Weakness: Entire mine
        o Explodes on contact
  2. Corridors only Saucers. UFO like saucers that hover in air. They
     shoot one or two times and then fly away.

        o 3 hits, spark 3%
        o Weakness: Blue glow on top of saucer (moves around)
  3. Tubes only Tube Worm. They rumble down the tunnels towards you.

        o 1 hit, swallow whole
        o Weakness: Throat

Locations:

A: As you arrive, you are assaulted from behind by some small helicopter
like objects. The shot you take during the cinematic sequence does not
actually cause any damage



   * Arcade: 12 hits (2 each), shoot 2%

B: A large green creature with a single central eye and long tentacles
descends into the room. The creature gazes at you to damage you and I
haven't noticed any pattern as to when it gazes, making it very difficult
to block his shots.



   * hits 20, gaze 2%
   * Weakness: Eyeball

C: Another large green eye-creature hides behind equipment. He always zooms
out away from cover when he is about to gaze at you.



   * hits 8, gaze 4%
   * Weakness: Eyeball

D: A spinning projector on the ceiling creates several electronic images on
the floor below.



   * hits 4, spark 6%
   * Weakness: Red ball on projector on ceiling

E: A large, 3-toed, bug-eyed monster crawls through an opening in the
ceiling when you enter into this room.


   * hits 8, lick 4%
   * Weakness: Throat

F: A side room opens up letting out a horde of those green eyeball gazers.


   * Arcade: 30 hits (5 each), gaze 2%

G: As you pass by, a grid of fire shooters appears.



   * Arcade: 20 hits (4 each), fire 2%

H: This room contains an elevator connecting the two rooms labeled H on the
lower and upper floors.

I: This room has a very large pit in the center of the room and a walkway
around the edge. As you enter the room, a large spider rises from the pit.


   * 9 hits, gaze 4%
   * Weakness: Four red glowing dots on side of spider.

This will send the spider into the pit. Foolishly, your character peers
over the edge to get a closer look and then needs to finish off the
monster:

   * 3 hits, claw 4%
   * Weakness: moving red light on forehead.

J: This door is actually a creature.



   * 8 hits (2, then 4, then 2), gun 4%, claw 4%
   * Weakness: Red knobs on the back of the gun and legs

This monster falls apart in three pieces. Its attack methods change after
each transformation

K: Goal This is the transmittion tower that you were asked to destroy.



   * 8 hits, sits there 0%
   * Weakness: The lowest part of the tower.

Destroying this starts a 10000 timer before the base is destroyed. (The
amount of real time is 11:30)

L: As you slide down this tube, there is a worm in the tube that you
approach very quickly.



   * 2 hits, swallow whole
   * Weakness: throat

M: A spider rises from the pit as you enter this room.



   * 8 hits, claw 4%
   * Weakness: solid glowing red lights on its back
   * Weakness: moving red lights on its front (double damage)

N: An energy sphere is located here that heals you completely.

O: An energy sphere is located here that increases your gun's power by 50%.

P: Two large doglike creatures appear in the corridor here. Note that the
health meter for the monsters is initally set at 200%


   * 4 hits, lick 4%
   * Weakness: throat

Q: Upon entering the room, you see another bug-eyed monster appear.



   * 4 hits (this brings the critter to 50%), lick 6%
   * Weakness: throat

If you follow the dog, you end up trapped between the dog on one side and a
tube worm behind you. You must quickly finish off the dog and then run out
of the tube so you can turn around to fight the worm.

   * Dog 2 hits
   * Weakness: throat
   * Worm 4 hits, swallow whole
   * Weakness: throat

R: There is an array of spiders here that shoot and throw small explosives
at you.


   * Arcade: 16 hits (4 each), shoot 2%, throw 16%

S: As you walk down this tunnel, you will sometimes fall through the floor
into room M.

Mission Five: Onboard the Alien Mothership



Note that this mission cannot be played on "easy". Damage values listed
below are for the medium difficulty level.

There are no wandering monsters on this level. In fact, there isn't much of
anything; but what is here is very nasty.

Locations:

A: Your ship crashes here. Unlike the other levels, there is nothing
waiting to greet you.

B: This is a creature zoo which you should recognize if you have died at
any time earlier in the game.

C: A large, hawk like creature rises from a hole in the ground here.



   * 24 hits, knife 14%
   * Weakness: Glowing lights on the center of forehead.

The rest of the level is very cinematic. No map locations are provided
because you never have to do any navigation. Just kill the monsters and
watch the cinematics.

D: After you finish off the hawk, another large creature appears behind
you, his mouth dripping with tentacles. He throws you through the wall and
starts running down the conveyer belt to get you.



   * 2 hits, swallow whole
   * Weakness: Eyes

After you shoot him twice, you take off down a corridor and turn around.
The monster recovers and comes after you.

   * 4 hits, swallow whole
   * Weakness: Eyes

Then you drop down to E.

E: Final Battle This is the leader of the alien mothership and the last
monster you need to waste before you can win the game and save the planet.
Unfortunately, he is armed heavily. During the battle, he moves around
quite a bit. You can move to follow him by clicking on the edge of the
screen. If you don't follow him, then he gets lots of free hits against
you.



   * 48 hits, gun 20%, torpedo 12%, punch 10%
   * Weakness: Glowing red spot on "backpack"

Note that the photon torpedoes can be destroyed with two hits.

Enjoy the final cutscene.

All images shown in this hint guide were screen captured from the game
using the PCX Toolkit. Those images are ⌐ Argonaut Software and Virgin
Interactive Entertainment.

The three level maps were hand drawn and ⌐ Mike Marcelais.

This guide may be distributed so long as its content is unmodified.
Reformatting of the document or omitting the screen shots is permitted, but
must be noted in the modified document.