Why I Love Creat Studios

If you’re not much of a user of the PSN Store, a quick glance at the discography of split US- and Russia-based developers Creat Studios might lead you to believe I’ve gone just a little bit mad. Why on earth am I about to spend an entire post waxing lyrical about the creators of ‘Biker Mice from Mars’, ‘American Chopper 2: Full Throttle’, ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am’ and the smash-hit ‘Bratz: Super Babyz’? Well, besides the fact that the aforementioned Bratz title is easily the best DS action title based on a series of punky dolls released in the past two years, Creat Studios are also rapidly becoming one of the most prolific releasers of awesome games on the PlayStation Network (behind only Q-Games’ Pixel-Junk series).

Earlier this year, Creat hit up the PSN with a triumvirate of puzzle titles: namely “Magic Ball”, “Cuboid” and “Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom”. Unsurprisingly, these games featured an enchanted sphere, a three-dimensional rectangle, and an old Chinese tile game respectively (although debate still rages as to how wise those tiles actually are). What the games lacked in imaginative naming, however, was made up for in sheer addictive gameplay.  Just as a note for those expecting much here about the Mahjong game, I’m afraid you’ll be sorely disappointed, but you could just go and get a copy of Windows Vista/7 and play the version that comes with that – Mahjong is Mahjong, regardless of which platform you play on.

Magic Ball is a Breakout-esque game, but with awesome physics and fun stuff to destroy (namely pirate ships and castles). Smash Cars is a HD remake of a Creat PS2 title which features little 4x4s racing around and doing tricks, and is damn addictive. Digger HD is likewise a new version of the old arcade title in which you mostly dig. And, as great as those games are, I’d like to focus on two games in particular: Cuboid and Mushroom Wars.

Cuboid, shockingly, sees you navigating a cuboid around a number of increasingly complex mazes. It’s not your typical Mercury-style tilter though, as the cuboid can flip up on its end or roll side to side. See example map below:

As the game progresses, the levels get increasingly more complex and infuriating. You get buttons that trigger particular pathways to open up (some buttons can just be rolled onto, and some have to be hit vertically), wooden panels that can support the weight of the cuboid horizontally (ie: across two), but not on its end, and teleports, which just screw everything up. See a more crazy, long-winded example level:

Add in to that, to get a decent medal, you have to almost speed through these without time for thought, and you’ll realise why I got so addicted to the game. (Oh and just so you know, there is a trophy for falling a certain number of times, and yes you will probably get it during the completion of the game, as you accidentally tip up onto a wooden panel, or just plain not notice that you are rolling horizontally where there is in fact only one floor panel.) For the more puzzle-obsessed, there is also a downloadable add-on pack of new, ridiculously hard levels, as well as a level creator (you can also buy the two packs in a bundle). If you in any way like puzzle games, I highly encourage you to invest in Cuboid, which is only £7.99 from the PlayStation Store.

Whilst Cuboid was released in February, the other title I want to play tribute to, Mushroom Wars, was actually only released the other week and has already stolen my heart. First things first, the obvious visual (and audible) similarities to PixelJunk Monsters are unavoidable – both have a cutesy 2D art style and feature a static top-down game screen and some form of towers. But you’d be wrong to write the game off already; for a start, it’s not actually a tower defence game as Monsters is, it is in fact a stripped down RTS.

You start with a hut housing a set number of warriors. Capturing other huts (either empty or enemy occupied) is as simple as highlighting the hut you want to send fighters from, pointing them at your target hut, and then deciding how many to send. This is where Mushroom Wars cleverly uses the controller to simplify the RTS concept: pressing triangle will send all the units from that hut, pressing square will send three-quarters, X sends half, and circle sends only a quarter. This mechanic means you can make very quick decisions on how many to send to capture or defend a particular base, which is crucial in the pretty fast-paced gameplay. Your huts can also be upgraded three times so that they regenerate warriors much faster which, again, is crucial in building up a crushing force.

As with Cuboid, progressing through the game presents you with new building and enemy types, as well as new kinds of maps. Some will be timed (including one particular map that features three laser towers on the opposite side of a river, has a 5 minute time limit, and drove me and Zack crazy for a good while), some will feature trees and rock formations that get in your way, or defend you, and you’ll be introduced to ‘the tower’ (vital for winning against an overwhelming army; can also be upgraded with better range and rate of fire) and the armoury, which grants your little men better fighting power! You’ll also come across the ‘charisma’ system – I forget the actual name – in which you have 5 stars in the bottom of the screen which fill up by successfully keeping or grabbing a base, or upgrading buildings, and when each star fills, you receive a temporary power boost. Although it all sounds very complex, the game introduces you to all these items across the first 15 levels or so, and so you build up your competency whilst not being too overwhelmed.

The game also features a pretty extensive skirmish mode, which pits you against a certain number of AI enemy armies on specific maps, and can be played in Conquest, King of the Hill and Domination modes, as well a pretty fun offline multiplayer segment. Mushroom Wars is available now on the PlayStation Store for £7.99 (and if you’re dead inside and really don’t like the cute music, there’s custom soundtrack support).

Whilst Creat Studios’ output on the PSN has been pretty good so far, and they have a talent for developing frustratingly addictive but brilliant games, I would like to see them branch out into something a little more unique for their future releases, as well as a little lower price point – even the seeming new PSN default of £6.29 would be a substantial enough difference to warrant a purchase of some of there more niche titles. But I digress: here’s to another great year of Creat downloadable games!