YMMV / Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project

• Anti-Climax Boss: All of the X-creatures, maybe except for Reggie, who it takes more time to defeat. And even then, he can be easily evaded and his attacks don't do much damage.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Tic-Tac-Toe game in 3-3, which somehow helps you access the secret files on the X-Creatures Project.
• Complete Monster: Reggie Donovan, head of the Donovan Corporation, is responsible for nearly every death linked to the X-Creatures Project. Following in his father's footsteps in the search for immortality, Reggie used Shelley Thompson as a guinea pig, forcing her to transform herself into the bloodthirsty Heruka, resulting in the violent slaughter of the project scientists, then tying up any remaining loose ends by sending the Albino after the survivors. Donovan funded terrorist groups, causing many more innocents to die in his search, and forced Meg Crimson to help acquire the creatures' blood samples to lure Steppenwolf out of hiding. After acquiring the samples, Reggie orders Steppenwolf and Meg to be killed, then injects himself with the X-Creatures' blood, becoming an intelligent beast and brutally killing his own guards before hunting down Steppenwolf.
• Creepy Awesome: The X-creatures tend to fall under this. The Albino certainly qualifies, as well.
• Cult Classic: Like the other Sarbakan game release after they were bought out by Warner Bros., it was relatively unknown even at the time of its release, but has gained a minor fanbase. There was even an effort to remake it at one point.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Meg defending Pedro from the Chupacabra and allowing it to attack her in his place. She only just met him, but still shows a protective instinct towards the young boy.
  • It's touching to see that Steppenwolf is a generally nice man with a good heart despite the tragedy he's been through and the time that he's lived out in the wilderness. Though he tends to lose his cool around Donovan and his men, he's usually nothing short of kind to Meg and his past acquaintances.
• Iron Woobie:
  • The Steppenwolf himself, Alan Kane, was forced into hiding after the Heruka Incident, which led to the massacre of every scientist on the Gene-X research team. He was led to believe that his wife was killed in a plane crash when in reality, she had been transformed into the bloodthirsty Heruka. He wandered the world in search of the X-Creatures, eventually coming to realize the truth about his wife and watching her die in front of him before he finally earned his revenge against Donovan.
  • Meg, too. She's forced into working as an Unwitting Pawn for Donovan and ending up in all sorts of trouble as a result, including being captured by Tibetan terrorists, nearly killed by her partner, Derek, and even after she finds out the truth about her expeditions, she still frequently lands herself in hot water. With that said, she's more than capable of getting herself out of trouble.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Steppenwolf finishing off the Albino for good.
  • Meg's escape from the prison is also pretty awesome.
  • Donovan transformation is terrifying, but it's cool to see him finally get in on the action after sitting back for so long.
  • Steppenwolf finally getting his revenge on a superpowered Donovan.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Derek ordered a group of harmless, defenseless Buddhist monks killed while he was searching for Steppenwolf.
  • Donovan officially crossed it when he forced Shelley to inject herself with the Heruka serum. And he just got worse from there, sending the Albino after the scientists who survived the initial incident.
• Narm:
  • The voice acting has not aged very well.
  • In episode 3-3, you have to play tic tac toe before gaining access to the files.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The Yeti's cave. Ominous music plays in the background all while you can hear the Yeti roaring and wandering all over the place. Later, you encounter the bodies of the two militiamen that Derek sent into the cave, savagely beaten to death.
  • The episode where Steppenwolf encounters the Heruka. The whole place is littered with mutilated, half-eaten corpses, and he's being chased by the bloodthirsty beast.
• Paranoia Fuel: Season 3 in particular runs on it.
  • 3-1 has you on the run from the Albino. He can show up on any screen at any given moment, and you're given a matter of seconds to hide.
  • In 3-3, you find yourself on a floor of the Donovan Corporation headquarters under heavy surveillance, and you'll have to avoid a robot that'll shoot you soporific darts if you're not quick to show it the brochure you got earlier.
  • You confront the Heruka in 3-4 who — like the Albino — can appear at any given time and pounce on you, taking out a chunk of your health. At least you're given a tracking system and some means to scare it — or rather, her — away.
  • The Brotherhood in season 5 are Paranoia Fuel incarnate. The letter given to the farmer says that their members are everywhere, and that you don't really stand much of a chance against them, even if you try to get help.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Steppenwolf's final moments with Shelley. She doesn't remember her transformation, and all he can do is tell her that the X-creatures project was a success before she dies painfully shortly after. For all the bad voice acting throughout the series, this proved to be a surprisingly tender moment.
  • Honestly, just Steppenwolf's life in general. He was led to believe that his wife was killed in a plane crash, but the truth was much worse. Then he went into hiding as Donovan purged the Gene-X Research Team, living out in the wild, far from civilization.
• That One Boss: Zig-zagged with the Mokele Mbembe. You'd think you have to simply run from it, but it's actually a bit more complicated than that. After acquiring the recipe for the potion, you have to grab the mushrooms from the tree, then wait a while until it's near (cue cutscene), then run to the next screen, then go back to the previous one and wait for it to get close again (another cutscene will play), and then go back to the next screen and pole vault, and you're pretty much okay from there.
  • The farmer mentioned below, while not exactly a boss, is rather difficult to evade when you're in the silo.
  • Arguably, the Chupacabra falls into this, as well. It'll keep feeding on Meg until you free Pedro, giving you a limited amount of time to grab everything you need. If you're not quick enough, it will kill her, and you'll get a game over.
• That One Level: Episode 5-2. Towards the end, you have to be sure to avoid the farmer in the silo while trying to create a distraction for him, then climb the ladder, cut the alarm, and run through the door. If he sees you, you have to start all over from the beginning.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The series first came out on April 2001, and some of the technology throughout the game definitely shows that it takes place in the early 2000s, such as the use of PDAs to manage the player's inventory (PDAs eventually being supplanted by smart phones).

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