History VideoGame / DeadlyCreatures

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/NightmareCreatures'', another video game with a similar title but totally different cast, story, and characters.

* ShoutOut: The protagonists' fighting styles are partly based on Scorpion from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and Franchise/SpiderMan, naturally.

A 2009 Wii game, going against the normal flow of action games by ditching the standard [[ASpaceMarineIsYou grizzled space marine]] protagonists and instead starring a tarantula and a scorpion. The two arachnids are unwittingly caught up in a plot by two humans to dig up a treasure in the desert.

The game received mostly positive reviews, and is hailed as an example that the Wii need not be written off as an immature brothel for {{Casual Video Game}}s.

* ArchEnemy: Implied with the rattlesnake and the playable tarantula. The snake goes out of its way to antagonize the spider at any given opportunity and is a RecurringBoss. A picture of the two fighting is even on the boxart.

* AwesomeYetImpractical: Poisoning things with the Tarantula. The charge-up takes a long time and leaves you a sitting duck. You can web up an enemy to immobilize it, but that still leaves you open to its buddies. And if it's alone, you may as well just knock it over and start feeding on it instead. The Scorpion has burrowing. Does tremendous damage, but the input is specific and doesn't always read, it depends on unpredictable AI to walk over the burrowed scorpion, and he just plain can't do it in certain locations. However...

* BossArenaIdiocy: The very first boss in Chapter 1would be unbeatable if it wasn't for the wall of cactus nearby.

* CannibalismSuperpower: Used to justify the varied abilities. After the scorpion kills another scorpion that was trying to burrow after prey, it gains the Dig ability itself (after a cutscene showing it EATING its opponent's head, no less). And later it eats the first mantis that it fights in order to learn how Chop down grasses. Likewise, the tarantula gains the ability to web-jump and walk upside-down after eating a black widow spider and a lizard, respectively.

* FinishingMove: As mentioned above, the scorpion has a unique finishing move for every enemy. The tarantula has a sort-of finishing move of her own by feeding on enemies.

* GenreBusting: It's {{Xenofiction}} told from the point-of-view of Sonoran Desert arachnids that is also a story of human greed and cruelty, and that's not getting that the two playable characters have radically different playstyles. The Tarantula's segments play like SurvivalHorror, with you being severely outmatched by most enemies, and it also has a heavy exploration bent to it. The Scorpion's levels, meanwhile, are straightforward ActionAdventure due to it lacking the exploratory tools of the Tarantula yet having the capability of going toe-to-toe with most of the enemies in terms of combat.

* GottaCatchEmAll: Grubs and Leaf Crickets. Leaf Crickets up your maximum health while grubs unlock concept galleries.

* TheGoomba: Normal beetles, who have no gimmicks are are easily stomped by both characters.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Struggs likes to collect desert creatures. [[spoiler:Granted, he never actually catches the scorpion, but the tarantula and rattlesnake do cause him some problems. As does a gila monster he caught on a pre-game "hunting trip".]]

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: The scorpion finds several of these in later chapters, as it cannot jump. The tarantula can.

* SceneryGorn: Subterranean tunnel that halls you crawling through the bones of a long-forgotten corpse? Mass of brambles covered in spiderwebs? Ruined truck that's become a haven for wasps and spiders? A rusty, forgotten culvert filled with creaking chains and shorn metal? It's all here.

* WolfpackBoss: The game likes doing this. The boss fight of Chapter 4 is fighting two waves of multiple Tarantula Hawks (which previously served as powerful enemies which you would encounter one at a time throughout the chapter.) Chapter 7 has multiple instances, including two Albino Rats at once, two Horned Lizards at once, and a fight that will make you fear even the timid Wolf Spider when you have to fight nearly a dozen at once. Chapter 8 has you fight multiple Crimson Widows (which are at this point [[DegradedBoss Degraded Bosses]]) at once with Black Widows helping out.

The game's concept came from a dream lead designer Jordan Itkowitz had about using the Wii Remote to control a snake, and eventually the idea expanded to other creatures, and in the end, only the scorpion and tarantula remained.

-->--''Wade''

* ChekhovsGun: Struggs talking about how horrible it would be to [[spoiler:get stung in the balls by a scorpion.]]

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Mostly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as these are merely predatory animals acting on predatory instinct. But one must wonder why ''dung beetles'' are out for blood...
** Also, it seems that the vertebrates will team up with the invertebrates against you, instead of devouring them first before you ever arrive...

* GoldFever: This winds up causing some... friction... between the two human characters.
** Considering the bones you find underground, it's not the first time...
---> '''Wade:''' "How much do you think is in there?"
---> '''George:''' "Enough. (Whack!) Just not enough to go around."

* PressXToNotDie: Again, the scorpion's finishers, though a few boss fights uses this as well.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: There would be no way to beat the rattlesnake if it didn't expose it's tail for you to bite after striking enough times.

* {{Xenofiction}}: The protagonists are a tarantula and a scorpion being a tarantula and a scorpion, with the human interactions happening in the background.

* AnimalGenderBender: In a pre-release interview with Magazine/NintendoPower. The developer referred to both of the protagonists as male. However, the tarantula is the size of a female.

* GenreBlind: Wade doesn't seem to pick up on how ObviouslyEvil Struggs is, or wonder stop to think if a bully who demeans him at any opportunity and generally thinks he's the dumbest person on the earth [[spoiler:would really be willing to share even the barest slice of that gold with him.]]

* CorruptHick: Struggs, a sleazy, country-accented gas station owner who will lead a man to the desert, have him dig up treasure for him, [[spoiler:beat him with a shovel, and leave him for dead.]]

* MadeOfIron: See CriticalExistenceFailure above.
** The scorpion can survive a [[spoiler:point-blank shotgun blast]]. Presumably this depends on the difficulty setting and how direct the hit was, but still...

* ObviouslyEvil: Struggs just screams "murderous scumbag" from first go. Lucky for him that Wade is GenreBlind.
* PoisonedWeapons: Both characters can poison enemies, though it's not a skill they begin the game with. (For some reason.)

->''"And George Struggs, the cops asked him what happened before he slipped into that coma, and he kept mumbling something about [[TitleDrop deadly creatures]]."''

[[caption-width-right:229:Two [[TitleDrop deadly creatures]] in the foreground, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters an even deadlier one]] in the back.]]

[[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dc_cov_02.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:229:Two [[TitleDrop deadly creatures]] in the foreground, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters an even deadlier one]] in the back.]]

* RuleOfCool: Why can a scorpion perform [[Franchise/MortalKombat fatalities?]] Why can that tarantula jump around like Comicbook/SpiderMan [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on speed?]] Because it's ''cool'', dammit!

* ShoutOut: The protagonists' fighting styles are partly based on Scorpion from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and SpiderMan, naturally.

* RuleOfCool: Why can a scorpion perform [[MortalKombat fatalities?]] Why can that tarantula jump around like Comicbook/SpiderMan [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on speed?]] Because it's ''cool'', dammit!

* ShoutOut: The protagonists' fighting styles are partly based on Scorpion from ''MortalKombat'' and SpiderMan, naturally.

-->''"And George Struggs, the cops asked him what happened before he slipped into that coma, and he kept mumbling something about [[TitleDrop deadly creatures]]."''

* AlienBlood: The blood is completely biologically accurate. Vertebrates such as snakes and lizards have red blood, however for insects and the player characters it is green. Either way, plenty of it gets spilled.
* AllegoricalCharacter: Struggs basically represents everything that's wrong with humanity, in line with the game's CentralTheme: he's a petty, selfish, amoral asshole who never misses a chance to demean his companion or piss on nature, and he's willing to [[spoiler:attempt murder over just a bit of gold.]]

* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The tarantula's final fight against [[spoiler:the rattlesnake, thanks to some spilled oil cans and an errant shotgun blast.]]
* TheBattleDidntCount: The tarantula and scorpion face each other several times over the course of the game. If you lose the fights, you get a Game Over. But if you do enough damage your enemy will simply leave.

--> Wade: "How much do you think is in there?"
--> George: "Enough. (Whack!) Just not enough to go around."

* MouseWorld: The game is told through the eyes of a female tarantula and a male scorpion.

** The Scorpion's [[FinishingMove Finishing Moves]]. They instantly kill any opponent when used successfully, you're completely invincible during execution even if you fail, and it even restores a little bit of life. Even if you fail, if you're quick on the trigger you can just initiate it immediately when normal gameplay resumes. The only reason not to do it is if you're getting tired of the scenes.