Games Review: Impossible Creatures, SimCity 4, and Soldiers of Anarchy

Impossible Creatures is a particularly original real-time strategy game. There are no knights in shining armor, tanks or big guns, and even fewer combat robots. As indicated in the title, the game uses weird creatures, worthy of the Island of Doctor Moreau. They are supposed to be the result of research conducted by a brilliant scientist in the 1930s. Whether played solo or with multiple players, "Impossible Creatures" offers enthralling game play.

"Impossible Creatures" marks Microsoft's return to the world of real-time strategy games, barely three months after the release of "Age of Mythology." This new title is set at the opposite end of the historic chronology. The action takes place in the late 1930s, on a remote archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where a brilliant scientist has perfected a technology that he has dubbed Sigma, which makes it possible to create fantastic creatures by crossing various species of animals.

"Impossible Creatures" offers two separate playing modes. The first is played solo, in a series of 15 missions, using movie-style adventure scenarios from the golden age of Hollywood. The second mode consists of assembling an army of mutant creatures to fight the computer or other players on the island in quick but intensive rounds of the game. The whole game is extremely well thought-out and the setting is particularly original.

Impossible Creatures is a game involving imaginary creatures that you can create at will...