The folks over at Abandon Interactive Entertainment have come up with a new way to do multi-player, turn based, lobby, combat games! Sell the online game along with cute (or ferocious, consumer’s choice!) toy versions of your monster avatars, and come up with a slick website! Support the heck out of it, as any good online game should be, and you have what I think will be a huge success - Freaky Creatures.

This upcoming multi-player game has been in development more years than many of us can comprehend spending on one project. But hard work, a lot of dedicated and tenacious people, and a well thought out plan is bringing us a beta on (and maybe before) August 1st! Creative Director Matt Saia took me on a demo of the game itself, and if I was prepared to see an online version of a trading card game (which I was), I've changed my mind! This game goes much deeper, and has a level of fun built around, under, inside, and through it. The folks on this team haven't put anything into this game that doesn't add an element of enjoyment.

Packs of 2 race types can be purchased for $19.95, and included with these toy representations of your new avatars you'll receive the 600 MB client on a 1 GB flash drive. Booster packs will be available for $9.95. The client can be removed from the drive, and re-downloaded from the website, leaving you with a usable drive, and collectible action figures! Once you've purchased each of the 10 races available at launch you'll gain access to the 11th downloadable character. 20 total character slots will be available to each account, with your limitation being the types of races you've purchased so far.

Up until now they've been in a friends and family beta system, but they're preparing the servers and databases for the next phase, closed NDA beta. Five thousand keys are being given away here at Comic-Con through a scavenger hunt. This beta will continue until the game is ready to launch, sometime this fall.

So you have your collectible action figures, and you've made your account, and you've pocketed the flash drive. What now? Along with each starter kit, or booster pack, come virtual "parts", powers, and objects. Parts and powers are equipable to your creature, consuming the item type, allowing customization in appearance and battle strengths. Let's not forget, this is a turn based combat game! Your cute little monster can't just sit there and look pretty! I mean hideous! These parts can be horns, wings, weapons, and other visible customizations that give extra strengths and abilities in battle.

The system specs are rather low, the animation is bright and colorful, the artwork is absolutely awesome, and the game includes the stuff necessary to have a great time, with fantastic features but without being overly frilly!

They're planning for a mobile client down the road eventually leading to cross-platform play, and while Macs are something they'll continue to look into, it's not in the immediate future. Mobile gamers will be able to play their accounts on their computers or phones interchangeably with one subscription.

Support wise, we'll see lots of new content monthly as the team keeps things fresh with new parts, powers, and objects. Tournaments, ladder competitions, and leaderboard prizes will be regular occurances, and the team is well aware that keeping their players supported with great customer service and ongoing game implements is the key to keeping people happy.

The website is dynamic and filled with lots of different controls. Leaderboards will certainly be among the most visited areas here, and top performers will not only get bragging rights, but will also get prizes, and not just the top one or two people! Clearing out the leaderboards monthly will allow those just getting into the game a fighting chance to compete.

Battles are fought after finding an opponent through the lobby system, and attacks are chosen from the five different elements. You must learn your creatures strengths and weaknesses and how best to employ them against all different types of attacks. You can change your creature setup whenever you're not in a battle, but keep in mind that powers are consumed once they're used, so you'll want to plan carefully.

Your creature’s lair can be filled with items you'll get in the store bought packages along with tokens you'll get from winning fights. These tokens can be used to buy new powers from the store on the website, but there will be no micro-transactions here! President and Chief Operating Officer Jamie Ottilie is determined not to have any surprises for his players. Along with the upfront purchase of the action figures players will pay $5.99 a month. Discussion is still ongoing concerning pricing models that give a break for longer subscription times. The payment system at launch will include an egift option, Paypal, credit cards, Echeck an d, in the near future, game time cards.

Lairs are where your creatures spend their time when they're not fighting, and here they can be interacted with. Feeding, petting, and arranging their living spaces won't affect their performance in combat, but it's an option the game provides, in case that's your thing. Items for the lair can be arranged endlessly, and while there's a set amount of space to work with it shouldn’t be much of a problem unless you like displaying everything your creature owns.

Fights are held 1 player VS another, with one creature per player. They're timed, so you can't screw over others just by leaving, and letting the timer run down before choosing an action automatically assures that your creature does the lowest possible attack at its disposal.

There's lots more I could go on and on about. Modified powers as you level, respecs, friends lists, emotes, chat in battle, the lobby systems...you get the idea.

End story? This is an enjoyable, entertaining, game that is worth looking into. Casual players will rejoice in the quick battles and the fun controls and gameplay the website offers, and those into winning will enjoy the mechanics and options available!

If you're in town this week for the convention make sure you stop by and get your beta key through the scavenger hunt! Otherwise, we'll see these critters in store later this year!

Becky "Tovin" Simpson
News Editor and Staff Writer
ZAM Network