Altered Beast

"Everything you expected it to be, or less..."

Altered Beast has one fantastic concept for gameplay, that is the ability to change into several beasts as you progress in the game. For a Genesis I can be completely honest, this game could have been a lot better. It's not a complete disappointment, It would make a perfect rental but you should read on to see what I mean.

The story seems pretty awesome, You play as a once brave Roman Centurion awakened from the dead by Zeus, the God of Thunder. You must battle the evil Neff, God of the underworld for the fate of Athena. That's all of the story you are getting. Now since the story sounds exciting, you are also expecting fantastic classic gameplay, here is where you might get a tad disappointed.

The gameplay is rather dull. It makes you feel like you were playing an NES game. You punch, jump, and kick your way through hoards of enemies which you must conquer only to be entertained for so long before realizing the deal with this game. The game is pretty easy so I would recommend you crank up the difficulty if you want the full effect. Boss fights are pretty easy as well and do not need to much thought to defeat them. Don't get me wrong, the game is fun, but if you want to buy this game I would just save it as a good rental for anything but satisfying. The controls are simple and not really an issue here.

Once again, the graphics feel like an NES game, sadly the Genesis is capable of far more than this. Everything from the sounds to the graphics seem old school for this old school system. This is just one fantastic concept for a game used pretty much the wrong way.

The playtime is surprisingly short, and easy! You will simply blast your way through each level. The game could have used more playtime and more challenge, the boss fights come as a disappointment as well. the replay value is low, I find no reason to play this again only if you were one of the lucky people to love this game. I found some goodness out of this game so I don't know why you wouldn't, all in all I would keep it for a weekend rental. This game isn't to much of a keeper if you are looking into buying, only if you are a collector...then I could see your reason.

-Happy Gaming!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/11/03, Updated 05/11/03