"Time to bust out your moves in Ancient Greece (or don't this game sucks!)"

Some games are pure works of art that combine all the parts needed to make an excellent game: an involving storyline, great graphics, superb music and sound, fun gameplay, and tight controls. These all combine to make an outstanding experience. Unfortunately, none of this describes Altered Beast. Altered Beast is a very simplistic beat-'em-up developed by the acclaimed company, SEGA (If you haven't heard of them, please go hit yourself in the head). SEGA could have made this title so much more, but they had to confine it in such a limited gameplay style that it never really gets fun. It is short, gets boring fast and loses its draw quickly making for a quite sub par experience.

It takes place during the Age of Ancient Greece, and you control an undead warrior sent by Zeus to rescue his daughter from the clutches of Hades. You have to battle several of his minions through the journey at each stage. Yes, the story is boring, and no, the story is not important.

When you play the game for the first time you will be disappointed. I guarantee it. The game is a side scroller, and there is a very dumb looking character moving across the screen. You get such few moves, punch and kick, that it would make you wonder if there are any hidden moves or combos. The gameplay tries to be fun and full of action, but it is just… not. The pace is extremely slow, also which adds to the tedium.

The only saving grace to the gameplay (a minor one, anyway) is the ability to morph into a stronger character (no, this isn’t Power Rangers, people) by collecting power-ups. To receive one of these power-ups, you have to defeat one of the blue dogs that jump around the various stages. When you collect the first one, you see your character get stronger and the like. He also can punch and kick stronger with an added “oomph” of magic blue power. Get enough of them and you morph! Well, morph without the “!”

The morph allows you to gain tons of new powers, well not tons; it just changes your punch and kick. Every stage allows you to morph into a different beast, for example in the first stage you are a werewolf. The abilities the werewolf has are the attacks of a ranged punch (a fist jumps out at the enemy) and a dash. Yes, it is very blasé, and yes, it will bore you to death (or undeath… O_o).

The control isn’t that bad, but still isn’t the greatest. The tightness of the controls depends on the beast you control. For example, the control of the werewolf in the first stage is nice, but in another stage the dragon you control is done very poorly. Also, the main man you control reacts a little sluggishly, but not too bad still. Overall the gameplay and control is very mediocre and not really that fun.

The graphics are a terrible part of this game. They are very pixelated (a staple of early Genesis titles). The main character has one of the dumbest designs ever. With a purple robe and a head like the Goombas of the Mario Bros. Movie. The enemies are really stupid also. They are such clichés that calling them clichés would be a cliché (how’s that for a mind bending cliché?). The backgrounds are composed of very little color and they look extremely bland. The graphics could definitely have been better.

Soundwise, the tracks are very crappy. I don’t like them and the only people who would like them are deaf people. The important part of the sound, though, is the digitized speech. It is so bad that it is good. When you first play the game you hear the voice of Zeus try to say, “Rise from your Grave,” but you hear is a garbled, “Wize Fwum Youw Gwave!” Then later in the stage you hear Hades say “Welcome to your doom!” (Yes, you can hear it without any “w’s”) but the voice is probably the most retarded I have ever heard. The Effects are bland, uninspiring, and boring (adjectives that definitely describe the game). Overall the sound is lame, but still it contains voices.

The lasting appeal is very low. You really won’t want to play this much over again. Well, maybe just to hear some of the dumb voices.

In conclusion, SEGA could have done a better job. If you don’t like beat ‘em ups, you won’t like this game. If you do like beat ‘em ups, you won’t like this game. If you don’t really treasure your sanity, play this game. If you like Elmer Fudd, play this game. Some people consider this a classic, but it still is just plain stupid.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03