Customer Reviews

Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Older gamers will remember the original Altered Beast as a hard as hell quarter muching arcade beat 'em up that eventually made its' way to the Sega Genesis way back in 1989. Those who loved that game, despite the numerous flaws, will no doubt find some level of enjoyment with this GBA sequel/remake, but younger gamers who never played the original will hate this game with a passion. The storyline is you have been resurrected by Zeus to stop the evil Arcanon from taking over different realms. You are able to transform into different beasts by collecting power orbs from defeated enemies and they contain a number of different attacks to be at your disposal. Other than that you can punch and kick as well, but you can also gain abilities such as regeneration, a shield, and increased speed, and even though the effects don't last very long, they are a welcome addition the original didn't offer. The graphics are colorful and the characters are large, but the animation and sound are rather choppy. The controls are just as sluggish as the original's, while the fighting is still as simply controled as ever. All in all, older gamers who actually dug the original will find a good bit of fun with this, but younger gamers who never had the chance to play the original should avoid this.

I was a fan of the original Altered Beast (Before Sega Genesis) and I used to plop several quarters in the machine when I was a kid.

This version on Gameboy however did not age well. First of all, the creatures that player morphs into in the game are badly drawn out. Secondly, the game is repetitious to the point where it gets tiring. The biggest problem however is the small GBA screen which makes it difficult to move your character around. In the Arcade, there was a benefit of a large screen and it makes all the difference in the world.

THQ did their best in making the game but I think the concept was tired out and it should of be laid to rest. I can only recommend this to Hardcore fans.

I reccomend this game for anyone who played and loved the orginal Sega Genesis Altered Beast. This game is a sequel to the orginal Altered Beast. I was amazed with how real the background were and you felt almost like you have been transported to Ancient Greece. The control are excellent and easy to learn, I didn't even bothered reading the instruction manual. For those who haven't played Altered Beast before might find the action too slow compared to today's newer games. I give this game a perfect five because this is how a classic game should be made perfect improvement upon the orginal.

Any old school gamer remembered the days of the Sega Genesis and the pack in game that was included when it made its debut back in 1989. Altered Beast was an arcade game ported to the Genesis and was a pretty good game for its time. Fast forward to 2002 where THQ released Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms for the Game Boy Advance. Sega revived one of its earliest franchises by making this sequel. For better or worse, this game is both good and bad.

In the sequel, you are resurrected once again to take out an evil entity who wants to take over the world. You go through "realms" (the game's stages) to take out the bad guys and defeat the boss at the end. Just like the first game, you can power up by collected pellets released by a fallen enemy. Eventually, you'll collect a special pellet that transforms into a beast, arming you with special powers depending on the stage. Unlike the first game, you can pick up power ups that restore your energy, make you invincible, speed up or give you extra attack power. And since there are 15 stages, you get to transform into new beast forms as well as the ones featured in the first Altered Beast. You can save your progress for every time you complete a stage and can collect as many lives as you can.

The PROS: Decent graphics, music and sound effects (better than the first game but so so compared to other GBA games.) The game play is the same as the original. This game is long and will keep you busy as you open up all of the stages. It's a bit on the hard side so it's good for those who appreciate a challenge.

The CONS: Your character's pretty stiff when it comes to controlling him. So expect to get hit a lot since your punches and kicks have limited range. The power ups you can collect do not last long so it isn't worth using. The difficulty is also bad because of cheap hits by enemies and you only have 3 lives per stage and a small health bar that can be drained quickly if you take too many hits.

While Altered Beast: Guardians of the Realms is a decent effort, it won't win awards for what it brings to the table. Fans of Altered Beast will want to give it a try but it may be wise to either buy it cheap or find an emulator that supports this game. Overall, it's decent but it could have been better.

Dang "Hero","Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon",and "House of Flying Daggers" had me lookin for Da perfect martial arts game. 'Altered Beast is the next best thing' I thought as I walked into the store. I WAS RIGHT!!!!! ORDER IT OR STOP READING MY REVIEW AND GO TO A STORE! 5/5 dudes.

When I found out this game existed I knew I had to get it. Who can forget Altered Beast, the game that came with the Genesis console. It was also in the video game arcades too. I was suspicous about this game because most reviews say its bad. Many reviews say this game plays like the original one, so I got it. This is a COMPLETE remake of Altered Beast, hooray, its not the orignal version. So don't expect starting the game in the "grave yard" level, now you start in "ancient greece". Then you kill away collecting different things. You grow buffer and buffer and eventually turn into a powerful beast with its own attacks. For those who don't know Altered Beast or young generation gamers, this is still a good game, it has actual gameplay.

Dang, all the reviews are wrong! This game totally rocks! The graphics are very nice and impressive but not spectacular. There are multiple layers of background, nice "3-D" effect for a 2-D side scrolling game. Its got a nice mythological and fantasy themes. Like the haunted forest level, Egyptian desert, underwater world, molten lava, Greece ruins, and much more! The sound is good, it has good music, sound effect, and voice effect! The levels are beautiful, although little simple but well done. The control is solid, predictable, the jump height is variable, movement is allowed in air during jumps. The control is even better than the original one if I remember right, long long time ago! The gameplay is superb, just like the original one. The gameplay is somewhat slow. Many monsters are constantly coming at you and the action is simple yet fast and exciting. The gameplay is so simple that at times you can view the backgrounds or check out other graphics while killing away, cool, so this is not a precise nerdy game but still challenging. One major drawback of this game is that you can't SAVE during game but there is auto-save after each level.

This game is similar to old games like Ghosts n goblin or ghost n ghouls, double dragon, golden axe, kung fu master, rampage, and final fight. New games like.... hmmm, can't think of any.

Instead of just 5 levels like the original version, there are 15! All different! There are a lot of different beast transformations! Overall this game is very good, its even better than the original. A great new remake of a timeless classic. BUY it!

Based on the original Altered Beast the game did not disappoint.
Its good to see Sega at least try to use some of their
old gems back to life.

The game follows the same path as the original but adds
in more effects, monsters and sound to provide
a good experience.

The graphics were ok, but the whole thing was pretty cool.

I've seen DIGIMON GAMES that are more interesting than this game. And we all know what age group digimon is for.

The storyline: you must retrieve a lot of amulets (or something). There are several parts of each special item (whatever it is), each of which product a slightly different result. Each item transforms you into something, and you've got to keep repeating the levels in order to get all the versions of that item. In the first level, you become a werewolf. The second time through, I think the werewolf was blue. I couldn't identify the morph form on the second level.

So, if you want a fighting game so interesting that it rivals Harvest Moon, then go ahead. If you want a fighting game that's intersting, try Mortal Combat. Or a digimon game. Both are better than this.

Traditional Gamer - See "Golden Sun" for more information. I sorry but beating up tons of monsters is not a fun game.

I really enjoyed the game on Sega Genesis, but now there's a sequel on GBA? I am quite surprised. As I have not played the sequel yet, I put 3 stars until I have played it. But on GBA? I'm not sure it'll be all that great, but let's hope I'm wrong.