Customer Reviews

Altered Beast

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

 

 

Altered Beast is one of the best games you can have on your Sega Genesis. If you like becoming an ancient warrior who comes back from the dead to save the world, Altered Beast is for you. In this game you start off as a pretty average sized man, but by collecting some Pomer Ups your man soon becomes a HULKING Brut. Collecting 1 Power Up will make him medium sized and collecting 2 will make him bigger and bader than Hercules. Now this is the cool part, when you get the third Power Up your character morphs into an altered beast. But the funnest part of this game is in the 2 Player mode. To do this push the start button on the second players controler, and have fun with a friend.

The Genesis days.
What fun.
What a joy.
How depressing, I'm so old.
Anyway.....
"Altered Beast" came with the Genesis I bought and it's a blast.
My first introduction to the new wave of 16 bit gaming and wow was I hooked.
Awesome graphics.
Great sound.
An incredible amount of variety.
It's not a very long game but who cares.
What is there is a blast.
Another one of those long forgotten titles that deserves to be played by today's gamers.
"Altered Beast" may not be "Pac Man" or even "Sonic" but it's still an awesome game that should not be forgotten.
Highly recommended.

When Sega came along with their Genesis system, it didn't reach the attention of the already popular Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Despite its superior graphics capabilities and sound quality, it never touched Nintendo's sales, at least in the States. Why? Perhaps we'll never know, because I think the Genesis is one of the best video game systems ever made, right up there with the almighty Super NES... and this game is one of the reasons why.

THE GOOD
I cannot BEGIN to tell you how I love this game. It's so simple, yet a FUN game. It's hard, and you'll just be playing more and more just to beat this game. It has two-player ability which tends to make it easier (subject to your comrade's abilities, of course.). There's only four levels, but it's four levels of sheer oldschool ultimateness. The graphics are ok, if not that great, but hey... we all know gameplay is what makes the game, right?

This actually was THE game that hooked me to the Genesis. You'd think that after playing tons of Sonic 2, Aladdin, and X-Men that I would've been thoroughly hooked, and while those games are classics, this one particular game somehow snatched me by [my sensitive areas] and told me to buy a Genesis (which I did, with the ever-so-needed Sega CD attachment). Guess I'm just weird.

About the game since my review would be pretty short: basic story is that you (with or without your comrade) are raised from the dead by Zeus to go save Athena from an evil sorceror. In each level, you transform into a different beast after collecting three orbs (first level: wolfman, second level: dragon, etc.). Cool.

THE BAD
If you find something wrong I highly suggest consulting a physician before dissing on and/or playing this game.

OVERALL
This is A MUST-HAVE for your Genesis collection. If you are a Sega fan and don't own this game, I don't care what your reason is (unless you couldn't find it, which is somewhat understandable), you're wrong. Part of my childhood consists of this game. A Genesis gem and one of the finest the system ever produced.

The arcade hit Altered Beast hit the U.S. 1988 and became
the next game arcade hit, 4 yrs in a row for Sega. For 4 yrs
Sega dominated the arcades with hits like Space Harrier, Shinobi
Super Hang On, and now Altered Beast.

However, the version for the pc is one of the sorriest ports
of an arcade game I've seen. Everything from the graphics
to the sound, to the control pale in comparison to the arcade
hit or even the 16 bit Genesis version.

However, this will cover both the Genesis and PC version.

Graphics 4:

The graphics for the Sega Genesis were pretty cool and great
at the time. The pc version?

Uh. Ahh. Eeek. The first problem with the pc version of Altered
Beast, is the fact, that the game only EGA, and VGA color modes.


However, the graphics still remain a bit of a pioneer cuz
this was one of the first Arcade games ported for the Genesis.

Sound: 3

Here lies another fault in the game.

There is actually a setup program for the sound, but in all the
setup program was unable to recognize my sound card, and
thus the sound of the game was reduced to those fuzzy and outdated internal pc speaker noises as sound.

Playing the sound on the Genesis was a mix, the sounds are
pretty cool but nothing really cool.

Control 3:

Like the sound, there is a setup program for the controls.

You can choose between playing the game with the keyboard
and using a joystick. However, it took both practice and patience to setup the joystick.


Overall: 3


Although, there were great games made with the limited technology at the time (The Secret of Monkey
Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Eye of the Beholder) Altered Beast
fails to take advantage of it.

Well if you have the Genesis version of Altered Beast, you are not missing anything because the pc version is just an awful conversion of the great arcade classic.

Special Significance of my review
to Altered Beast:

I wrote this review, not only because I love Sega and it's game, but I come to deliver great news, that is that there is a upcoming sequel to Altered Beast scheduled to be
relesed this fall!!!

In fact, Ive got the game and its really decent sequel to the classic.

a true classic. The original game that put the sega on the map, until sonic came out. A very short game, total of 5 levels. Very repetitive. But a definite must have for collectors of genesis games. It is available everywhere so it should not be hard to find.

As appropiately titled this game is what launched the Sega Genesis/Megadrive's carrer. It has two famous lines in this 1989 classic. They are " Rise from your grave " and " Welcome to your doom !" You can hunt down the rare Genesis version or buy the Sega Genesis Collection.
P.S I gave this a overall 4 stars because it is only five levels long.

This game was one of my favorites when I was little, you are super humans by the look of your strength and you have to destroy the evil from wherever it is you are. At the beginning of the game a spirit tell you to "RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES"!!!! In this game is a concept I thought was pretty cool, certaun enemies you kill drop power-ups, these power ups "upgrade" your body, you could say. Each time you are upgraded you buils more muscle until, you transform intoa creature. Maybe a wolf, a dragon or a bear! You transform to a different creature each level, first level was a wolf as I remembered. The only problem I had with this game was that it was too short, I beat it too easily, but don't stop that from you getting it. This is still a really interesting game.

This is the original pack in game that came when you bought a Genesis before Sonic existed. It originated in the arcades and gained a huge following of gamers. However the game is extremely short and not quite varied anough to really keep your interest. I believe that casual gamer will find it boring and shallow. However collectors obviously must have this game duie to the history alone.
Casual Gamer: Pass on this one!
Collectors: Get it just to have.

a fun game that is imaginitively created. Along with great graphics(for the time it came out) you would have a fun and entertaining game that is worth playing over and over again.

It's about 15 minutes long, unless you have trouble trying to kick the blue buffalo, which they contain a power-up. When 3 power-ups are gotten, it will go into Beast Mode. Then, the next time you get to Neff in a level, it's time to battle. It's a whole new battle, you both another beast.