Altered Beast 1988
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
January 27, 2019
Platforms Played
I have a very fond memory of playing this game at a friend's house and sharing a very crispy thin crust pepperoni pizza topped with tobasco. I don't think we ever beat the second level, but it's hard not to reflect on that and appreciate how simple a time it was. A few years ago I put together a list of 250 retro games which I committed to completing, and Altered Beast was one of the first ones I added to it. When it finally came time to sit down and fire it up again, I made sure I wasn't without another thin crust and a bottle of tobasco, just to make the experience complete.
Well, the pizza was good. The game freakin sucks, man.
It's a very early Genesis title, and as I've written about before, games of this era share a certain cheapness to them. Audio is tinny because composers were still getting the hang of the Genesis' sound, controls feel wonky, and the graphics lack color depth and detail. But where games like Streets of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi found some success in bringing the feel of arcade games into the home, Altered Beast completely flounders.
The gameplay loop is as bare bones simple as it gets: Walk to the right (and only the right, you can't go back), punch bad guys, collect orb, and turn into a sort of... beast? It's like a man beast. A beast that has been altered, perhaps. Each level ends in a boss that will probably give you a frustrating amount of crap to deal with despite levels being so devoid of challenge that you don't even need a brain your body to play them. The reason my friend and I never got past the second level wasn't because the second level was hard, it's because the boss was an asshole.
Bosses, beasts, enemies, and even level graphics repeat so frequently that it feels like they had about two levels worth of content that they stretched out. I'm being a bit hyperbolic, sure, but it is nonetheless remarkable to me how lacking the game is even when considering the unique moment in time it released. The most it has going for it is a few fun garbled sound bites and an iconic transformation sequence, but god knows you've probably seen both enough times that you've absorbed everything you need of Altered Beast through osmosis.
'Rise from your grave'? Uh, heh, how about no?? I'd rather be dead than play this game again.
Well, the pizza was good. The game freakin sucks, man.
It's a very early Genesis title, and as I've written about before, games of this era share a certain cheapness to them. Audio is tinny because composers were still getting the hang of the Genesis' sound, controls feel wonky, and the graphics lack color depth and detail. But where games like Streets of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi found some success in bringing the feel of arcade games into the home, Altered Beast completely flounders.
The gameplay loop is as bare bones simple as it gets: Walk to the right (and only the right, you can't go back), punch bad guys, collect orb, and turn into a sort of... beast? It's like a man beast. A beast that has been altered, perhaps. Each level ends in a boss that will probably give you a frustrating amount of crap to deal with despite levels being so devoid of challenge that you don't even need a brain your body to play them. The reason my friend and I never got past the second level wasn't because the second level was hard, it's because the boss was an asshole.
Bosses, beasts, enemies, and even level graphics repeat so frequently that it feels like they had about two levels worth of content that they stretched out. I'm being a bit hyperbolic, sure, but it is nonetheless remarkable to me how lacking the game is even when considering the unique moment in time it released. The most it has going for it is a few fun garbled sound bites and an iconic transformation sequence, but god knows you've probably seen both enough times that you've absorbed everything you need of Altered Beast through osmosis.
'Rise from your grave'? Uh, heh, how about no?? I'd rather be dead than play this game again.