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Altered Beast PS2 Sega  Ah, back in its time (around 1992), the original 'Altered Beast' was a classic. Well, a cult classic at least - certainly one of the more fondly remembered games from the now long-defunct Sega Mega Drive. As companies do, though, mistaking nostalgic memories for market demand, Sega have trotted 'Altered Beast' our for a Playstation 2 retooling. And the result certainly is... altered. The original 'Altered Beast' was a simple game with a simple premise - man takes on beasts, man becomes beast, beast takes on more beasts, repeat until game is complete. But despite this simplicity, there was an element of challenge to the original. 2005's redux follows the same basic structure, but lacks any real innovation - or for that matter, any real need for serious thought on the player's part. That said, the new game does at least throw in one mildly interesting element: the ability to change into not just one beast, but many depending on the genomes that you can handily pick up from some dying enemies. Given a large enough variety of these genomes, you can jump into a menu that allows you to tweak genetic patterns in such a way that new creatures and moves are created. A laudable thought on the programmers' part... until it becomes apparent that you don't really need any more than the basic moves to defeat most enemies anyhow. They simply keep on coming in their hordes and you simply keep on stabbing at the square button until they're all gone and you meet the boss of the level. Furthermore, every time you "alter" you find yourself sitting through a brief cut-scene of your transformation. Fun the first time, frustrating afterwards. So the combination of brainless AI and needless cinematic interruptions certainly didn't do it for me; the camera work could have been vastly improved as well, often rotating around to a simply annoying point of view that was nowhere near the right sort of angle to determine where your enemies are and dispatch them with ease. On the positive side the music is dark and atmospheric, creating a mood that deserved to be associated with a far superior game. It's a pity that the music doesn't drown out the lackluster sound effects, though; at times it sounds as though Sega really didn't bother to update them far past the standard of the original Mega Drive version. Graphically, 'Altered Beast' falls resoundingly in the middle ground. The art direction is intricate and intriguing enough, and the cutscenes are actually above par, but there simply isn't an epic enough feel in-game. You can see the limitations being placed upon you: invisible walls, limited space to wander through at random, and despite the sometimes macabre feel of the art direction, the creatures you face simply lack any real sense of inspiring fear. It's certainly no 'Silent Hill'. And that's part of the point. The original 'Altered Beast' was clean, simple fun with an adventurous heart about it; today's version is too simple for the arguably more refined tastes of today's gamers. Worse than that, it lacks the hokey sense of adventure that imbued the original with its cult status. A wasted opportunity.  |
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