Altered Beast (MD, 1988)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-6 Challenge-7/6*
Level Design-5 Frustration-7.5/6.5* Fun-6/6.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-5.5
*2-player
+
Faster walking and scrolling than in the Arcade ver.
Beast forms (feels satisfying to get revenge on your enemies)
Large bosses
2-player cooperative
Fairly dark interpretation of Greek mythology
A cheat lets you choose which beast to turn into for each level
Somewhat comical (ending, the over the top player characters, the voices)
Somewhat more forgiving hit detection
Parallax scrolling added to backgrounds
+/-
Somewhat slower jumping and weaker enemies in this version
Both players need to become beasts to be able to fight the stage boss
Promotes bestiality?!
-
Can't adjust jump height
Can't jump down through a platform
Easy to become overwhelmed by enemies from both sides in 1-player mode
No difficulty options (easier stages than in the Arcade but no continues, unlocks hard mode after completion)
Repetitive
Very short (5 stages)
Pretty low colour count
Unbalanced attacks (ranged attack is pretty redundant, punch is only useful against some enemies)
Not much thought given to most of the boss fights (1, 2, and 3 are very easy, you can trick the final boss fairly easily)
Some annoying sfx (death sound)
Missing some visual detail and animation (the main bad guy always looks the same while in the Arcade there are several different ones, some redrawn sprites look worse, no visual effect during cutscenes)
Level Design-5 Frustration-7.5/6.5* Fun-6/6.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-5.5
*2-player
+
Faster walking and scrolling than in the Arcade ver.
Beast forms (feels satisfying to get revenge on your enemies)
Large bosses
2-player cooperative
Fairly dark interpretation of Greek mythology
A cheat lets you choose which beast to turn into for each level
Somewhat comical (ending, the over the top player characters, the voices)
Somewhat more forgiving hit detection
Parallax scrolling added to backgrounds
+/-
Somewhat slower jumping and weaker enemies in this version
Both players need to become beasts to be able to fight the stage boss
Promotes bestiality?!
-
Can't adjust jump height
Can't jump down through a platform
Easy to become overwhelmed by enemies from both sides in 1-player mode
No difficulty options (easier stages than in the Arcade but no continues, unlocks hard mode after completion)
Repetitive
Very short (5 stages)
Pretty low colour count
Unbalanced attacks (ranged attack is pretty redundant, punch is only useful against some enemies)
Not much thought given to most of the boss fights (1, 2, and 3 are very easy, you can trick the final boss fairly easily)
Some annoying sfx (death sound)
Missing some visual detail and animation (the main bad guy always looks the same while in the Arcade there are several different ones, some redrawn sprites look worse, no visual effect during cutscenes)