Canon Video Game Review: Altered Beast (Sega Genesis)

Today's review comes from an idea from reader Ben W. Mr. W was playing Altered Beast as part of the Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Playstation3, and then suggested that I should do a review about this game. At first, I wasn't very receptive of this idea, but after thinking about it for more than five seconds, I couldn't think of a reason not to do it, so here we are. Altered Beast was the first 16-bit game to be released on home video game consoles, in this case being for the Sega Genesis. Published and Developed by Sega, Altered Beast was originally an arcade game before being ported onto the Genesis in 1989. So, while Altered Beast is a historically significant game, is is a very good game? Here is the cover for Altered Beast, courtesy of allgame.com

In Altered Beast, you are a dead Roman solider brought back to life by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the clutches of the nefarious Neff. Why Zeus decides to revive a dead guy instead of getting somebody else to rescue his daughter, or even do it himself, is a mystery. Anyway, you RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE, as Zeus commands you in a voice that sounds like a 14 year-old talking in a deep voice. Along the way, you must do battle with zombies, two-headed werewolves, and other mysterious creatures. If you hit enough werewolves, you get a power-up, where you turn into a slightly more powerful human. After the third power-up, you go into BEAST mode, becoming a werewolf or a tiger or some other powerful beast depending on what level you're on. After becoming and altered beast, the boss of the level will appear, so you have to do battle with that and defeat him to move on, where some Leonard Nimoy looking dude will strip you of your powerups before advancing. With each level, the process repeats itself. Get three power ups, fight the boss, move on. Simple enough, right?


Your ability to defeat your enemies is severely compromised by the fact that your character can't really do a whole lot. He can punch, kick, and jump, and that's pretty much it. This would be acceptable if your character didn't have the range of Mini-me. Therefore, you have to get really close to your opponent and hope that your punch lands before his does, basically. As for kicking, well our hero seems to favor the leg kick, because that's all he does, besides the non-effective 'lie on your back and kick straight up'. method. If you are to do a ducking attack, I'd recommend just doing a low punch instead, as at least you have range with that attack and it looks like you are punching your opponents in the family jewels. With each power-up, your strikes become more effective, and once you enter beast mode, you really start to kick ass, as now you can throw stuff at your opponents and do crazy flying attacks as well. Unfortunately, you don't have a lot of time, because the boss shows up pretty quickly after you turn into a beast. At each level, an Uncle Fester looking wizard will transform into some hideous creature and he'll start firing crap at you as well. At the first level, the guy turns into a hideous ogre and throws screaming heads at you. Yes, I said screaming heads. Here, take a look from this picture courtesty of mobygames.com:

As far as graphics go, it's not too bad considering it was the first 16-bit game to be released. Of course, there would be other 16-bit games with superior graphics later on, but at the time it was probably rather remarkable. The animations were a bit clunky, and I noticed a few issues with collision detection. Sound-wise, I must say that the score of Altered Beast was actually pretty good, and really added a lot to the atmosphere of the game. The voiceovers were kind of silly, and it got rather tiresome to hear "Welcome to your doom" at the end of each level. There are only five levels, sou if you know what you're doing, you could beat the game in 20 to 30 minutes. The controls are very simple (A punches, B kicks, C jumps), but I found them a bit sluggish at times, as I'd often times have to hit the punch button three or four times in order to get one punch in. At first, I thought it might be the controller, but after playing a couple of other games and having no trouble, I realized it was the game instead.

Overall, there are some people that seem to consider Altered Beast as a timeless classic. Well, even though it might be historically significant, I wouldn't consider it a classic by any means. The levels are repetitve, the controls are sluggish, and it really offers no replay value after the first time you beat it. For its time, Altered Beast was a great achievement, but time has passed this mediocre side-scroller by. Overall, I'd give it a 4.7 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.

Canon Video Game Review: Shove It ... The Warehouse Game (Sega Genesis)

Today I'm going to review a little video game with a somewhat offensive title, Shove It. Unfortunately, they had to ruin the angry spirit of the title by adding 'The Warehouse Game' to it. Shove It is a game for the Sega Genesis that was released in 1990 and published by DreamWorks, and no, it is not the same DreamWorks that produced such films as Gladiator and Biker Boyz. No, this Dreamworks published a few other games for the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s, but never did produce a hit video game. Here is a look at the cover for Shove It, courtesy of allgame.com:

In Shove It, you play as a warehouse worker named Stevedore. Obviously they didn't put much thought in the name. Besides, a stevedore usually refers to a worker that moves cargo off and on ships, and while you may be moving cargo, there is no ship that I am aware of in this game. Anyway, the plot of the game is this, Stevedore has met a girl and has fallen for her, but in order to gain her interest, he must get a brand new sports car. In order to do that, Stevedore must complete moving all the boxes at the warehouse. There are 16 levels in the game, each with 10 puzzles. In order to complete each level, you must shove the boxes in the correct spot, which is marked with a white circle. The controls are remarkably simple, as you use the d-pad to move the boxes, the b button brings up a menu with a few options (including restart, which trust me gets a lot of use in the game) and the a button allows you to pull the box back one space after you have shoved it.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well not so fast, my friend. For one, you can only push the boxes, not pull the boxes (or otherwise the game might be called shove and tug it or something). Also, you can only undo the last shove you make, so if you accidentally move a box into a corner and leave it, well, tough luck. Make no mistake about it, this is a challenging puzzle game, even in the early levels, and things only get harder as more and more boxes have to be moved. The game gives you a password to use after completing each level (i.e. 10 rooms), so that's something at least. The graphics are incredibly simple, as it's just an overhead shot of Stevedore in the warehouse moving boxes. The surroundings slightly change with each level, but really there's only so much you can do with this type of game. Also, there's an animation of Stevedore shoving a box after you finish each room. The audio in this game is basically one thirty second track that was played on an electric keyboard and loops over and over again. If you wanted to play this game, I would suggest turning the sound off and listening to some music, as you're not really missing anything with the sound on. There is also an edit mode where you can create your own puzzles, but the problem is you can't save them after you stop playing the game.

Overall, I can't imagine anyone dropping 50 dollars on this title back when it came out, as Shove It is a rather simple game in its presentation. But that's not to say that Shove It is a bad game. In fact, it's a rather challenging puzzle game that can be rather addictive. Shove It is far from the worst game to come out for the Genesis, and is actually quite a fun little time waster, even if there are many games similar to this that you could probably play for free somewhere on the internet. Overall, I'll give Shove It a 6.09 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future reviews, or comments about this review, then share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com