There isn't much story at all to go on. Zeus revived a fallen warrior to battle against the god Neff whose kidnapped his daughter Athena. In Greek Mythology, Athena is goddess of wisdom. So in a way, I got to question how this happened in the first place lol. There is no health pick ups at all in this game.
You must get through five levels with each having a different form Neff takes. Imagine that, both your character & Neff has five forms each in the entire game. There's a particular enemy that also appears in the original Golden Axe. Sadly during it's development, a lot of stuff got cut from the final game.
Even the creator stated this likely led to people quickly losing interest in the game. You could go straight into another run that becomes a harder difficulty. But you won't get gain anything from doing so. The music is mostly good enough to get the job done but Golden Axe & Streets of Rage has better songs.
The sound effects are a little mixed at best. I do like most of the transformations you get. Technically you get two versions of an werewolf form. Each beast plays more differently from each other. I kinda felt Kid Chameleon a similar game that came a few years later made more notable differences. Also I would recommend that game over this truthfully.
Altered Beast is also a franchise that kept going down. I haven't got to play Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms on GBA or Altered Beast on PS2. yet both of them makes you question why Sega? Altered Beast could've been a better legacy than it currently has. I felt Comix Zone has a better legacy despite being just one game.
The levels themselves are notably short even for beat em up standards. You will also be given a few opportunities to transform before a boss fight or you are screwed. This also means you will get to explore more of the level. I don't recommend relying on that method for long in this game. I would say the original arcade version has the best overall quality.
Yes I know that's not a surprise. But I still end up choosing the Genesis port over it due to a few codes. Like a continue code allowing you to start a new game right off you die that isn't level 1. You also get beast select but you only have that form. You also can increase the amount of health & lives too.
Honestly, Altered Beast isn't aging well. There is still an appeal to it or at least for us Sega fans. More recently in Sega Forever has several characters & forms from Altered Beast. If you think about it, this was a beat em on Greek Mythology before the original God of War existed. Yes I know, there's major differences between the two.
I should mention, depending on which version the wolves that are having orbs are different colors. In the original arcade version, they are white while in Genesis version are blue instead. You must get three orbs per a level to fully transform into a beast. I do like the screen change for the transformations.
I also need to mention like the original Golden Axe, most versions of this game has different endings. Altered Beast is a good early Genesis game. Even if it does get greatly over looked by many classics. This game also held an important place in the console's history. It was the original Genesis game in the United States to be bundled with the console.
Yes even before Sonic 1 & 2 respectively. Altered Beast is a concept that sadly comes off as not being finished. Clearly we get enough of the idea but you felt more could've been done here. But in that regard, in a way it helps because they went over board with forms in Guardian of the Realms and PS2.
Altered Beast may not be holding up well in aging. The fact they chose such an out there concept for an beat em up, I love it. You get to five a good variety of enemies with some being frustrating for different reasons. Like the big guys are strict in how to attack or getting close enough to hit em. There's a few enemies including wolves that moves fast.
This game does deserve to be remade or a good reboot or given a true sequel at least. THQ who made Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms also made The Revenge of Shinobi not the Genesis game. They also ruined Jazz Jackrabbit on GBA too. Altered Beast is unique that transformations greatly affect the game play in many ways.
Some levels you have to quickly become a beast to survive or get ready to take punishment from enemies. Some wolf placements especially in level 3 are so easy to miss. Each form Neff takes all acts very differently from each other. You can defeat the second boss in record time if you know the method.
To be honest, most of them just remembering their attack patterns becomes too easy. The final boss kept changing on a dime making him difficult to read. So obviously I have the most trouble with him. At least, it is better than the Rhino boss fight in The Incredible Hulk game on the same console. For those who haven't played that Hulk game.
Rhino is mostly charging back & forward. Sometimes he will move slowly to do uppercuts. But I felt he was much easier than this guy. I do need to mention, some ports portray these bosses differently in their own way. There actually exists an Famicom version that adds several things to the game. I would say play the arcade version for nostalgia but cheat in Genesis port.
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