Altered Beast might be a Sega classic but it sadly falls short when it comes to gameplay.
You're basically controlling a warrior that has been resurrected by Zeus and commands him to save his daughter and defeat the evil Neff. It's a pretty barebones plot but what do you expect from an arcade game. The story is not the only thing that's barebones in this game. The gameplay is very shallow offering no depth at all and can get very tedious after playing for a few hours. The gimmick that Altered Beast boasts is the beast transformations. By collecting orbs from dead wolves, your character will get stronger and stronger until he eventually transforms into the designated beast for the level. As I said each level has it's own beast.
Their are five beasts to transform into. A werewolf, dragon, bear, tiger and a golden wolf. They don't differ from each other that much but they are great fun
when experienced for the first time. Although these transformations help the flow of the gameplay it still feels weary after a while and the light platforming doesn't help either. The bosses aren't very challenging especially the final boss which is a complete joke. Graphically it looks the best out of the console versions and it looks quite good for a game this old. The soundtrack is decent aswell and some tunes match the style of the game greatly.
It's a worthy pickup for any Sega fan or collector but don't expect any complex level designs or anything like that. At it's core, Altered Beast is a drony side scrolling beat em up with a gimmicky transformation system that makes the game worth a try. This can be easily found in most Sega compilations and it's also very easy to find for the original system too.