A somewhat enjoyable, campy beat em' up with very easy achievements

User Rating: 6.5 | Altered Beast X360
After I had purchased Marvel vs. Capcom 2 I had still had 440 points to spare. I knew that I should have saved it and waited to get more MS points, but flipping through the most recent games to buy, I stumbled upon Altered Beast. From watching various countdowns of the top Sega games and other nostalgic lists praising this game and its weirdness, I had an urge to buy it, and I did. After completing the game once and getting almost 3/4 of the achievements in about 20 minutes, I have come to the conclusion that you should only purchase this port if you are a devoted fan to the game already, or want to get easy achievements.

Gameplay- The thing that struck me first about the gameplay was that moving, punching, and jumping were very stiff. The results in hearing the character scream, "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" many times during play and you better get used to it. You will be continuing the game countless times unless you are a master. Occasionally a flashing white wolf, usually accompanied by two red wolves, will enter the screen. When you take it out, a floating power-up called a "spirit orb" will be waiting for you to grab it. When you do, you get stronger and stronger, as visualized by your muscles getting larger and larger. After collecting three spirit orbs, you will transform into a powerful beast. These beasts are stronger and usually have projectiles and varied special attacks. This is where most of the fun derives however. If movement wasnt so stiff, this game would be alot more exciting but it can be a real pain in the ass when your character screams after being taken out by the same purple unicorn man 25 times.

Sound- When the game first starts you are treated to Zeus telling you to "rise from your grave". Apparently many people humorously think he is saying, "wise fwom your gwave". After looking around on the internet for this infamous line, I cant help but think that it actually does have a Elmer Fudd tinge to it. In any case, you have to appreciate that voices are even included at all. No matter how goofy it is, its still funny to hear. The music isnt very memorable( as Im writing this I cant remember a single melody), and the sound effects are average. In terms of sound, this game will probably always be remembered for its humorously bad voice acting and classic lines such as "Power Up!"

Graphics- For a Genesis game, the graphics are decent. The character models are campy and have a unique, almost pseudo 3D look to them. I couldnt help but be amused at some of the enemies, like the previously stated puple unicorn men. Other than the enemies, the backgrounds are decent and the bosses are well-designed.

Overall- If you want easy achievements, this game has them. The only achievement that might be trouble is clearing the first 3 levels without using a continue.

Gameplay- 6
Sound- 5
Graphics- 8
Overall- 6.5