Gorgeous to look at and listen to.. but gameplay? (Shadow of the Beast)

Member Name: mvwmail

Product:	Shadow of the Beast
Date:	20/07/04 (1025 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jaw dropping sound and graphics

Disadvantages: Very tough gameplay

OK OK.. I have been away from DooYoo for some time now, but as a gentle ease into the review thing again, I have decided to add something to the retro section. Just recently in my spare time I have been dabbling in emulation again to recapture old memories. Its amazing how addictive some of the old classics really are. And one of those classics that blew the lid off the games market was Shadow of the Beast, which can still give todays games a run for their money with its amazing sound and graphics.. and all on two 700k floppy disks!

Technological Marvel
++++++++++++++++++++

When PC's were still beeping, or producing sound through ADLIB, a game came out on the Amiga that looked and sounded so good it won awards worldwide. I remember putting this disk into my AMiga for the first time, and after about 20 seconds my ears where soothed by a gorgeous pan pipe introduction (composed by Dave Whittaker).. and BOY did it sound good.

Anyhow, after listening to this wonderful tune, I pressed fire on my Quickshot and let the game load. I can still hear the clang as my jaw hit the ground. In front of my eyes was this amazing super fast, super smooth scrolling landscape (50 Frames per second no less). Sixteen levels of parallex scrolling gave an amazing feeling of 3d.

The technical stuff was done by Relfections (Recently gave us Driver 1 and 2), and they managed to pull off some neat stuff indeed. Imagine a full coulour sprite as big as the screen moving without a single flicker against the aforementioned parallex background.

Ahead of its time... yet slammed by almost everyone.. WHY?

The game
++++++++

Kidnapped at birth, your body is warped by the Beast Master and turned into a hideous creature. However, you have escaped and are out for revenge, and determined to change yourself back into a human. Wander the lands seeking out the dreaded Beast Master and his minions.

The huge box was also a glorious piece of marketing, and contained a rather impressive T-Shirt. What was also impressive was the price. Around £30, which in 1990 was a whopping tag!

This game was given a very bad press when it first came out as being all eye candy, and no game.. RUBBISH!

Gameplay
++++++++

Shadow of the Beast was HARD, very hard, but it was possible if you had quick enough reactions and patience. A cheat did become available which made you immortal, but even then the game took around 1 hour to complete.

The game was essentially a monsterous platform game broken into distinct areas, above ground, under ground and in the castle. Some adventure elements were thrown in (find the keys etc) but this was essentally a monster slaying nightmare. Remember the game 'Gauntlet' with monster coming relentlessly... well SoB is like that, masses of great big Ants, Orcs, Demons etc etc.

There a loads of Boss monsters, usually about the size of the entire screen, which require timing and skill to kill, or at least a special weapon (usually a long range one).

Later in the game, there is a sideways scrolly shoot-em-up which is FAST.

The controls... let me see.. Up, Down, left, right and Fire! Yep that just about covers it!


Tips
++++

If you can get an Amiga emulator (Cloanto) to run on your machine, or already have an Aimga.. in which cae GET YOUR ASS TO EBAY.. PLAY THIS GAME. If you get the chance.. here are some non-spoiling little tippets!

- Go left from the start
- When trying to get the orb from the firebreathing statue in the first underground level. Be patient. Dont try to rush thing, punch the orb once and then duck until the fire goes. Dont try for more than one punch.


Other Formats
+++++++++++

ZX Spectrum (Dec 1990)- If the game that set landmarks in Graphics and Sound is ported across to a Spectrum, well you are generally in a bit of bother with the beeping beast not able to perform very well. Well Gremlin Graphics actually did a smashing job of converting this game. The scrolling was super smooth. The Speccy 128 version actually did a decent job of the sound as well. On its release the game managed to score 8 or 9 out of 10 in most reviews.

Atari Lynx (early handheld for those youngsters reading this) - Many Lynx reviews stated clearly that this game had the best graphics of any Lynx game ever released, with the Lynx's entire pallette being used. The sound effects did mainly consist of Beep and whistyels, but the music was terrific, managing to maintain the haunting reverberations of the original score.

Sega master / genesis - Not a bad conversion, and a reasonable attempt at the music, but no real changes in the gameplay meant a very tough game which many gave up on.

Super Nintendo - Fabulous graphics as one would expect, and a good stab at the music and effects. One of the top versions outside the Amiga. Oh yeah, of course the game title was changed with the obligatory 'Super' in front of the name.

Atari ST - Graphics were almost spot on, and this game was usually left in demo mode (with no sound) when the Atari ST's were being sold. I rememebr one assitant noticing my interest saying, 'Look at what this machine can do.. The Amiga isn't so special', I asked him to turn it up, but he kept making excuses. Essentailly the music and sound were not a patch on the Amiga version.. LONG LIVe THE AMIGA.. ST's ARE CRAP!! heh Heh!!! :-)


Links
+++++

Well I was pleased to see that someone has a fabulous site dedicated to this game, and is also currently remaking it. You can also find almost all versions for emulators on here to download. You can also see screen shots, listen to MP3 rensitions of the music, and see pictures of the cover.. in fact if it was in SoB.. its here! Well done lads (and lasses)

http://sotb.free.fr/index_en.html

Oh.. sorry.. its a French site! ;-)

Amiga Emulator : http://www.amigaforever.com/

Summary: A classic game that can now be rediscovered thanks for Amiga Forever