Project Altered Beast, also known as Altered Beast in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, is a 2005 action/adventure

Action-adventure game

An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...

, beat 'em up

Beat 'em up

Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes...

 video game for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

. The game is a modern take on the original 1988 arcade game Altered Beast

Altered Beast

Altered Beast is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so become able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with usage of power-ups...

. While the gameplay still involves the main character transforming into different kinds of beasts like in the original, the story, characters and setting is completely different, along with notable gameplay additions. The game was released in Europe and Japan in 2005, but was never released in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Story

Unlike the original Altered Beast which is set in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

, the game features a modern setting unconnected to the previous installments. The story follows a man called Luke Custer who is a "Genome-Cyborg", a human whose DNA and other genetic make-up has been artificially altered allowing micro-chips containing the genetic make-up of other creatures to transform him into an anthropomorphic beast. After surviving a helicopter crash, Luke loses his memory and sets off to learn about the truth behind his past and the Genome-Cyborgs.

Gameplay

The player controls Luke Custer in a third-person perspective as they battle through multiple enemies in close combat to reach the next objective, utilizing the ability to transform into different beasts, each with somewhat of their own element, for a certain amount of time. Unlike the original game, the player can transform in and out of their beast form at will when available. Initially from the start Luke can transform into a Werewolf

Werewolf

A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

 (Element|Light), yet further into the game, he finds more Genome-Cyborg DNA chips allowing him to change into even more different kinds of beasts including a Merman

Merman

Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...

 (Element|Water), Garuda

Garuda

The Garuda is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology.From an Indian perspective, Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila and...

 (Element|Wind), Wendigo

Wendigo

The Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans...

 (Element|Ice), Minotaur

Minotaur

In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...

 (Element|Fire) and Dragon

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

 (Element|Thunder). While each beast has their own different sets of attacks, they also have abilities that are essential for overcoming obstacles, puzzles and boss fights that hinder progression.

Upon finishing the game, a number of other modes are unlocked including time trial boss fights and a challenge mode that can also unlock further beast forms including a White Weretiger (Element|Darkness), Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

 (Element|Earth) and an alien-cloned U.W.H. (Unidentified Weightless Human) (Element|Gravity).

Reception

The game received mixed reviews with an average critic score of 53/100 at Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

.
ScrewAttack

ScrewAttack

ScrewAttack . is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN...

named Project Altered Beast as the 10th worst game on their Top 10 Worst 2D to 3D games.