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Shadow of the Beast |OT| The Beast Wars

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dancrane212

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A bold reimagining of the 1989 Amiga classic, Shadow of the Beast unveils a universe where futuristic technology and ancient empires dwell side by side. Without pity; without mercy. Take control of the beast Aarbron and unleash an unstoppable tide of brutality on all who stand between you and your vengeance.
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Platform: PS4
Release Date: May 17th
Price: $19.99/£15.99
Player(s): 1
Format: Digital/Physical (physical release limited to Asian regions - includes english subtitles)
Developer: Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs
Publisher: Sony

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  • Traverse the mystical world of Karamoon, vaulting chasms, scaling rock faces and dodging lethal traps as you march onward.
  • Draw strength from slaughter; spill the blood of armed regiments and monstrous hordes alike to fuel your frenzy and unlock brutal new attacks and takedowns.
  • Collect arcane talismans to augment your skills and master Aarbron's brutal techniques to cut down your enemies.
  • Bring out your dead! Devour the souls of fallen friends to gain powerful enchantments or summon their shadows to aid in battle.
  • Includes the original Amiga game and the ability to use David Whittaker’s score in the remade game as unlockables.

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Review Thread

US Gamer 4/5
Ultimately, Shadow of the Beast is a slick and polished, oldschool-feeling beat 'em up platformer that's simply great fun to play – especially once you master its somewhat tricky combat combos. It looks superb, and features a solid soundtrack that suits the action perfectly. The main campaign doesn't take particularly long to finish, but the game gives you plenty of excuses to come back for more, especially if you're a fan of classic arcade platform action and enjoy finding hidden items and challenging leaderboard scores.
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Polygon 3/10
If Shadow of the Beast is in any way effective, it's as a cautionary tale of the dangers of nostalgia. This revival appears to have been created by people who dearly love the original game, but it's so slavish in its recreation, there's no room for modern ideas to be injected (or outdated ones to slough off).

This entertainment decade has been defined by attempts to revisit games, movies and characters and somehow enliven them for a modern audience. Let Shadow of the Beast stand to remind us that some things, no matter how beloved, should — nay, must — stay buried.
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PSNation 9/10
Most players will have no knowledge of the original and that is fine, they do not need to, as this is a new beginning. The difficulty and variety that made the trilogy is still present today and a few more layers of skill have been added too.

I can tell Shadow of the Beast has been made by people who really loved the original game and they have made this version into something truly spectacular. Once you learn the brilliant and challenging rhythm to the gruesome action it becomes highly addictive. Watching the gruesome butchering of countless enemies never gets old and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

The Beast is back and it is better than ever.
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Interested, but there seems to be a ton of unnecessary on screen button prompts and whatnot. Are there any puzzles? What's the map style like(liniar, metroidvania, etc)? Is the game cheap at all, and do you get hit due to issues out of your control? What's the framerate?
 
abstract alien said:
Interested, but there seems to be a ton of unnecessary on screen button prompts and whatnot. Are there any puzzles? What's the map style like(liniar, metroidvania, etc)? Is the game cheap at all, and do you get hit due to issues out of your control? What's the framerate?
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There are some puzzles. It's mostly linear in design but you can explore other paths to find some hidden stuff if you feel the need to. The game is super short.
 
Awesome! A lot of these reviews are exactly in line with how I was hoping the game would turn out. Old school, arcadey brawler that focuses on high scoring.
 
Are the trophies live for this? The game just unlocked for me so I loaded on up to the level select/main screen and went to sync my trophies as usual but nothing for this came up.

Maybe for some reason I need to actually start playing it before it loads them.
 
Played the first level so far and I am pleasantly surprised with the sheer amount of unlockables and depth of upgrades etc.

Also the lore in the character portraits is actually interesting to read and you can unlock story sequences by discovering hidden objects. Pretty cool!

If anyone was wondering, the new music is a modern take on the old compositions. I like it.

Coming from Uncharted 4, it is certainly not fair to try and judge it correctly, so I will take my time before writing more, but I had to write that much.

The combat surely needs time to get used to it and learn the moves. Interesting so far.
 
NateDrake said:
There are some puzzles. It's mostly linear in design but you can explore other paths to find some hidden stuff if you feel the need to. The game is super short.
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Damn, I butchered "linear" for some reason. I blame auto correct.

Hmmm, I don't mind that. Being short didn't sound too good though, but I guess it's for the better if the game doesn't drag on any more than it needs to.
 
Jesus that polygon review, I'm 3/4 outta 10 or lower should be reserved for broken games and by all accounts of the game performs well
 
Polygon review sounds like the reviewer had a chip on his shoulder against retro games and old game mechanics.
Hes also notoriously low on patience or interest in difficulty in games from what I remember of listening to the joystick podcast for years.

I'm going to pick it up if gamestop. Com ever gets around to emailing me the $10 psn card I ordered at 9am this morning..
 
Bought it and glad I did. Did get to play much of the original back in the early 90s but I remember the first time I saw and being blown away by the visuals.
 
Quick impressions from playing the first level. I'm really impressed with how they managed to make the game look and feel like a modern version of the original. I still think the in-game UI is a little gaudy but the actual menus are actually quite nice. The unlock system is interesting too - I like how you can unlock subtitles for the spoken languages in the game, though they're pretty expensive so imagine they're intended for completionists. Regardless, my first purchase was the OG soundtrack just for nostalgia purposes (though what I've heard of the new soundtrack is really nice as well - nice new renditions of the old songs).
 
Random thoughts.

Good on them for making a female enemy that isn't a boob window.
Man the music is tight.
Graphics are great too!
Loading times are like a fucking minute long. Yeesh, that's ridiculous.
Each level is about 20 minutes, give or take. I'm only on the second.
Jumping takes some getting used to, and I think there's an inherent clunkiness I won't be able to overcome.
Game forces you to pay attention to enemies and use the right stuff. There's a teleporting one you can either bait to counterattack or just stun his ass and go in.
The chain kills thing is actually pretty fun.
From a brawler standpoint, it's not the deepest thing, but it serviceable and is fun most of the time.
If the boss fights are like the second one more than the first, I'll be super happy. Not that the first was awful, it just wasn't as good as the second one.
The lore looks great - can't wait to sit down and read it.
I kinda wish there were more unlocks besides the original and the runes that upgrade your boy, but it's still good enough for 20 bucks.
The puzzles aren't deep, but they aren't annoying, which is what I feared most.

Granted, this could change, as I'm only two levels in, but it's pretty fun. Feels like a midtier game you'd find to the shelf and be pleasantly surprised by. I don't know if one should buy it flat out, but as a brawler fan, I'm having enough fun to satisfy me.
 
I'm on level 3 and there are some impressive visuals on display. Expected really. :)

How do you unlock the original?
 
I was super skeptical after watching the trailers but as time went on, I came to realize that the devs were fans of the amiga version.
When I heard you could unlock the original game (with infinite lives) and also use the god tier amiga music in the remake, I was sold.

Bought it, played it up to level 3, loved it.
The jump is a bit hard time. It takes some momentum to jump further. Thankfully Aarbron is a sticky fellow that can hang on to walls.

It does its best to have a haunting atmosphere like the old game and it does to a certain extent. I'll keep playing and hope the game will be heights of creepiness like the old game does. Regardless of whether or not it succeeds at that, I already feel it was worth my money.
 
Just finished the first level, and I'm hooked! Love the combat, once you get into a flow and start nailing Perfects. This is a fantastic arcade game, and I'm looking forward to score attacking it.

Edit: This game definitely rewards precise timing! Remember to block!
 
just a small tip.. regarding the LONG ASS LOAD TIMES

(will spoiler tag for people who want to find this without help)

You can press x, square, triangle and circle while the game loads.. some signs will appear in the upper right corner.
try to play around with this..
try pressing X, X, Square, Triangle...

there might be more button press hidden stuff.. I just found this one thing.

suddenly the load times are not that long anymore.
 
I want to buy this but I need to be sensible and sit it out for now. I've only played Alienation for about 20 minutes and I'm like a third of the way through Uncharted 4.
 
Played the first 3 levels and I'm really enjoying it so far, it can be very tough timing your attacks and getting ranked well for each section but with enough practice I'm already getting better.

On a side note the game looks and sounds great, they really did a great job in modernising the game while still keeping the feel of the original.

I'm honestly thinking that the people who don't like this are thinking it's like God of war when really it plays a lot different to those sort of games.

Also with regards to plot I think it's handled well, it's told through simple visual ques during the game but you unlock cutscenes that go into more depth.
 
Huggers said:
Bizarre how polarising the early reviews are. I'm still getting it I think.
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Do.

Level 3 is so good looking. Game is stunning. Really starting to get to grips with the combat system and it is a lot of fun.

I see this being a game that you can complete just mashing buttons but to be good at it and get high scores is going to require a decent level of skill. As it should be.
 
T-0800 said:
Do.

Level 3 is so good looking. Game is stunning. Really starting to get to grips with the combat system and it is a lot of fun.

I see this being a game that you can complete just mashing buttons but to be good at it and get high scores is going to require a decent level of skill. As it should be.
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Yeah i agree completely, you can manage to get through with the basics but it's clear you need to mix it up and get good to get the high scores needed to complete everything.
 
It's a game with simple concepts, and I like that each stage is what 10-15 minutes long?
Gonna go through the game on Normal in a low stat playthrough (gonna save up all that dough for the upgrades when I am unable to beat a stage :V)
Timing on countering is rather tricky though, gotta manage my range.
 
I wonder if this is also suffering from "DOOMitus", that being that (many) reviewers are being way too critical because it doesn't push the medium forward enough for them, where as consumers are happy enough playing a game that's just good fun without any of that other pretentious BS.
 
Stike said:
I wouldn't recommend it. The layout is pretty confusing at first. I can't see anyone playing it with a stick. It was designed for the DS4.
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Eh wot? You move forward and backwards on a 2D plane yuou can even use the D-Pad.
 
Tizoc said:
Eh wot? You move forward and backwards on a 2D plane yuou can even use the D-Pad.
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can you reassign L3 and R3.:? can you reassign buttons so that you can press the R buttons and the symbol buttons at the same time..? can you use the touch button on the arcade stick..?

if so then it should be fine.
 
I'm not surprised by the Polygon review and I don't even know why this remake exists in the first place.

My memory is still very intact and I remember that the original Shadow of the Beast was the very definition of style over substance.

I was so hyped for the game 25+ years ago, but even the teenage me couldn't find anything appealing about the game besides its graphics.

There are way better Amiga games that scream for a remake.
 
I have the physical version of this coming through Playasia. Hopefully I end up liking this game despite the poor reviews so far.
 
olimpia84 said:
I have the physical version of this coming through Playasia. Hopefully I end up liking this game despite the poor reviews so far.
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There a plenty of good reviews. I'm really enjoying it as I've mentioned enough times already. Haven't touched Doom or UC4 today.
 
Hanmik said:
can you reassign L3 and R3.:? can you reassign buttons so that you can press the R buttons and the symbol buttons at the same time..? can you use the touch button on the arcade stick..?

if so then it should be fine.
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Forgot about those likely cuz i frget to use them xp
 
Tizoc said:
Forgot about those likely cuz i frget to use them xp
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same here lol.. I didn't even bother to upgrade Aarbron.. never struggled in the game (on normal).. the fights are simple and doable with symbol buttons and the R1 block.. never used any specials.. lol
 
First time I've ever wished I had a PS4 instead of Xbone.

I assume its not like the original in the sense of the punishing level designs and the need of pixel perfect punching; where a wrong turn could result in a dead end with no way back.

Hope the soundtrack harks back to the classic too.
 
choco-fish said:
First time I've ever wished I had a PS4 instead of Xbone.

I assume its not like the original in the sense of the punishing level designs and the need of pixel perfect punching; where a wrong turn could result in a dead end with no way back.

Hope the soundtrack harks back to the classic too.
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soundtrack is actually great.. and you can play through the new game with the old soundtrack (have to unlock it though).

The game is not punishing .. in any way..
 
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