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In many ways, Altered Beast is similar to Vigilante, with you punching and kicking your way across horizontally scrolling landscapes, disposing of the giant baddies at the end of each.

At the start of the game you're commanded to 'rise from the grave and rescue my daughter' by a nameless grey-haired crumbly.

The first opponents are zombies, swiftly followed by ghouls who carry their heads underarm. They're pretty ghastly fellows, and attempt to punch the hero and wear away his energy bar, which results in the loss of one of his three lives. Soon come bigger creatures, followed by dogs.

Occasionally a white dog appears - kick or punch this and a blue orb is released which is collected to power up your man. The first orb turns the hero into a hulking great Schwarzenegger clone with a pin head, the second leads to a stunning screen which shows the hero being transformed into a were-creature - on the first level a werewolf.

When you're transformed into this creature, you're given two special powers which are highly useful against the evil marauding hordes. Eventually a wicked purple-robed magician appears - destroy him and you confront the end-of-level baddie who must be destroyed to go onto the next level.

On subsequent levels you're transformed into a weredragon, weretiger and gold werewolf respectively; and if you destroy the fourth guardian you're deemed to have completed your mission.

I love arcade Altered Beast, but found this conversion a great disappointment. The graphics are alright - a bit indistinct at times, and the sound is excellent, but the game plays rather slowly and is marred by some annoyingly tight collision detection. There just isn't enough game for your money.