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For something this low on hype, Beast has an above-average price. But with this big a package, it's not surprising they had to bump up the price a little. The box itself is a lot larger than usual, exactly twice the size of a usual Psyclapse box. In one side of the box you get the game and all the blurb, plus a poster of some original Roger Dean artwork. In the other side of the box you get an extra large full colour Beast t-shirt, with yet another *specially commissioned piece of Roger Dean artwork*!!! I don't know about you, but, arguably, two whole original pieces of Roger Dean artwork for only £35 is pretty good going. But what about the game?

Everything about Beast is as lavish as it possibly could be. The plot isn't a plot, it's a novel. You were stolen from your parents by the evil lords, who then proceeded to make sacrifices of your entire village. Then, by using strange potions, they transformed you from a normal human to a strange, disfigured creature with incredibly enhanced speed and strength. They also wiped your mind, so that you wouldn’t remember your parents. Or so they thought...

Slowly, you have remembered. And now you're out for a spot of revenge. This is where you, the player, take over. Race through over 350 scrolling screens of pure beat-'em-up action.

The graphics are lavish in every sense of the word. One thing that has been stressed time and time again is that the game was designed as an Amiga game, and so pushes the capabilities of the Amiga far more than a straightforward port would. For a start there are over 127 colours on screen at once, and on the outside scenes there are no less than thirteen layers of perfect parallax, in both the ground and the sky. The sprites are large and gorgeously defined, but it's the backdrops and the incidental stills which steal the show. At last we have an Amiga product that's approaching what the Amiga is really capable of.

The sound is truly brilliant. Easily the best thing David Whittaker has ever written, over 900K of the stuff, and all of it sampled directly from a KORG M1 keyboard.

The only thing this game isn't amazingly lavish on is the gameplay. There just isn't enough variety. You can only move in four directions (use of ladders included) and the only move you can make is a punch left or a punch right. Now, being as this is a beat-'em-up, this is a bit of a pity.

Shadow Of The Beast has superb sound and graphics - perhaps the best ever on a game. What it is limited on, though, is gameplay. Nevertheless, a fantastic game. Shadow Of The Beast may not be a name that will be on the lips of our tongues in five years time, but for the moment it sure seems stunning.