Amiga Power


Shadow Of The Beast
By Sizzlers
Amiga 500

 
Published in Amiga Power #13

Shadow Of The Beast

This is an Amiga classic, a landmark game even, but time hasn't been kind. Once-glorious graphics took only 'quite good' now, revealing the gameplay to be about as generic as these Psygnosis walk-about-and-kill-things games ever get. Not that this makes it a bad game, just - compared to the stuff we're seeing now - very average indeed.

So how does it work? Well, the plot has you changed into an ugly beast by a bunch of evil locals and out to seek your revenge - something which tends to result in a good deal of running, punching, kicking and, a rather sizeable amount of disk accessing. Not that it's bad during play (not compared to Shadow Of The Beast 2 anyway, which was a complete nightmare) but loading up again between games takes an age.

Interesting looking weirdies, collectable weapons and lives, and a decently-sized play area provide acceptable but undistinguished gameplaying fare - you'll have fun, but to really appreciate this one you have to imagine it appearing at a time when most Amiga releases were straight ST ports, and something this good-looking was enough to make everyone really sit up and take notice.

It's not a bad budget buy for all that though. It's not easy, and while climbing ladders, dodging killer spears and jogging along a lot might not see too many hearts a-racing now, you could do much worse. And you are buying a genuine piece of Amiga games history here, after all. Very much of its time, but not bad for all that.

The Bottom Line

Good to look at, easy to control but a limited number of lives and very seen-it-all-before gameplay limit the appeal somewhat. Still, it's a landmark game.

Matthew Squires

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