I’d play anything I could get my hands on as a kid. There was no concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in my little gamer brain. Who had time for critical thought when there were so many sick video games to play? Not me! My parents also didn’t have much money, so ending up with a real stinker meant I had to suck it up and play it anyway. With years of hindsight, I now realise that some of these games were pretty bad and I didn’t simply suck at them. Mostly...

One birthday saw me coming home from the local shop with Altered Beast and Area 51 on the PS2. Midway’s excellent shooter still holds up, but Sega’s attempt at rebooting its arcade classic was far less successful. So much so that finding solid information and footage of the game online is way harder than I expected, enough that I’m convinced it was scrubbed from the annals of history for being total shite. It was ultra-violent, super edgy, and trying so damn hard to copy the character action titles of the time. Devil May Cry and Onimusha ain’t got shit on this.

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After doing a bit of research it turns out this reboot was never even released in the States, so Europe and Japan were the only territories lucky enough to experience this absolute banger. Exactly why Sega decided to limit itself when releasing the game remains unclear, maybe it was so bad it just decided to cut its losses and call it a day.

It’s one of those games that defies comprehension upon initial examination, showcasing all the hallmarks of a painfully generic reboot that is trying so damn hard to be cool. It has loads of gore, a story filled with government conspiracies, and even a protagonist with amnesia. It’s all dull, but for teenage Jade, it was basically the coolest thing ever. Blood, guts, hunks, and grim environments without an ounce of imagination. Like I said, I’m not sure why this thing exists at all.

You play as Luke Custer, a hero that the wiki describes as a ‘kind-hearted and honest man’ who is capable of transforming into all manner of deadly beasts through the use of biochips that alter his DNA. There are no godly powers or ancient legends here, just loads of science. Working for a Special Forces Unit, it seems that Custer was killed and reborn as a Genome Cyborg who essentially acts as a deadly weapon for anyone who might need use of him. He’s like if a furry who was really into My Chemical Romance decided to join ISIS.

The game opens with a helicopter transporting Custer being shot down. Suddenly he is free and without his memories, so the only option is to move forward and start fighting all of the weird mutants dotted about the place. My memory is foggy, but I remember killing a bunch of the bastards scattered around the crash site before a cutscene unfolds and a few new characters are introduced. It is mostly b-movie nonsense, but there are some pretty cool mechanics to be found amidst the tedium.

You begin with the power to transform into a werewolf, using a single button to trigger a gruesome CG animation as the beast takes over. Defeating bosses and progressing through the campaign will unlock new forms with different attacks, even if switching between them can be a bit cumbersome. Battling with mobs is encouraged since many of them contain monster energy, a resource required to stay in your altered form for extended periods of time. Without it, prepare to lose loads of health and meet an early death.

While the variety on the display and oddly gothic enemy designs are rather cool, none of it feels especially good to play and the tone is all over the place. I remember reaching a boss as a kid, getting stuck, and playing the same sequences over and over again hoping I’d be compelled to continue. I never was, and thus the Altered Beast reboot was lost to history. I’ll have to crack out an emulator one of these days and give it a proper revisit.

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