Shadow of the Beast

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 169 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 115 out of 169
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 169
  3. Negative: 32 out of 169

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  1. Archulysses
    Sep 27, 2017
    4
    Story - This game has the same style of storytelling with games like Dark Souls/bloodborne series, Team Ico games and Playdead games. Which tells little to no storyline but shows it through scenes or showing things leaving it for the player to give their own opinions. However, this game did it badly, in the fact that you need first to collect some collectibles to unlock the story tellingStory - This game has the same style of storytelling with games like Dark Souls/bloodborne series, Team Ico games and Playdead games. Which tells little to no storyline but shows it through scenes or showing things leaving it for the player to give their own opinions. However, this game did it badly, in the fact that you need first to collect some collectibles to unlock the story telling in between missions as well the dictionary of the enemies language you encounter for you to understand them to actually get a grip of whats happening or the plot. Regardless, the story is about a monster named Aarbron who was freed from slavery and use by Maletoth (the main antagonist) and in his path of vengeance, redemption and to cure his curse to be human again. A pretty short and mediocre and predictable storyline in my opinion. Thus, a score of 3/10.

    Gameplay - The genre of this game is regarded as a 2D action-platformer. The good part is it did exceptionally well on one side, but somewhat lacking on the other. On the good side is in its action elements, by the use of timing buttons to get high criticals and damage to your enemies, the reaction time of the controls are great, its flawless, exciting and great. However. on the lacking side is its platformer parts, Its pretty mediocre and really lacks in game. There is only one stage in the game which has an OK puzzle while others are pretty linear and also has 1 to none platforming stages. Another con for me is its scoring system, it takes away the fun of its battle cause you tend to get focused more on not getting hit and getting a higher score than focusing to unleashing your wrath. In addtion, boss fights are rather easy and despite the diversity on how you battle them, its kinda unenjoyable. Regardless, an ok score of 6/10 for me.

    Graphics - This game is gorgeous in my opinion and its graphics are top notched. The environment is pretty, smooth as well as the character motion and animations are silky smooth. FPS rarely drops during battle or cutscenes, the finishing animations of enemies are good. Character design are decent, my main issue though is in its enemy design, which lacks diversity since they only tend to recycle the image with few modifictions like colors etc. to show you it's a "different" monster. Regardless, a good score of 8/10.

    Sound/Music - Ignore the voice action, its almost non-existent in this game. Only voice in my opinion you could actually understand without subtitles or isnt a mumble of monster noise is the story narration you could collect in game. Thats about it. Music is also kinda meh, With nothing really made me notice it whatsoever. A score of 1/10.

    Fun Factor - Despite that this game has a lot lacking to be considered good, I enjoyed it personally, especially the battle mechanics of the game and how smooth its gameplay and animation as well as its gorgeous and diverse stages from living to dead to a tomb to a volcano. Only thing I could have wished is that they should have made it longer and just included a normal style of narration to actually understand its plot. Overall, a score of 6/10.

    Total average - 4.8    … Expand
  2. Black_Rabbit
    May 17, 2016
    4
    How wish I could say I was wrong when I first looked at their first revealed gameplay video, but unfortunately everything I feared about the game it proves out to be true. This video here did show the worst he game had to offer, seriously this is one of the most dull levels in the game so no idea why they picked THIS one for show, but anyways let's get to the rest.

    Now we all know the    How wish I could say I was wrong when I first looked at their first revealed gameplay video, but unfortunately everything I feared about the game it proves out to be true. This video here did show the worst he game had to offer, seriously this is one of the most dull levels in the game so no idea why they picked THIS one for show, but anyways let's get to the rest.

    Now we all know the original one was more of a pretty game rather than a fun/well design game, it was all about pixel perfect timing sometimes, you had to jump to avoid a trap while kicking an enemy in the air, sometimes you had to crouch to avoid stuff hitting you, well this "game" remove both crouch and the ability to attack in mid air why? because they have this "improved" combat system which is meant to be very cinematic, except it feels like a clunky mess. Oh and you cannot even attack if an enemy is in not front of you, not even for the fun of just throwing off punches.... In 30+ years I have never saw a game that limited attacks only to enemy proximity,

    Yes I am glad they did not go with button mashing combat (because that was not the original game) but the distances between characters are very vague, there is a lot of weird "sliding on the floor" stuff happening during combat, the camera makes me feel nauseus sometimes because it keeps moving really fast centered to the character most times. It is all too much to even begin to explain how wrong it feels, and I am trying to judge it as a game on its own, not as a Shadow of the Beast remake (as I said I know the old one was far from being a good game so I wanted to judge this as its own game)

    The character feels sluggish, I cannot believe a 2016 game manages to feel less easy to control than a 1989 game. Most of the time I take a small step and the character just runs a mile or jumps off a cliff, others it takes FOREVER to start running, seriously it makes controlling the original amiga Prince of Persia feel like a perfectly timed Mario game in comparison.

    There are some VERY pretty moments, and for £15 game I can forgive the low quality modelling/texturing, BUT the animation, Jesus... these guys need to desperately hire a decent animator because those they have are utterly incompetent to make anything feel like it has its own weight or give them any sense of being alive. There is a scene when a titan punches the floor, it feels like he is just gently connecting his knuckles to the ground.

    There is an online thing where you murder another Beast by quickly mashing the same button over and over, and it is purely a matter of "how fast can you mash it"? I mean wtf is that? Is that meant to be what a well paid designer in 2016 can come up with? That is your idea of multiplayer, as a colleague to another, change your job dude.

    It's a real shame, the game started off so well! I loved the starting area and the first major part in the game's story it felt exactly as I imagined it as a kid, plus you have these really cool bestiary and extra things to learn more about the world, but then it all quickly falls apart once the combat makes you do all this pointless ridiculous moves which are just an excuse for a gore fest like sucking the blood out of the victims, seriously guys F** YOU for turning Aarbron into some blood sucking vampire.

    These guys said they wanted to recreate that wonderful sense the first Shadow of the Beast made us feel? Really? How the hell am I supposed to show this game to a child when all I see is blood and mutilation? Oh is not for a child? Then why even saying you are trying to bring Shadow of the Beast to a new generation? This game is obviously targeted to the veterans of the game which are now grown ups and can actually play the game, except you have failed to do even to do that.

    I could have forgiven the new mediocre design of the main character, I could have forgiven the clunky combat system and even that I have to spend another £7 to buy the F*ING music that comes with my game, but what I cannot forgive is the developer's arrogance in really believing this utter garbage is a "Good Game". You should be ashamed and apologize to the fans.    … Expand
  3. partyintheback
    May 19, 2016
    1
    This ISN'T Shadow of the Beast. As a fan of the two games on the Sega Genesis, this is absolutely nothing like those games. This feels more like a generic hack & slash with little to no difficulty. This should've just been called something else since it's NOT Shadow of the Beast.
  4. Shoeiv
    Nov 18, 2020
    3
    It's boring, and the history is very cliché, the hack and slash is very poor in mechanics, do not waste your money on this.

Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
83
#83 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 60
  3. Negative: 5 out of 60
  1. Games Master UK
    Jul 25, 2016
    55
    Unfortunate proof that the classics of old don't always hold up well when dropped into the modern day. [July 2016, p.78]
  2. Edge Magazine
    Jul 24, 2016
    50
    Despite its numerous missteps, it's clear that this is a labour of love for its creators, whose fondness for the original is well know. [Aug 2016, p.118]
  3. CD-Action
    Jul 21, 2016
    50
    Shadow of the Beast has the atmosphere and raw beauty of an alien, hostile world going for it, but other than that the game is simply boring. [07/2016, p.61]
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