Battle Beast

Gameplay

The game aspires to be like the popular fighting games of the late 80s thru early 90s, even going so far as to claim on the back of the CD that it has "Spectacular gameplay that blows away Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Primal Rage"

It is a fighter game, and has a fairly large move set, however it requires precise movement and timing to pull off the moves. Playing with a joystick is a preferred method. You can play with a keyboard, but the games default keys are F, C, V, and B for movement and 1 and 2 for attacks. It requires you to press the direction with the attack key at the same time for any attack you want to do so with the keyboard it is harder to be precise.

You can race through the sewer tunnels against a computer opponent, against a 2nd player, or you can play co-op. The objective is to get to the end of the maze first and take down Evil Toadman. It is best to finish all the stages first in order to get upgrades which can be found on various stages or in hidden areas- you will also have to open different areas by finding their keys and entrances through various stages in order to progress.

The game supports LAN and Dial up play.

Plot

The game's plot is pretty basic. Toadman is setting loose evil toads across unnamed cities in order to take over the world. Every time you start the game it shows different scenes of toads wreaking havoc in comical and cartoonish fashion. It is up to you to take control of a Battle Beast to fight defective renegade Battle Beasts while also being on the look out for evil toads to destroy.

The game is chalk full of animation, boasting "8,000 frames of movie-quality animation, mind blowing special effects, and awesome audio" on the back of the box. While there is a lot of animation (with pretty decent quirky jokes) the game doesn't get very in depth about the plot. It gives you only a few snippets here and there. Mainly your goal is to defeat all the evil toads and then take down Toadman.

Battle Beasts

The game implies Battle Beasts are robotic pets meant for protection as well as family pets (morphed and unmorphed respectively) that anyone can buy, but it is never fully explained in detail. You can select the one you want to play with (you also choose your opponent who you will fight basically through most of a play through) by clicking the advertisement for Battle Beasts in the newspaper on the main screen. These backgrounds are not actually relevant to game play, but rather the concept behind their characters. There are 6 battle beasts to choose from:

Sparticus AKA "Sparky": Considered to be the most popular of the Battle Beasts, when not morphed he takes the form of a dog. He can be cute and lovable, but when transformed he is a true warrior. The games on CD manual says he hates dodging fireballs or bullets.
Kulapesh AKA "Kuli": Kuli is a low maintenance pet when not transformed into his Battle Beast form. Being that he is a fish, though, make sure you have his fish bowl nearby in case he switches out of beast form.The games on CD manual says he loves to be hit with water attacks but hates plasma based weapons.
Vermian AKA "Vermian": If you haven't guessed yet, Vermian is a rat when not transformed. He can be sneaky and shrewd, and if you own one you should keep a tight hold on the reward bag from wins (because, you know, he'd probably try to snatch it). Vermian hates water.
Nasator AKA "Nicky": Nasator, or Nicky when hes in a non morphed state, is a Dinosaur. The games on CD manual says he is strong willed and often disobedient. The game says he is the most difficult pet, and warns obedience is generally a ploy on Nasator's part. Nasator hates missles.
Torkuda AKA "Tor": It's recommended you have a large living space with Tor as he is a rhino, and the last thing you want is to leave him alone around fragile objects. It's also important to watch out in case he decides to charge you, although he is quite entertaining a pet when not morphed. Torkuda hates fire.
Morden AKA "Mortie": The on CD manual says Morden is the newest battle beast to be released to the public. Being a turtle, he can be quite shy, but when needed can take on any opponent. Morden can hold supplies in his shell back pack and is most skilled with kicks. Like Kulapesh, Morden doesnt mind water but he hates lasers.

Other characters:

Evil Toadman: That is indeed his name. For all intents and purposes he is the villain. When we first meet him, he has a sock on his head to disguise himself as a Dinosaur. He likes evil Frogs and hopes to one day take over the world. Is also a spoil sport, and will often taunt you while you swim to the next area in the sewers.
Wart: The sidekick to Evil Toadman. He is an over the top, silly, and pretty stereotypical henchman. He even has a hunchback, so you know he's for real.
The General: Gives you updates when you load the game or look at the newspaper. He has a few different stories to tell and is generally quite humorous. He will often go on long winded rants about how bad the toad infestation is, or give you a good pep talk.
Frogs: These are the frogs that Evil Toadman has unleashed. They're in every location in the game (sometimes hidden) and you won't get the true ending without finding all of them. Do you think you can stop them all?

System Requirements (PC)

• 486 33mhz or greater IBM compatible computer with at least 8 MB of RAM (486 66MHz recommended)
• 256 color display or better
• A Microsoft compatible mouse or other pointing device (some windows joysticks are supported)
• An MPC compatible CD Rom drive
• An MPC compatible sound card and amplified speakers or headphones
• Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 (or higher), and DOS 3.3 or higher
• Modern PC Note: Works fine on Windows XP SP3 and with a wide screen display however some text is distorted.