Altered Beast, known in Japan as Jūōki: Project Altered Beast (獣王記 Project Altered Beast), is a modern take on the arcade game by Sega, released in Japan and Europe for the PlayStation 2.
The story follows a man called Luke Custer who is a "Genome-Cyborg", a human whose DNA and other genetic make-up has been artificially altered allowing micro-chips containing the genetic make-up of other creatures to transform him into an anthropomorphic beast. After surviving a helicopter crash, Luke loses his memory and sets off to learn about the truth behind his past and the Genome-Cyborgs.
Tropes used in Altered Beast (2005 video game) include:
- All Your Powers Combined: This is Luke's specialty. He can equip different types of Genome Chips and transform into the beast most suited to deal with the current situation.
- Awesome but Impractical: The U.W.H. (Unidentified Weightless Human) twenty-hit combo. On the plus side, it can kill any enemy except bosses. On the negative side, it requires memorizing a twenty button sequence, good timing and it only targets one enemy at time; in a game where monsters love to swarm you. Nonetheless, it's still necessary to defeat one of the rare enemies.
- Bat Out of Hell: The Balrog.
- Body Horror: The transformation cutscenes. They're all quite detailed and painful looking.
- Bragging Rights Reward: The Weretiger form. Unlocked after obtainning every single Enemy, Beast, Boss and Unique data...which leaves nothing else to do.
- Cannibalism Superpower: Anastasia.
- Darker and Edgier
- Giant Spider: Xenesthis.
- In Name Only: The only relation with the original is the fact that the protagonist becomes beasts, one of which is a werewolf (with the weretiger and werebear as unlockables). It is in a modern setting, with the transformations being caused by genetic experiments.
- Monster Compendium: Aside from the Flavor Text, it also includes a small detail of the elemental tolerances and the option of looking at the monster's 3D model from different angles.
- Mysterious Waif: Anastasia.
- Parental Favoritism: Dr. Eric Jobs quickly forgets about his previous subjects once he starts working on a new one. This gets to the point it becomes the cause of Anastasia's Start of Darkness.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: The Leviathan.
- Shapeshifter Showdown: There are 3 of these', first is a flashback sequence showing a fight between Luke and Brad shown upon getting the Minotaur form, the second is an actual playable fight against Brad and the third is against Anastasia
- Super Soldier: the "Genome Cyborgs".
- The Virus: the "Genome Mist".