During our coverage of CES 2016, I made my way as to the Sony booth to check out their latest offerings in the world of cameras, electronics, televisions, audio devices, and of course, the Playstation 4. Sony always has a nice gaming station setup and this year was no exception as Street Fighter V, EA Star Wars Battlefront, The Uncharted Collection, and the pending Ratchet and Clank games were on hand as well as a new offering in the Fat Princess series.
I focused my attention on Shadow of the Beast where players are cast as a creature who is being controlled by a magic user. The beast can move fast and jump over the terrain and at times has to engage in combat with guards and other creatures.
With a free-flow system that reminded me a few times of the God of War series, I had to block, slash, impale, and rip enemies to shreds, at times with blood splotches appearing on the screen when my carnage was high.
As the terrain changed so did my camera angles but the system always allowed me a god viewpoint, even when I had to move about hills and sloping paths to my target. At this point a cinematic took over and I saw the magic user take a small child and in turn, the beast turned on the user and slashed him which produced a trail of green blood for me to follow.
At various times barriers would arise which would block my path and allow enemies to come forward which I dispatched as fast as I could. I loved some of the special movies such as impaling an enemy and lifting them over my head to shred, and the leap onto their heads which resulted in rapidly tapping a button to finish them off.
Later levels had boss creatures and platform jumping to contend with but based on what I saw and played, Shadow of the Beast was a real pleaser as it has a sleek visual style and is a fast, brutal, and enjoyable action game that looks to be another winner for the Playstation 4.
