Kikizo: What first brought about the decision to update Altered Beast, was it fan demand or more personal?
Makoto Uchida, creator of Altered Beast
Kazunori Tsukamoto: Well of course in order to release the new Altered Beast, the demand from fans was great, but we also just felt that this concept was time sensitive and one that could work well on this generation of game technology.
Kikizo: The original was very much orientated just around fighting - what have you added to the experience for the new version?
Makoto Uchida: Yes, the old one was just purely fighting really, but the new Altered Beast definitely has other new gameplay elements as well. Players can choose which beasts they want to transform into, and depending on the choice of beast the gameplay and battle styles are different. So if the player chooses a sea creature it will deal with water better and a flying beast it can cope in the air of course.
Kikizo: What areas of the new Altered Beast has the team worked hardest on?
Makoto Uchida: As a lot of people know, this has been around as a 2D arcade game before, and obviously this version is now 3D for PS2. We're trying to put more effort in creating the CG movie story scenes for a cinematic feel, but also we've worked hard on the transformation scenes that change the main character, that will impress the fans and the users. These are the parts we've worked hardest on. Originally when it was released as an arcade game, it was very short and very simple in terms of gameplay and scenes and everything, but with the new version players will be able to enjoy the game for ten or twenty hours. And in order to enrich this play time we have created some quite heavy and complex plot details, to make the story deep.
Yuji Horikawa, Producer, Blood Will Tell
Kikizo: Did you find any challenges in bringing the original 2D concept into a new 3D world?
Makoto Uchida: Yes it was a lot of work; bringing 2D out into 3D involves creating a lot more detail and layers; you have to take into account perspective and expand the way you view the world, and the players need more choice about how they explore the game world, which means more choices for us to make as designers. It's important to create levels that are entertaining but we must be careful not to go too far so that the environments are too sparse.
Kikizo: The new game seems much darker than before - would you agree?
Makoto Uchida: Well this is based on considerations for the western market, we think fans might like to see something like this now than in our generation back then. Old timer arcade fans might like to see more cheery, colourful graphics, but new fans will want more gruesome, scary images of the monsters and beasts!
