You are Alphonse Harding, an elite agent trained to be the very best by a shadowy government organisation. Except, one day you decide you’ve had enough of that life, and want to sit back, relax, you know? Get back to nature. You build a little hideaway in the woods, and enjoy the isolation. That is, right up until some goons show up, and your old commanding officer demands you end your retirement for one last job. Harding? Harding snaps – this is I am Your Beast.
An Impolite Dispute
The setup for I Am Your Beast provides a wonderful backdrop for some delightfully addictive, brutally violent and speedy gunplay, with a ‘one more try’ vibe as you constantly try to out do your previous time on a level to make your revenge murder spree as efficient as possible. Each kill gives you back time, and this encourages some surprising strategy, environmental awareness and importantly – accuracy.
Harding is an elite agent, capable of handling any weapon, in addition to being very light on his feet. You can slide, climb trees, balance on ropes and cables, and generally deal death from above with a press of a button. Unlike most first person shooters, you’re not armed with an ever growing array of weaponry – instead, you’re making use of what you can find on the field, from a lump of heavy wood, environmental hazards like hornet nests or exploding barrels, and crucially, the weapons wielded by your opponents. They range from a simple combat knife, to pistols, shotguns and assault rifles.
Kick an enemy in the back for an instant kill, and you’ll net a second back in your level time. A mere impale from a thrown combat knife, and it’s only 0.6 of a second. Headshots earn you half a second and so on. All of this combines together to make each level feel frantic, and as you descend into a zen like murder-state, it’s extremely satisfying.
On Your Six
There’s a constant feel of faster, faster! – and practicing stages to absolutely nail that perfect flow and obtain a coveted ‘S’ rank is pretty rewarding. Each stage also provides some bonus objectives, from getting kills with hornet nests, hacking laptops, breaking communications equipment to only killing enemies via melee combat or explosive barrels.
There are 27 levels in the main campaign, and unlocking all of them requires players to either clear a certain number of bonus objectives in previous levels or obtain high finishing ranks, be it a certain number of ‘A’ or ‘S’ rankings.
Some of these progression blocking moments can feel a bit jarring, but I think the emphasis here is to encourage the player to really engage with what the developers have designed here, and I can’t begrudge them for that. Sadly, there are no leaderboards where you can compete against your friends for the best times, which I think is a bit of a shame.
Breakdown
The narrative, and the way in which it is delivered in I Am Your Beast is surprisingly effective. Delivered with what the developers call “kinetic typography’, the story of Harding is told with a combination of journal entries and conversations, all played our with animated text on screen. Despite the low-budget vibes, I found myself pretty invested, and it pairs really well the cel-shaded comic book inspired art style.
Harding’s guerrilla war against the shadowy ‘Covert Operations Initiative’ is full of some great plot developments, even ones that bring gameplay changes along for the ride. For example, later in the campaign, Harding is wounded pretty severely, and as you try to find the supplies you need to heal your wounds, you’re placed in a bleeding state, making getting through the next few levels even more challenging. The voice acting is generally pretty great, walking a fine line between cliché and engaging.
Equally, the soundtrack, delivered by RJ Lake (El Paso Elsewhere, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator) is punchy, full of electronic, high-octane jams. It’s probably not to everyone’s tastes, but I can’t deny that certain beats did get my blood pumping.
Mind The (Skill) Gap
Being a very fast paced shooter that was originally released on PC, I did have some initial concerns about how accessible the game would be for us old-grey beards out there with increasingly aging reflexes having to manage all of this carnage on a controller. Thankfully, the developers have done a great job bringing the game to console, and it feels pretty great in the hands, with just enough aim assist to feel like the game isn’t giving you an easy ride.
That being said, if you still want to enjoy the power trip of being an elite agent and worry your skills aren’t up to the task, there are a number of additional assists to help you become an efficient murder-machine, from an auto aim that snaps your reticule to an enemy, only requiring a subtle flick up on the right stick to obtain a headshot. You can also slow-time, enable a no fail state and reduce the amount of damage Harding takes, letting you stay in the fight for longer.
Besides the campaign, there’s a tonne of additional content in this package, from a Challenge Mode, as well as two more mini-campaigns – Support Group and Cold Sweat. Plenty of bang for your buck here I reckon.
I Am Your Beast
I can’t help but thoroughly recommend I Am Your Beast. It’s a neatly designed, satisfying game that combines the addiction of great ‘one-more-go’ titles with some solid, satisfying gunplay, all wrapped up with a surprisingly engaging narrative to help keep you invested. If you’ve ever had the urge to indulge in a secret-agent-revenge-fantasy, consider that itch thoroughly scratched.
I Am Your Beast
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Slick gunplay
- Great "one more try" vibes
- Fun Story
CONS
- No Leaderboards
- Jarring progression blockers
