~ SHAPE SHIFTER ~
ICOM Simulations
Super CD-ROM
1992
What first made Shape Shifter so alluring to me back in '92 were its apparent similarities, visually and conceptually, to The Legendary Axe, one of my favorite TG-16 titles. Screenshots showed a barbarian fellow wielding a battle axe as he fought off giant spiders and the like in forests and caverns. I figured SS would take the excellent basics of LA and place them in a Simon's-Quest-type adventure setting. I was right in my assessment, and the quest lived up to my expectations.
Shape Shifter utilizes its broader theme to explore a wider variety of locales than Axe. In addition to the expected jungles and caves, you also pay visits to an underwater city; an ancient, cannon-equipped sky fortress that houses living weapons and monstrous sentries; and even the surface and interior of the moon.
Of course, the initial forest section gets the most attention for its stunning parallax, and rightfully so. Interestingly enough, even with so many beautiful scenes in the game, my favorite environment of all ends up being the sewers beneath the first town, which not only look cool but also make you fight awesomely appropriate enemies in sewage serpents and enormous cockroaches.
The makers of the game put a hell of a lot of effort and care into enemy design. There are lots of interesting creatures to defeat in every new strip you reach. Sometimes a particular beast will simply be a one-off treat; the daunting Triceratops that roams the jungle is a great example of this. He's not even a boss; it's just that the designers thought it'd be neat to have a cool creature like a Triceratops show up from out of nowhere.
The lumbering fellow is pretty easy to take down, but that isn't always the case. Another great one-off monster, a huge beast that awaits you in the sky tower near the end, is invincible to your attacks, and you have to pull off a bit of shrewd trickery to get the best of him. (Check out the bell hanging at the top of the structure's interior...)
Not to be forgotten are the formidable bosses themselves, screenshots of whom provided me with extra incentive to purchase the game back in the day. The giant spider, the dinosaur skeleton, and the infamous mud monster seemed so huge and impressive in the many magazine screens they occupied.
Of course, those are actually early-game foes, and while some later ones might not make such an impact visually, they sure as hell make you work hard to defeat them. The green blob tinkering with the underwater city's airtubes might not look so hot or even do much, but the fact that he's in a spike-lined chamber with powerful fans blowing you every which way makes the fight against him both stressful and exhilarating. The giant head ruling the moon's core also plays breeze games as you attempt to batter him.
During most of those memorable boss fights, you'll be treated to an intense musical track heavy with "Turbo Violin" and augmented with some touches of ominous "Turbo Bass." At other points, you'll hear some great "Turbo Guitar" leads (the best of which comes in the middle of the rustic forest theme) and a little "Turbo Piano" for the beautifully melancholy moments, like when you tread past the beggars to the east of the first town.
And during that beggar scene, you get to see some evidence of the attention the designers devoted to little touches, minor things that help make Shape Shifter an even greater and more immersive adventure game. You can slaughter the vagrants if you so choose, but if you pass by them without attacking, they'll simply hold out their cups, in each of which you'll drop a single gold piece. Interaction with the bizarre characters you meet is a very interesting element of the experience. You'll need to transform into a panther to be accepted by the cat-folk and their cunning ruler, but other characters will attempt to hack you up if you take on such a form in their presence.
The forms themselves are much more awesome than those in other "transformation"-themed games that come to mind, and they're incorporated as much more than simple novelties. Unlike in, say, Night Creatures, where you morph into weak-sauce creatures like badgers and owls for no more than ten seconds or so, Shape Shifter grants you the ability to turn into fearsome beasts (a panther, a shark, a rock troll, and a dragon), and requires you to master the use of all of them. The panther's deadly claws and great leaping ability are necessities for surviving the peaks of the Eagle Mountains, while only the shark form will do for the battle with the aqua-lizard, as you must evade the reptile's efforts to blast and impale you while launching timely and accurate shots of your own.
The panther is the object of so much criticism because people can't seem to figure out how to avoid falling from platforms with him. The game's controls do require some practice, but once I became competent with them, I found them remarkably smooth, and I was able to one-life the journey. There are few video game characters who are as much fun to control as SS's full-power black panther, who lunges ahead at light speed, ripping other beasts apart with his claws. Of course, your human form is no slouch either, eventually donning suits of armor and powering up his arrows into energy shots.
And if you do master those controls, you'll be treated to some fine dramatic moments, such as the cat-ruler's act of betrayal and the encounter with your horrifyingly mutated self. ("An illusion, you say? Can an illusion do THIS?")
Then, of course, comes the ultimate confrontation with the Dark Ones.
The last three battles are long and tough, but if you persevere, you get treated to a killer rock song during the end credits and more of those cool old-painting-style cinematics (a very nice departure from the usual anime-themed event scenes).
Now, I actually do have a complaint or two to make about the game. I don't like the fact that you can save in only one spot. The least ICOM could've done is make it easier to return to said spot from great distances, as Dragon's Curse's respective designers did with that game. Another very minor concern to note is that, while it's cool that you get a fifth undocumented form towards the end, the form itself is a little bit lame and superhero-ish; but again, that's a very minor gripe, and the last few fights end up being awesome anyway.
If you're up for a nice challenge and you're willing to put in some practice, and if the concepts I've described sound intriguing and appealing to you, purchase the game. It really is brilliant, definitely one of my favorite Turbo games of all time.
(If you find yourself struggling with any aspect of the quest, you can refer to my walkthrough.)
(If you find yourself struggling with any aspect of the quest, you can refer to my walkthrough.)
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