Coming from the developer that brought us the fast paced and innovative space strategy game ?Galcon?, Beast is a retro inspired puzzle game which seems to have some real potential, but unfortunately is hindered by sluggish gameplay and a poorly developed user interface, making it barely recommendable ? even at the $0.99 price point.

The gameplay of Beast is fairly simple and straightforward: move your player around the board in an attempt to crush the ?beasts? that are represented by colored circles. To do this, you use your ?character? to push the board?s movable blocks by swiping your finger in the direction of the block. If the beast you are trying to crush is against another block or wall when the block you are pushing touches it, that beast is crushed. There are three different types of beast, designated by color and how they can be eliminated. Moving blocks against them easily dispatch some beasts while others require more strategy and quicker thinking in order to defeat them.

Graphically, Beast?s simple, retro inspired graphics make it visually pleasing to gamers that like games such as Tempest, Geometry Wars or Drop Ship. Player character, enemies and environments are simple, glowing geometric shapes set on an animated star field that is constantly in motion. Explosions and sound effects are also arcade inspired giving the game a nostalgic feel that will appeal to many gamers.
The problems with Beast lie in the user interface and execution of the gameplay mechanics. Moving your player around the screen feels very slow and unresponsive which can make for a frustrating experience that will keep you from wanting to play this game over and over. The area at the bottom of the screen which contains the mute button, current level indicator and score (which seems to reset to 0 after every map) also acts as a pause button, is easy to accidentally hit when trying to move your character around the playing field especially in this area.

With a little more work, Beast could have been a really fun and challenging title but instead it falls short of being what any good game should be: a polished and enjoyable experience that keeps the user engaged and entertained.