Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: June 17, 1998

If you like hacking off people’s arms, watching blood fly everywhere, taking a bat and beating someone to death, or the sounds of the undead sucking the blood from living beings, then SegaSoft’s new release is a game for you. Although the title sounds a little strange, Flesh Feast is just what the title says, a game all about a group of evil beings eating everything living in sight.

You find yourself taking control of three separate groups of people who are stranded on an island full of creatures looking to eat you alive. There are a number of different locations on the island, and each of the three groups is stranded at a different location or sector. The object of the game is to save the groups of people by navigating them through their sectors (levels) to help them escape. Depending on the group you choose, the level of difficulty for escaping changes. You can think of Flesh Feast as both an action and a strategy game, with puzzles and challenges mixed in. All the action takes place in a top down view that can be slanted and moved around to your comfort level for watching the action.

The three different sectors have different themes to them. The first is made up of “Urban Areas” such as the graveyard, farm, town and shopping mall. This is a beginning sector where players start out in the graveyard and work their way through the town and farm on their way to the shopping mall. The main character for the first sector is Steve McClaine, whom is there attending a funeral. The second sector is the Tourist Area. Players will lead Carol Chang, a news reporter, through the airport, hotel, sports complex, and hydro electric plant. This is an intermediate level sector and is a little more difficult to complete than the easy sector. The final sector is the Restricted Area, lead by Agent Williams. Agent Williams, in charge of a government investigation, has to be lead through the docks, laboratory, security base, and hospital. This is the hardest sector to complete. Each sector starts out at their first location, and once the location is completed, the next two will open up. The final area in the game is the NASAT factory where the strange events are originating.

When the game begins, players have a choice to start at any one of the three sectors. Starting at the first sector is the easiest way to begin, since it gives you a good feel for how the game will play. The leaders on each level are not the only people that you have control of. Depending on the sector you might have access to two to three other characters. You can take control over any one of them during the game, simply by clicking on their picture at the bottom of the screen.

Gameplay in Flesh Feast is both strategic and action-oriented. When a level begins you are controlling the main character. The object of each level is to escape it. To do this you will have to collect keys to unlock doors, kill numerous enemies and use various weapons. While playing you can switch to strategic mode to tell characters where to go by clicking on different locations. If you prefer to have control, you can switch to action mode where you can take complete control over a character, which includes moving them around and fighting all enemies by yourself. Every character has an inventory screen that can be accessed by clicking on them. This allows you to use key cards and change weapons during the game. If another player is getting attacked you can quickly switch to them by clicking on their picture.