<s>
Beast	O
is	O
a	O
text-based	O
action	B-Application
game	I-Application
developed	O
for	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
by	O
Dan	O
Baker	O
,	O
Alan	O
Brown	O
,	O
Mark	O
Hamilton	O
,	O
and	O
Derrick	O
Shadel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
distributed	O
as	O
shareware	B-License
in	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
player	O
can	O
control	O
the	O
diamond-shaped	O
character	O
by	O
using	O
the	O
arrow	O
keys	O
or	O
the	O
numeric	B-Device
keypad	I-Device
to	O
move	O
around	O
and/or	O
push	O
blocks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
review	O
of	O
Beast	O
in	O
the	O
1988	O
book	O
Public-domain	O
Software	O
and	O
Shareware	B-License
noted	O
that	O
the	O
game	O
had	O
"	O
original	O
concepts	O
"	O
but	O
the	O
author	O
admitted	O
that	O
"	O
I	O
do	O
n't	O
completely	O
understand	O
this	O
game	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
his	O
book	O
The	O
Video	O
Game	O
Explosion	O
,	O
scholar	O
Mark	O
Wolf	O
noted	O
that	O
Beast	O
resembled	O
earlier	O
block-pushing	O
games	O
like	O
Sokoban	B-Device
and	O
ASCII	O
text	O
games	O
like	O
Rogue	B-Application
,	O
but	O
advanced	O
beyond	O
both	O
of	O
those	O
games	O
by	O
introducing	O
"	O
freeform	O
,	O
real-time	O
spatial	O
control	O
"	O
into	O
a	O
block-moving	O
action	B-Application
game	I-Application
with	O
"	O
a	O
level	O
of	O
fluidity	O
that	O
is	O
unexpectedly	O
effective	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
