Beat ‘em ups were everywhere in the arcade. We had such classics like the Simpson’s Arcade game, the X-Men Arcade game, Final Fight, and a lot of other fun beat ‘em ups that were later ported to the Genesis or Super Nintendo or whatever console it was ported to. Sadly though, there were some that never made it to the consoles, like the Simpson’s and the X-Men Arcade game, though we did get some good ones like Final Fight and the one I will be reviewing today for the new year, Golden Axe for the Genesis. So, is it as good as it was about ten years ago? Or has its age been showing? Oh, I will be reviewing only the first game in this review and maybe in the future do the two other games.
The plot of the game is that the evil lord Death Adder has taken over the land with the power of the Golden Axe. It is up to three heroes. They are Gilius the Dwarf, Ax Battler the barbarian, and Tyris the female warrior. It is up to our three heroes to take on the army of the Death Adder and save the land of Yuria.
The game play is in the form of a classic beat ‘em up where you and up to three players control one of the three heroes as you go across linear levels and fight off hordes of bad guys. You basically hit your enemies with your weapon, and use magical powers. You can increase the strength of the magic attack by holding down the button, which highlights more of the magic bar on the screen.
The graphics for the game are very impressive. They are about as good as any old arcade game that was ported to the Genesis, like Altered Beast. The music is also very nice since it reminds me of games like Rygar or Conan. The sound effects were also cool since they used digitized screaming for when the enemies die.
Sadly, I have to list some of the things I don’t like about this game. First of all, you are very stiff and slow, making your attacks a little delayed, and because so many enemies can surround you easily, it is hard to defend yourself. The game is a little more difficult then I like. This is due to your character being slow, and the fact that when enemies are halfway across the screen, they can ram you, and send you flying. It also doesn’t help that you can get knocked off easily any monster that you are riding in the game. The animation just hasn’t aged well. Compared to today’s standards, it looks very cheap.
All and all, this isn’t a great Genesis game when you compare it to games that are made today. If you’re a fan of the Sega Genesis, I would say to go pick up a copy of another game instead of this one. It’s just one of those games that didn’t age well.
This game gets a 5 out of 10
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