Golden Axe

"When Chicken Stingers Attack!"

Golden Axe is one of Sega's most famous gaming franchises, and the original is one of its best games. Not entirely new in terms of concept or play mechanics (Double Dragon certainly paved the way for this and every other side-scrolling beat'em-up), Golden Axe distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack with its novel setting, beautiful presentation, and solid design.

GRAPHICS (9/10)
Characters are very large and colorful. Golden Axe reminds you that it was the Sega Genesis that brought genuine arcade-quality gaming into the home for the first time.

MUSIC & SOUND (9/10)
The music is extremely catchy (you may find yourself humming the main theme even after you are done playing the game), although it does get repetitive. Battle sounds are also very good. A thick, meaty ''thwock!'' rings out when someone gets knocked down, and a terrific rumbling sound is made when you unleash your earthshaking magic power. At times music and sound even helps out with gameplay; an unmistakably cheerful little theme plays when the little dwarf creatures run onscreen to deal out magic and health bonuses, and a high-pitched ''beep-beep!'' is made when you successfully collect said bonuses.

CHALLENGE (7/10)
The Arcade game is not overwhelmingly hard, but it can be quite challenging in one-player mode. The tournament-style Battle mode is extremely difficult, but it is good practice and adds a lot of replay value.

GAMEPLAY/FUN FACTOR (9/10)
Simply put: Golden Axe is a great deal of fun to play. From the back of a giant turtle to the back of a giant soaring eagle, the setting always conveys the feeling that the player is involved in an epic from Norse mythology. That would be worth next to nothing without good controls and level design, but fortunately Golden Axe has those things as well. The pacing is excellent. I can't remember a single time where the difficulty seemed to ramp up too quickly. There are also plenty of memorable ''fun'' moments, such as the times you get to ride the chicken stingers that we first saw in Altered Beast and fire-breathing dragons.

FRUSTRATION FACTOR (4/10)
My only real complaint is that this game can be on the difficult side if you are going through it alone. With two players, I imagine you can really wipe the floor with Death Adder and his minions. (I can only speculate about this, as I have not yet played Golden Axe with a friend). As a solo warrior, though, you have to do an awful lot of hopping and running around just to dodge enemy attacks and not get stabbed in the back. Challenging, yes, but also a tad boring.

REPLAY VALUE (8/10)
The replay value is really quite high for this kind of game. With three different modes of play, three playable characters, and the ability to play with two human players either cooperatively or competitively, it will be a very long time before you totally exhaust the value of Golden Axe.

GAME VALUE (9/10)
There are numerous cheap used Genesis carts floating around out there. There are various Smash Pack/Pak versions released for home computers and video game consoles. There is even the possibility of downloading a ROM from the Web and emulating Golden Axe on your PC for free. No reasonable excuse exists for not getting this game in some form!

THE BOTTOM LINE
A Sega classic that really IS a classic, Golden Axe is the only game of its kind not called ''Double Dragon'' that seems as original and entertaining now as it did when it was released.

FINAL RATING: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/01, Updated 07/14/01