Golden Axe

"Better than I thought, but nothing overly impressive."

Introduction:

Simply said, this game is a classic. For the system it was designed for and the time period of its release, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The only problem I discovered was how quickly I grew bored of playing it.

Gameplay: 5/10

There are three characters to choose from; The Barbarian, the Heroine, and the Dwarf. The only apparent difference between the three are their performances while using magic potions. Other than this, battle skills are identical. The worst part is that you can't make them stronger! It would be great if you could level them up, find new weapons, or unlock new characters. But you can't. This gets very boring and irritating after a while. The enemies you have to fight are equally as boring. Enemies in later stages are repeated from earlier enemies. They're a different color and harder to kill, which is about the only difference. It's quite dull to kill the same guy 20 times before reaching a boss that looks identical to the previous boss!

Graphics: 7/10

For an older game, the graphics are ok. Characters are well drawn and the background looks nice as well. The graphics were probably the best quality about this game. They weren't boring, but they weren't all that impressive neither.

Sound: 6/10

There wasn't a sound effect or tune that really caught my attention. I thought it was funny, though, when killing an enemy he'd scream out in pain. ''AHHHH!'' or ''Oh, God!'' usually made me chuckle. This was a small plus.

Replay Value: 3/10

Playing through this game once was enough for me. The strong similarities between each character and enemy made it difficult not to yawn. There wasn't enough variety when it came to character stats and enemies. If you could level up your characters, get new techniques, find new weapons, or anything to enhance your character would make a huge difference. But alas, there's nothing of the sort. This was a big disappointment, which didn't give me the urge to play again.

Buying or Renting: 2/10

It's cheaper to buy it than to rent it over and over. You can get it at used game stores for 10 bucks if it's still on the shelf. If you're lucky enough to find somebody who owns it, I'm sure they'll be happy to part with it. Good luck finding your copy! You'll need it.

Overall: 5/10

If you're really into side scrolling games, this is the game for you. If not, don't bother playing it. It's not worth the cartridge it was programmed in.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/02, Updated 02/28/02