Golden Axe

"Chop chop! Fun!"

Golden Axe was a first generation Genesis game released by Sega, and was a port of the arcade game of the same name. In it, you played as one of three characters--A dwarf named Gilius Thunderhead, who had nice range with his axe but weak magic, Ax Battler (Who oddly enough does not battle with an Axe), who was average, and Tyrus Flare (I think), who was weak fighting but had MAD MAGIC SKILLZ. Their objective was to save the king and princess (And apparently avenge the death of their friend Alex, who is never mentioned again--some friends they are!) from the evil Death Adder.

Graphics: 7/10- Not bad for a first-generation Genesis game. The backgrounds weren't on a par with Revenge of Shinobi, which came out about the same time, but this is understandable because you move up and down on the screen in Golden Axe. You can see the feathers when walking across the giant eagle, for instance. The characters are animated well. There are several enemies in the game, ranging from your size to absolutely huge, but eventually (And before too long, really) palette swaps begin to occur.

Sound: 7/10- The music is pretty nice, in general keeping a medieval mood to it, in particular the between level theme. One of my favorites is the opening level theme. The sound effects are also decent, but not great. You get sounds of the weapon hitting your enemy, the bigger enemies crashing into the ground, and screams of villagers as they run away and enemies (And you) as they die. One unusual thing: How does a skeleton scream?

Control: 8/10- Very good. Your character can walk, or if you tap a direction twice, run. There are several different types of attacks, like the normal weapon swing, or a running shoulderhit (Or in Thunderhead's case, a headbutt...look at those horns on his helmet!). Your characters also respond well, and quickly. Sometimes you can ride other animals with alternate attacks. This is pretty cool, but one where you attack with its tail gives me a problem--ordinarily, you just swing from side to side. You have to hold a direction down in order to focus your attack in one direction. Another problem is this move that's executed when you press a direction, as well as jump and attack. You roll in one direction, attack, then roll back in the other direction, ready to fight. I imagine it was intended as a sort of evasion move, but when you roll back, you will most likely get whooped on by a lurking enemy.

Story: 1/10- Save the Damsel in Distress, Ruler, and World from the Evil Meanie(tm). Not one, but three clichéd plots! Yes!

Challenge: 6/10- Except for one annoying jump in Level 7, the game is pretty easy. The enemies eventually don't change except for their colors, so once you've fought one, you've fought them all. The boss battles are quite difficult, though. You can change your maximum amount of life allowed, which further can reduce the challenge.

Replay Value: 7/10- The game does remain fun, even after you beat it, and you can play two players simultaneously, which helps. And I forgot to mention the extra mode, the Duel! Basically you get 8 life bars and have to last as long as you can, fighting a series of 1 on 1, 2 on 1 and even 3 on 1 battles. This is almost as fun as the game itself, but is fairly easy.

Overall: 8/10- Well, what can I say? It's really a piece of gaming history, and a fun one at that. If you like side scrolling beat em ups, and are looking for a bit of a medieval theme to the genre, pick this game up.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/00, Updated 05/02/00