Golden Axe

The Good
Golden Axe, I always wanted to use the Golden Axe. But alas only the Baddies can.

This was a game which was a side on hack-em-up, for one or two players. Best in two player but fun nonetheless in single player.

Taking control of either Ax Battler (The Warrior Hero who strangely wielded a broad sword), Tyrus Flare (An amazon whose speciality was Fire magic), and Gilius Thunderhead (He was a Dwarf with Thunder & Lightning based sorcery). You must save the day by defeating Death Adder who has taken control of the Land & its people with the use of the fabled & powerful Golden Axe.

There are about 6 levels to this game where you cut the enemy to bits and defeat strong end of level guardians. With the help of the local Reptilian creatures and a bit of Magic for good measure. It is a good conversion of the original Arcade game which is itself an excellent game.

The end of the game 'Brings' a surprise but many Golden Axers will already have found this out for themselves.

The game is extremely addictive and holds excellent replay value. The 'Duel' mode is good for a laugh too.

A very worthy game which is recommended to all.

The Bad
There are parts in the game where you have to leap across larger than normal chasms & gaps in the level. Repeated deaths are often found here & can prove mighty frustrating.

The Bottom Line
The original and best hack-em-up.

The Good
It can be said that they don't make games like they used to. It's true! Not since Golden Axe was released onto home consoles have people started having no social life! Myself included. I love the levels, the characters, the music.... Even the enemy AI is decent! The difficulty level is not unbearable. The overall aura surrounding this game is superb. The control rocks, too.---- *1/2 ----

*The Bad
The only thing that rang in my head was some of those annoying multi-death jumps you take (there's only like one or two). The inability to change characters between continues is kind of annoying. Otherwise I was sold when I first played it.

The Bottom Line
Supreme side-scrolling action that will last for ages. Great play mechanics, characters, level variation. Fun with a friend or alone. A game for the history books.

The Good
The first time I caught a glimpse of Golden Axe was in an Arcade somewhere in France. I was really impressed by the marvelous graphics. On the PC the game still looked pretty marvelous, but unfortunately not on my PC (I had a 286 at the time). But Golden Axe’s graphics are among the best (maybe even the best) of it’s time. I like the creativity of the designers: the island that is a giant turtle, the huge eagle. The design of those stages is extremely well done. Moreover the magical spells are a joy to watch. The graphics are Golden Axe’s best feature. But there are some other things to like about Golden Axe.

• Great sound effects & midi music. I can still hum some of those tunes.
• You can knock enemy soldiers off their dragons and ride the dragons yourself.
• It has a two-player cooperative mode, there nothing more fun than beating up some bad guys together.
• It has a nice story twist. At a certain moment you think you have won the game but the toughest part is yet to come.

The Bad

• It’s not complete! The intro and the cool ending that MAT is talking about are not included in the PC port.
• The controls feel a little stiff.
• Gilius is a lot better than the other two heroes because of the broad range of his axe (combined with his jump-attack). Not only would this cause arguments about who would get to play with Gilius, it also meant you virtually had to play with Gilius in order to win. I could beat the game easily when I played with Gilius but never succeeded with one of the others.
• The “Duel” mode is lame and very difficult to complete.

The Bottom Line
A side scrolling beat ‘em up best remembered for it’s great graphics. Of course even great graphics look dated after a couple of years. In fact the whole side scrolling beat ‘em up genre is rather dated. Games like this one don’t get released anymore. In the early 90’s they were released in truckloads. Nowadays I find games like Final Fight, Double Dragon and Streets of Rage rather boring, but I still enjoy playing Golden Axe.