Golden Axe II

The Good
I love Streets of Rage style fighting and I love D&D, this game mixes them. It was good that both the male and female characters were skimpily dressed. Usually, it's just the woman, and seeing as I am a straight female, this can get boring.

The Bad
It was TOO easy, it took me and a friend (on two-player mode) 5 mins to complete. Compare this to Streets of Rage 2 - which we had played minutes earlier. SOR2 was set over about 8 levels, GAII was set over 5, and they were much shorter.

The Bottom Line
The original game is better.

The Good
I was a true sequel in the real sense. I mean, it's my understanding that a sequel should be better than the prequel, right? (because after the prequel they find out what people think about it, what they thought it lacked--having a prequel just gives them a better idea of what to do for a sequel.) Anyway, everything took a step up from Golden Axe 1. These elements included: Graphics, music, sound, moves, magic, although, control seemed the same. (of course, that was refined already.) And, as all games should be, it's fun. VERY fun.

The Bad
Well, I always get kind of angry when a sequel features the same old villain. Although, many of my favorite games (Megaman, Zelda, Mario Bros.) do that sort of thing which is okay, but it does get kind of old. I think that it could've been a lot cooler if enemies could do more moves and stuff, and had more interactive and "smart" (maybe I'm abusing that word here) Artificial Intelligence.

The Bottom Line
One of the greatest of its kind. One of the few games that really makes having a Sega Genesis worthwhile.

The Good
Golden Axe II is basically a re-hash of the original Golden Axe, but with slightly inferior graphics. There are more levels in this game and more types of enemy sprites (such as lizardmen). The playable characters are slightly more detailed than they were in the original. (However, the enemy sprites and backgrounds are noticeably less detailed and less originally designed than the original game.)

Its slightly harder than the original Golden Axe and you may actually have to play it a few times to beat it (Golden Axe was one of the easiest Genesis games ever).

It was interesting that you were now given the option of using a certain amount of your magic rather than shooting your entire wad at one time, but the spells were not as visually stunning as in the former game.

The Bad
The backgrounds and enemy sprites are less detailed than the original Golden Axe. The music is not as good as the original score, though it isn't bad. The levels are uninspired and generic looking. Some of the enemy sprites seem to have only a few frames of animation. The magical spells are not as good as they were in the original game either.

The Bottom Line
Revenge of Death Adder is the only worthy sequel to Golden Axe. However, this game is decent enough. Its more like an expansion pack to the original Golden Axe than it is a separate game. Its very, very close to being the same thing.