Review: Golden Axe (Arcade, Various formats)

OK before I start with this review I'd like to apologise for the lateness of this review, my internet went down last night and thus I was unable to upload. Sorry.

OK lets do this thing!

About the game

Golden Axe was a side-scrolling hack n slash game released in arcades in May 1989 (Despite the fact the Japanese Mega-Drive version was released in October 1988) and involves 3 warriors who have lost relatives to Death Adder (Some sort of dead snake?). Anyway I won't go into too much depth about the game and focus more on the components.

The game did fairly well in the arcades and was subsequently released onto the Mega-Drive/Genesis, CD and many other consoles and the major home computers (ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC etc.)

Graphics

For a game of it's time the graphics are standard, not too impressive but good, not really much to say there, one complaint I do have is that there is a bit of lag when moving on to the level end boss.

My verdict-8/10

Sound

Again not much to report in terms of sound, very good soundtrack (on the Mega-Drive version anyway), cool sound effects, I especially love the way the sound cuts off when playing the death sounds (even if most people hate it).

My verdict-9/10

Control

OK here's where it really gets annoying, A is magic, B is attack and C is jump which is very confusing because naturally through force of habit you assume the opposite, luckily you can tweak the controls through the options menu before you start so it's not all bad but...damn.

My verdict-7/10

Difficulty

The game's difficulty is fairly progressive as far as I've seen (I have yet to complete it) and even provides a great beginner difficulty (which I have completed) however the beginner difficulty is considerable shorter than the normal game (takes about 15-20 minutes to finish)

My verdict-9/10

Length

I'm gonna take a wild guess based on how far I've gotten and say 75 minutes (give or take), once again beginner mode not too impressive

My verdict-9/10

Replay value

Unless you're making progress (which I am not at the moment) there is not much immediate replay value, however playing it once or twice a day, it is very playable.

My verdict-8/10

My final verdict-50/60-A-One of the best games for the Mega-Drive library and within my top 10 all time games

Well that's that.

Be back tomorrow with more exciting development news.

Until then, take care.

TheWardy signing off.