Golden Axe
Sega Genesis
Time passed and eventually I was able to rent this game for the Sega Genesis. I don't remember much about my time with it on the home console, but I can recall thinking that it wasn't as fun as the arcade. No surprise, right? In the arcade the graphics are better. Plus you had the whole social aspect of being watched or playing the game with other people.
Before popping this game in for the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis collection on the PS3, I looked back on Golden Axe fondly. The arcade version, the home version. It was fun.
Riding the dragons was my favorite part of the game, although I always seemed to get hit and lose them almost immediately. I remembered there were 3 characters you could pick from. The strongman, the female warrior, and the dwarf. When I was young I think I played as the dwarf, because - come on! He's a dwarf. That is awesome. Especially for a kid. But beyond the basic format of the game, the dragons, and the characters, a lot of the details of the game escaped me.
This is a TMNT/Final Fight style side scrolling beat em up. You move left to right, you can go up and down, and basically you beat the shit out of your enemies. Nothing new there, except for the medieval/fantasy setting. You could play as the aforementioned 3 characters, each with his or her own unique strengths. The strong man is the most well rounded. He is tough and has the longest reach. The female warrior is faster and more agile, but weaker. The dwarf is powerful and strong, but has such a short reach. Each character handles magic in a different way as well. So really each time you play the game, you could conceivably have a unique experience based on who you chose to play as.
There is a story line to this game, but it is relatively weak. Back in the day, games were more about the actual game play than the story, and Golden Axe was no exception. Basically there is some powerful bad guy named Death Adder who is killing people and doing a lot of bad things. And it is your quest to stop him.
The basics of the game are simple. You start out with a small amount of magic. The magic can be used in times of crisis or in boss fights. It bales you out if you are getting hurt and does massive amounts of damage to all the enemies on the screen. As the levels progress, you can pick up magic bottles to make your magic attack more powerful. You can stockpile magic to unleash a stronger attack, or you can use magic more frequently but it is weaker each time you use it.
As mentioned, each character has a unique strength level and unique weapons with their own varying degrees of length. Unlike other games of this genre, you can't pick up extra weapons to deal damage to your foes. No, no. The way Golden Axe handles this is much cooler than your average game. Every once in a while you will fight a dragon riding enemy. If you knock the enemy off the dragon, you can commandeer said dragon and use him yourself. Some dragons are cooler than others. There is one who whips with his tail, which I don't like as much. Others spit fire. If you get hit once while on the dragon, you fly off and the enemies can hop on the dragon and use it against you. Of course, you can reclaim the dragon. If you get knocked off it 3 times, however, it runs off and is gone for good. This happened to me more than I would like to admit. It's a cool gimmick and I kick myself for wasting it every time I got the chance to use it.
So you have your basic attacks. You have your dragons and your magic. What else sets this game apart? The whole theme and setting of the game is worth the price of admission. The awesome fantasy world seems very deep and alive. You've got your typical forests and castles, but you also have cool looking dungeons, high caverns with dangerous falls, and even a village built on the shell of a giant turtle. Enemies consist of armored spiky looking dudes, skeletons, dragon riding dominatrixes, and giant brutes. In between levels, your character camps out for the night and is able to steal potions and health items from these pesky little thief guys that try to sneak in and steal your shit. These bonus stages are no challenge whatsoever, but they add character to the game. And its good to get free stuff. Which you will need.
The AI in the game is maddening at times. Without fail, whenever you fight more than one enemy at a time, they will flank you from both sides. I had to resort to cheap tactics to win, like spamming the same jump attack and shoulder slam over and over again to knock the enemies away. If you try to engage each enemy in hand to hand traditional combat, you are going to get pummeled from behind. This is a fact. The sooner you pick up on this, the better you will do. I had to turn health up to 5 bars rather than the traditional 3. I usually like to leave things on default, but I definitely needed the extra health since this is a challenging game.
Nowadays the game may not look like much, but to me it withstands the test of time. If it is ugly it fails. But this is not ugly. It's not overly pixelated. The detail level is nice. It looks decent actually. Sure it is old, but that doesn't always have to be a bad thing. It has charm.
One part in the game I like is when two of these barbarian looking enemies bust out of a door labeled Deb. I am a fan of Debb Eaton from Survivor, who is the legendary queen of anal beads. It always makes me chuckle and think of her when I see it. Google it and you will see what I am talking about. If not, then this will forever remain an inside joke.
Golden Axe isn't that long, but that's okay. Playing with another player is a lot of fun. My pal Jeff and I had a pretty good time playing the game together - although admittedly we sucked and didn't make it to the end. I think we made it to level 6 (there are 8 total levels).
I was able to finish the game in single player though. I had a good time with the game and had no issues with it.... until I reached the final boss. Words can't describe how much I hate this fight. I have played a lot of games and this may very well be the most unfair, overly difficult, RIDICULOUS final battle I have ever encountered.
I can't remember if I beat Golden Axe while playing on the Genesis as a kid. Even playing on the PS3 where I can save right before the boss battle I had a hell of a time finishing the game. We are talking chuck your controller through the TV level of difficulty. I screamed, I shouted, I swore. I pissed off my wife and scared the cat out of the room. I wanted to give up but I powered through it until the 50th attempt where I somehow finished him off on my last bar of health. I can simply not fathom beating this game on the Genesis when you have to start over from the beginning of the whole game each time you run out of continues.
It is absurd. I can't recall being more frustrated by a moment in a video game. Fuck whoever thought this unfair shit was a good idea. You have a giant boss who can take off 1 or 2 full health bars with one swing of his weapon. Not only that, but he also shoots electricity at you. And not only that, but every time he hits you he summons a magical attack that you can't dodge and takes even MORE health from you. All the time while you are fighting him, you have to deal with 2 immortal skeletons that you can't destroy. Attack the boss, and they will hit you from behind. You can barely get a hit in without losing half your life. It is maddening. I made it to him with 4 lives total left and it took me forever to get this.
But somehow I managed. I wanted to smash the game in half, throw things around the room, and destroy my controllers, but at least I had that much restraint to not do so. I was fuming and throwing a tantrum though, not gonna lie. But beating the game filled me with a strong sense of accomplishment. The ending sequence is okay, and then before the credits they tell you the name and stats of each character. I couldn't help but have a chuckle when I saw that under "belongings" for the Blue Thief, it says pot. Heh.
So when coming up with a grade for this, I struggle a little. It is a good game. I have nice memories of it. But that final boss really killed almost all of the enjoyment for me. I probably would have rated it in the B range if it weren't for that last battle. But just for that, I am saying screw you Golden Axe and dropping it to a C.
If you played this game when you were younger, pick it up. It is a nice trip down memory lane. If you are younger you may want to skip it with so many great games out there, but still you could do a lot worse than this. If you have the Sonic Genesis Collection for the PS3, then for sure give it a play. It is a fun time with friends, especially. And don't forget to get on those dragons!
Overall:
C
No comments:
Post a Comment